Glass Cd i /-'. Book -a1i^^_2_2j» HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY NEBRASKA AND REMINISCENSES OF TERRITORIAL HISTORY BY w. w. cox Author of "Northern Eyes in Dixie," "Papers on Labor and Capiral," "History and Resources of the United States of Venzuela/' "Glimpses of the Rockies and California as seen in 1902." SECOND EDITION Jason L. Claflin Uljiyersity Place. Nebraska 1905 DEDICATION To the ever kind and loving companion that walked hand in hand with me nearly forty -four years of life's journey, sharing all the privations of frontier life, and lend- ing cheer in all the dark hours and performing so nobly all the duties incumbent on her as wife and mother, as neigh- bor and friend, ever ready to lend a helping hand in matters of charity or public enterprise — she that walked so faith- fully in the service of her Divine Master over half a century and when her work was all well done passed over the dark river to dwell in the heavenly home — is this book lovingly dedicated as a memorial, to Rebecca Sampson Cox. The Author. Usii ' : PREFACE The author kindly asks the reader of this volume to be considerate in measuring the value of the work. All historical works are subject to criticism, and we are sure this can not hope to be an exception. Many incidents herein related were obtained from people now living and memory at best is defective. In many instances authorities conflict and the worst thing the author has had to contend with was, so many of the early records are lost or destroyed. We have searched diligently through the vaults of the county clerk's office for old records that should be there but seem to be lost in the shuffte, also in the county judge's office, where valuable rec- ords of the early days should be found, but they are wanting. But with material at command, with the help of many old time citizens and a personal knowledge, coming of forty years residence, we have measureably succeeded in giving the reader the essential facts of county history and trust we have been able to give a true pen picture of frontier life and also of our achievements through the passing years. We cannot say that we are entirely satisfied and yet we feel a degree of pride in having established many landmarks of history for the future historian, and being able to give the reader an intelligent idea of the country as it existed in its primeval state and the growth and progress to the pres- ent time. We cheerfully acknowledge our obligations to the good people who have assisted by valuable historic letters, and to 8 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA editors for the use of their tiles, etc., and last but not least to the host of patrons who have met us so cheerfully and been so very liberal with us. We must say in all parts of the county we have met the most cordial welcome, and our labor among the people has been like a friendly visit. PART ONE TERRITORIAL HISTORY CHAPTER I. Nebraska Territory — Date Organic Act Boundaries — Area— Possibilities -A Great Epoch in Historj' — Slave Clause — Political Storm — Strife in Kansas — Nebraska Dominated by Southern Office Holders — First Newspapers — Squatter Claims— Mormon Exodus— California Trail — Mormon War— Freighting— First Settlement — Old Block-House and Ferry — Elections and Candidates — No Money to Get Back — Wouldn't Raise White Beans — Villages— Legislature of 1854-1855 — Panic — Gold Discovered at Cherry Creek — A Little Story. May 30th, 1854, the organic act creating the Territory of Nebraska was approved by President Frankhn Pierce. It comprised the land within the following limits: com- mencing at the center of the channel of the Missouri river on the fortieth parallel of North Latitude and thence run- ning west along said parallel to the sunimit of the Rocky mountains to the eastern border of Utah Territory, thence north to the forty-ninth parallel of North Latitude to the British possession, thence east to the west line of the terri- tory of Minnesota, thence southward on said boundry to the channel of the Missouri river, thence down the said main channel to the place of beginning. If the reader will turn to a map of the United States and trace these lines and note that this vast domain includes the present state of Nebraska, North and South Dakotas, one- fourth of Colorado, nearly all of both Wyoming and Mon- tana, making in the aggregate nearly one-half million square miles of territory or about the same area as England, Scot- land, France and all Germany combined. In regard to the vast possibilities of this empire, we note that the present 10 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA population of these countries at this time reaches one hun dred and twenty milhons. According to that reckoning, when Nebraska, with the present area, becomes as well set- tled as these countries in Europe, it will contain eighteen and one-half millions and should it bear the same population that England now contains per square mile; it will reach the stupenduous number of thirty-eight and one-half millions of people. Should it ever bear as dense a population as Rhode Island with all her rocky hills, it will have over twenty-six millions and Rhode Island is yet increasing rapidly. The younger readers may not have noticed that this or- ganic act was a most peculiar and we might say the most important epoch since the revolutionary war up to the war of the rebellion. The magnitude of the territories of Ne- braska and Kansas was lost sight of, but all interest cen- tered in one part of a sentence in the organic act, which we quote as follows: "And when admitted as a state, or states, the said territory, or any portion of the same, shall be re- ceived into the Union with or without slavery." Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois championed the measure in the Congress. It raised a storm in political circles such as had never been seen before. The whole country was agi- tated from center to circumference. It caused the total dis- ruption of the great Whig party and it rent the great Dem- ocratic party in twain.. The people south of what is known as Mason and Dixon's line were favorably to the act, while the people of the North were appalled at the attempt to fasten slavery upon the virgin soil that had been by solemn compact dedicated to freedom. The people became aroused as never before on the slavery question. Under the admin- istration of Pierce the territories were furnished with a full complement of officers in close sympathy with Southern sen- timent. The Southern people were determined to grasp the prize in sight and urged the occupation at once and many took their human chattels to Kansas and a few of them had the hardihood to invade Nebraska. The northern people or- ganized for resistance and urged emigrants to the territories and Vv'ere equally determined to save this new land to free- dom. On the great plains of Kansas there was bloody war HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 11 to the knife and knife to the hilt. There were many scenes of ravage and plunder that were sickening. The struggle was desperate and bloody. Kansas was so situated beside slave territory of Missouri and Arkansas that the friends of slavery had great advantage but the free state men swarmed to the territories in great numbers and were led by men of tact and courage that they were enabled to defy all attempts to fasten slavery there. Nebraska, just beside loyal Iowa, gave the free state men a greater advantage, and the south- ern men soon gave up the idea of ever making it a slave state, and our people were comparatively free from the bloody struggles of that eventful period prior to the Rebell- ion. Our emigrants were mostly from the northern states and although dominated for seven years by pro-slavery dem- ocratic territorial officers it was seen from the first that Ne- braska could never be made a slave state. There was not the rush to Nebraska from either south or north for the simple reason that the South could entertain no hope here, and that Kansas must be the battle grounds and where the bone of contention was, there the mass of emigrants came to take a hand in the settlement of the matter. The simple fact that Kansas was the scene of the principal strife, we attribute the fact that she secured the larger share of emi- grants that were seeking homes in the new land. Nebraska had been traversed by tens of thousands of people long before the organic act. The Morman exodus had been across this land and many of the Pilgrims seeking a home in the desert wilds of Utah had crossed these fertile fields, but their eyes were fixed upon that far off desert home by the dead sea. They could not see the beauties of this land of transcendent natural wealth. Then great sw^arms of men and women of good sense, too passed up the Platte valley on their way to far off Oregon and could not see ought but miriage and desert wastes in this land of corn and wine. And again thousands more crossed this wilderness on their way to the gold fields of California. It is safe to say that hundreds of thousands of white people traversed this goodly land from the river to our western boundary without any of them making the discovery that this was naturally one of the richest and grandest por- 12 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA tions of God's green earth. It was a true demonstration of the ringing words of the Master when He said, "Having eyes they see not." Of course there was no opportunity to make permanent settlement here until the organic act had become a law, and until the Indian titles had been secured by the Government for some of the lands. A few Indian traders and a few ferrymen were about all the white settlers of the Territory at the beginning of 1854. There had been a government fort at Calhoun as early as 1819 under the name of Port Atkinson. This old fort, now long since in ruins, was sixteen miles north of Omaha. A man named Cabanne had a trading post ten miles north of Omaha and Manual Kisa also had a trading post one mile north of Cabanne's. The fort was built on the spot where Lewis and Clark held the council at the time of their visit to the northwest in 1804. In about 1827 this fort was abandoned and the garrison moved down the river and took up quarters on Caro Island which later received the name of Port Cragan. About the spring of 1828, after being flooded out, the garrison moved down the river and established Port Leavenworth. There was an Indian trader by name of T. B. Range on the site of Omaha as early as 1825. Peter A. Sarpie located a trading post at Belevue in 1822 and was a familiar figure at the time settlement began in 1854. Old Port Kearney at Nebraska City was established about 1847 and about the same time Fort Laramie was es- tablished on the North Platte river just near the eastern boundary of Wyoming. About the same time John Bolware established a ferry at Nebraska City. The exact dates of the fort and ferry are unattainable. We are indebted for what we learn of the dates of old Port Kearney and the ferry to the diligent researches of Prof. Geo. E. Howard of our State University. In the conversation with Col. Bolware in the winter of ]859 and 1H60, at Nebraska City, he told the writer that he established the ferry twelve years previous and that corres- ponds well with Prof. Howard's researches. We have many times had the pleasure of seeing the old block house of old Fort Kearney. Col. Bolware claims that he first settled at HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 13 Fort Atkinson and that next to Sarpie he was the first man to malfe permanent settlement in Nebraska. When we saw the old man last in 1865 he looked as if he had been here a long time. In the early summer of 1854 settlements began in earnest at Omaha, Plattsmouth, Nebraska City, Brownville, Rulo and Belevue, and some other points. It is a mere matter of conjecture or guess work as to how many people made settlements in 1S5-1:. There were quite a number that came as adventurers, without any intention of making it their permament home. The towns were purely speculative. Scores of paper towns were boomed for "all there was in it. " The agricultural possibilities of the country were scarcely thought of. Of course claims were located near the towns by what was known as squatters right, which by a "law all their own" were permitted to consist of a half section of land. Very few, indeed, thought of cultivating the soil, or trying to make permament homes. Every fellow was on the speculate, designing to make their pile, then go home to "America," as they used to say.. Many of such went home to "America" but they went dead broke. Some got so desperately hard up that they were forced to stay, as their "wife's relation" could not or would not send them money to pay their way back. To some this was a "God-send." They just had to stay and they began to stir themselves and accomplish something, and such can usually get a foothold. A few came for business from the start. They got a claim and went to work in. dead earnest and although these had much to contend with and oftimes had a desperate struggle to "keep the wolf from the door," they finally made it win and in time secured a competency. In this eventful year, 1S54, Wednesday, November 15th, the newspaper had invaded the wilderness and at Belevue the Palladium was issued. That day the first stick of type w^as set, at the McKinney house (a log cabin). Three printers from three states, Thos. Morton from Columbus, Ohio, fore- man; A. D. Long, compositor, from Virginia, and Henry M. Reed, from Massachusetts, an apprentice. The paper had been born at St. Mary, in Mills County, Iowa. The first words of this issue reads as follows: "Owing 14 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA to our removal of the office we hope our readers will excuse the late appearance of this number. " This number notes the arrival to the Territory of J. Sterling Morton on the 13th inst. , from Michigan. One prominent paragraph of this issue is under the head- ing "Agriculture," as follows: "He that by the plow would tlirive Himself must either hold or drive." On the 6th of December the Palladium contains a list of the voting precincts of the Territory, viz : Richardson county, two; Nemaha county, one. This was tlien known as Forney county. Pierce (now Otoe), one; Cass, two; Washington, one; Burt, two; Dodge, one. Douglas is omitted. One voting place, Nebraska Oity, was at the house of Major H. P. Downs. He, who being asked by a stranger of Nebraska's possibilities as an agricultural country tersely remarked with his stentorian voice: "Ten miles west of the valley they can't raise white beans," yet that old soldier had resided here since 1847, as commander of the post. The Palladium did not winter kill because it lived till April 11, 1855, when it passed into history and gave up the ghost. The paper that came to stay was the Nebraska City News. It also had its birth place on Iowa soil, at Sydney, and was issued there tirst November 14th, 1854, with Henry Bradford as editor, but in the spring of 1855 the Nebraska City Town Site Co. employed J. Sterling Morton to take the sole management of the office and it was moved over home and was printed in the old block house April 12th, 1855. So on the twelfth of April, 1905, it will have rounded out a full half century, being, we believe, the oldest newspaper between the Missouri river and California. In 1856 the Brownville Advertiser was started at Brown- ville. It was founded by Dr. John McPherson, but soon fell into the hands of R. W. Furnas and Lyanna. This paper was quite prominent for a number of years as a republican advocate and was wide awake in arousing Nebraska people to push forward development. The Nebraska City Press under the name of "People's Press" was established by Hon. O. H. Irish and Matthias in the spring of 1859, and it came to stay, and next to its con- HISTORY OP SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 15 temporary the oldest living^ paper of the Trans-Missouri country. It has always been strongly republican, while the News has always held aloft the democratic standard. The Nebraska Republican was first issued in 1858 and lived up to 1889. The Omaha Times came to light under the management of Geo. W. Hepburn in 1857 and expired about 1870. The Wyoming Telescope was started by Jacob Dawson at Wyoming, Nebraska, in 1857, but only survived two years. The Omaha Nebraskan, edited by T. H. Robertson, the rankest copperhead of his days, in 1854, and expired in the sixties, just in time for Dr. Geo. L. Miller to start the ablest democratic paper that Nebraska ever contained, in 1H65, which continued to do battle for Nebraska and the democra- tic party for twenty three years, when it was consolidated with the World, and is now known as the World -Herald. There were many other papers started in various localit- ies, generally for the purpose of booming paper towns. Many of them were like the "rose of the wilderness, born to blush unseen." The number of the inhabitants that win- tered in Nebraska in the winter of 1854 and 1855 can never be known. It is safe to say they were few. There being but ten voting precincts as the story goes, people had to be imported from Iowa to hold elections in several instances. The settlements were confined to a narrow strip along the river, mostly. Should we attempt to estimate the population it would be guess work. As yet we are not aware that there was any incorporated village although there were many names of cities of great promise. The only means of com- munication was a stageline to Council Bluffs, known as Kan- esville, an old Mormon settlement, and an ocasional river steamer. The first session of the Territorial Assembly met in the winter of 1854, which had largely been elected by Iowa citi- zens, who in some instances brought along their candidates. (See Dr. Geo. L. Miller's paper.) It is needless to tell the readers that acting Governor Cummins winked at these slight irregularities. By his proclamation forming election districts there were whole counties where there was not a white set- tler and assembly men were accredited them and they must 16 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA be represented "you know." One of the principal labors of that legislature was to bring forth a whole litter of wild cat banks, the story of which is told in another chapter of this book. In March, 1855, this farce of a legislature granted a charter to the first insurance company, known as the "West- ern Fire and Marine Insurance Campany," with full powers to do a general banking and exchange business, and thus was born the Farmers Western Exchange Bank of Omaha. During the first four years of occupation, settlements made but little progress. New immigrants were constantly arriving at the different points and others tired and were leaving. No lands were yet in market and the only title obtainable was by the squatter's right and this was not very satisfactory. Of course a pre-emptor's title was all right until the lands were thrown into market, but it happened as noted in another chapter that the lands were thrown into market just exactly in the wrong lime and it played havoc with the preemptors. Population increased slowly, but in 185S there was a new- development, or rather two new developments. The Mor- mons of Utah were in rebellion against the government and an army was sent there andhad to be supplied from Missouri river points, and the great firm of Majors, Russel & Wadell got a contract to haul army supplies to Utah and other west- ern forts. That year four thousand men with thirty thous- and oxen with great wagons, were sent across the plains. The outfitting point for the Utah traffic was Nebraska City. This gave a new impetus to business and the growth of the village for a time was phenomenal. Large brick business houses were erected and people fiocked in by the hundreds. Speculation ran high, and just about this time gold was dis- covered at Cherry Creek, at the site of the coming Denver. The wildest stories of the fabulous wealth of the mines were circulated all over the states and great droves of people gathered at all the Missouri river towns and made prepara- tions to cross the plains to the gold fields. This gave life and push to every hamlet on the river. Tens of thousands of infatuated people swarmed through Nebraska headed for HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 17 the mountains, knowing nothing of the suffering and disap- pointment that was in store for them. Trade in all the towns was simply enormous. Everything was on a wild boom. Values of property increased fabulously. The wildcat banks issued money by the cart load and it was no uncommon sight to see boys with their pockets full of money, but soon this bubble burst. Thousands of disgusted Pikes peakers began their homeward journey, careworn and weary, and were ready to wreak vengeance on the towns of Nebraska that had started the wild stories that induced them to embark on the foolhardy venture. In the mad rush to get back to the states it is safe to say that along the great trials between the river and the mountains there was a million dollars worth of prop- erty thrown away and abandoned. Tired out animals, wagons, machinery, tools, groceries and provisions. Then who can tell of the numbers that perished and that sleep in unknown graves, or left to be eaten by the wolves on the plains? Just about this time t-he tidal wave of destruction, caused by the panic of 1857, had reached the western borders and there was a general collapse. The story of the situation in 1859 and 1860 is dealt with more fully in another chapter in which is related the money condition, the land sales and con- ditions of the people; how they had to "snuff ashes and drink pond water" for a living. Perhaps we may be excused for relating a story of our personal experience in the summer of 1860, just after the great fire at Nebraska City. We desired to work at carpenter work and we were anxiously looking for a job and it came to the point where we were very willing to saw wood, or dig, just any old thing for bread and butter. We called at a place where we understood there was help wanted. Yes, they wanted a man. What do you want per day, was the first question. Seventy-five cents and board myself. The terse reply was: "Pshaw! Can hire plenty of good men at twenty-five cents per day." My first job of work was sawing up a big rick of cord wood for a dollar and fifty cents, store pay. Store pay was good "you know," but the work was faithfully done and we went to hunt up the 18 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA store. How our heart leaped for joy as we looked upon the stock of merchandise. It consisted of a few' remnants of an old busted up hardware stock. There were a few old log chains and two or three ox yokes, a few horse shoes and a little brown stoneware. Splendid stuff to feed a hungry family! CHAPTER II. Visit to Nebraska — Scenes and Incidents — First Sight of the Promised Land — First Dinnei" — Nebraska City — Looking up Land — Land Sale —First Entry— Floating Ice — General Appearance of the Territory — Wild Cat Banks— Paper Cities— Wild Speculation— Panic of 1857— All Good Money Gone — Morman Trade — Pike's Peak — Great Throngs of Emigrants — Majors, Russell and Waddell — (^reat Freight Trains — Galusha A. Grow — Homestead Law Vetoed — "Gave them a Stone" — Land Sharks — Great Fire — Mob — Disastrous Resiilts — Great Drouth of 1860 — Hard Characters — Whipping Post— Governor Black— Indian Trouble and Default of Major Denisten — A Land of Slavery — John Brown — Underground Rail Road Depot — Rebel Flag — War Meeting in 1861 — Alex Majors — River Steamers — First Apple Tree— Profes- sional Men — Noble Women — Letter from Morton. In the early autumn of 1859 we had the first opportunity to gratify our curiosity to visit Nebraska. At this time we resided in Page county, Iowa, at the little town of College Springs. A little company of us, in- cluding Abner Hunger, David Haskins and Robert Hopps, who resided in Nebraska City over forty years, but now de- ceased, started with the determination of seeing the new promised land of Nebraska. Passing over vast stretches of undulating prairie, wil- derness, watered by the east and west Tarkio's and the two Nishanahotina, we reached the village of Sydney (a city set upon a hill), the county seat of Fremont county, the second day about noon. We were taking matters leisurely, as we wished to see as much as possible of the country. At Sydney we were permitted to hear an animated political debate between the opposing candidates for governor of Iowa, on the important and exciting issues of that interesting period of our history. Gov. Kirkwood, known as the war governor of Iowa, and General Dodge, were the contestants for the people's votes. Just after leaving the little town our eyes rested upon a grander sight than Moses saw from 20 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA the top of Nebo's mountain. The valley of the Missouri with the great river sweeping by the long line of bluffs, of beautiful Nebraska, presented to us a panorama at once im- pressive and inspiring. About the dinner hour of the next day we crossed the great river and first set foot on Nebraska soil. Passing through the bright little city we camped for dinner at a great spring just west of Arbor Lodge and had a bounteous repast from Nebraska grown potatoes and a young prairie chicken, captured for the occasion. This was our first meal on this new soil and it was a good one as we cook- ed it ourselves over a camp fire. Like everybody, we were crazy to get land. By virtue of the president's proclama- tion the lands of Nebraska were to be opened to the markets of the world within a few days. The weather was delightful. The little city looked bright and cheerful, most inviting, indeed. The lands were smiling with the tall prairie grass waving and flickering wdth changing shades presented a sight at once bewitching, and to cut this matter short, we were captured body and soul. We were exciied. We all wanted some of that rich and beautiful land. We spent a day or two looking over the country as far west as Wilson's Creek, and made choice of quarters about eight miles west of the ferry. The Major's farm four miles west of the city was the last sign of civilization which met our eyes. All to the westward seemed an unbroken wilderness. We returned to the city to be in readiness for the open- ing of tJie land office. A great crowd of people from every- where were awaiting to get a first chance. The office had been open for some days to accommodate pre-emptors, but this was the first public sale day. E. A. Desland was the receiver and Andy Hopkins was registrar. That all might have a fair show, tickets were numbered and placed in a hat and shook up, when one of the agents held the hat up about as high as his head, and the people reached up over and picked a ticket from the hat, and just then it came our turn to get from that hat ticket No. 1, which gave us the privilege of entering the tirst section of land at a public land sale ever entered in South Nebraska. We were freely ottered a large sum of money for our chance but we had made arrangments with our company that the HISTOUY OF SEWARI> COUNTY, NEBRASKA 21 one receiving the best number sliould use their number for all our party, so we had to turn down all offers. In this glad hour we had determined to make Nebraska our home. In the last days of February, 1860, we gathered up what little of the world's goods we had, and with the good wife and one nine months old babe (now Mrs. J. A. Ruby of Seward), we bade adieu to the old home and turned our faces toward Nebraska and on the last day of February, 1860, just as the sun was sinking behind the western hills, Captain Beabout shoved his little steam ferry boat from the Iowa shore amidst the fields of floating ice. Oh! how we watched with bated breath those ugly cakes of ice crash against our frail craft wh3re all our earthly trea- sures were, and then how lightly and how joyfully we first trod the firm soil of Nebraska. Nebraska then, as now, was "fair to look upon." But how little did we realize what was in store for us, else the heart had fainted! Two brave young hearts, with two pair of willing hands was our capital. We will now tell you of Nebraska as it proved to be when we became somewhat acquainted with it in I860. The first legislature of the territory chartered a lot of what is now known as wild cat banks. There were the Platte Valley bank, Western Exchange, Nemaha Valley bank, Florence bank, the DeSoto bank and we don't know how many more. They all issued money and plenty of it. The bills were handsome then. They all bore upon the face these precious promises: First, That they were redeemable in currency and again that the stockholders were personally liable. Now let us illustrate. You hold a hundred dollars of Platte Valley bills, and as you desire to send some money east, you step into the Platte Valley bank and say, "Mr. Nuckols, please, sir, would like to get some money" current with the merchant, "to send east." "Certainly sir," says the bland cashier, and throws out a hundred dollars in new, crisp Nemaha Valley bills. "Yes, yes, that is currency. " You take it, look at it. It looks all right; it is handsome as any picture, but somehow you are hardly satisfied. So you go twenty miles down to Brownville and ask the bank there to help you out of the trouble. "Oh, yes, we can fix you ouii,'' says the smooth fellow. "We can give you in exchange the 22 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA best money in the world," and throws down one hundred dollars of Platte Valley money. "But hold," you exclaim. "I had that same kind of money and I exchanged it for yours at Nebraska City and now I have walked down here twenty miles to get something I can use." "Oh, well, then I can accommodate you," and throws down one hundred dollars of Florence money. "That's all right, sir, they have a gold sign." You are at the end of the rope. There is no other kind of money. All good money, gold, silver or good paper, had taken wings. Still money was plenty, such as it was, and speculation ran rampant. Paper cities sprang up here, there, everywhere. Thousands of claims were held by what was known as squatters' rights — by a right known only to themselves. Everybody was work- ing the "get rich quick" game. Nebraska City contained at the time eight or nine hun- dred people and was a supply depot for incoming immigrants and it had other and greater advantages. It was a trading point for the Mormons as they were journeying to Salt Lake. It was a great outtitting place for the gold seekers going to Colorado, but greater than either or both these, it was the great starting point for the overland freight that was to sup- ply the government forts and to supply the army in Utah during the Mormon war. Majors, Russell and Wadell had a contract with the government to haul thousands of tons of army supplies. Eveiything about the city was on the boom. It was a time of wild speculation and excitement. Now begins the trouble. In lb57 the great panic started on the eastern seaboard and gradually started westward like a great tidal wave, crushing and carrying everything before it. It came westward slowly but surely, leaving devastation and ruin in its onward march. Now appears one of the great men of history, Galusha A. Grow of Pennsylvania, who has been honored by his people with a seat in congress so long that the mind runneth not back to the beginning of his great career. This great soul as if by inspiration saw the impending storm that was to overtake and overwhelm the western pioneers and with an energy born of desperation he urged, and successfully, the passage of a homestead law. All the HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 23 people of the ^reat west said amen! and amen! for it meant a free home to tlie advance guard of civilization on these prairies secure beyond a peradventure. But alas! it must be recorded to the everlasting shame of President James Buchannan that he vetoed the bill which had become the hope of our brave pioneers. These people that had the courage to brave all the hard- ships and danger of the wilderness, to plant foundations of a great commonwealth, asked of the president a fish and he gave them a "stone." Just as the surging waves of that terrible Hood of woes had reached this fair land, all interests were paralyzed and destroyed by the panic without previous warning just like a sharp thunder clap from a clear sky. The same heart- less president issued a proclamation putting the lands of Nebraska on the market. Great God ! what a staggering blow to the helpless settlers. The wild cat banks had gone to their holes and had pulled the holes in after them. The people were absolutely without a currency of any kind. The settlers on the lands were helpless and at the mercy of the sharks that came from the east in great numbers as soon as the news of the proclamation was sounded through the land. For a settler to get, by any legitimate means, money, to ])ay for a quarter of land was impossible. The shark would come to his rescue however, in manner following: Land warrants were worth one dollar per acre or $160 for a quarter of land. The shark would charge two hundred dollars and would also charge forty per cent for the use of it one year. He would enter the land in his own name and give the settler a bond for a deed ui^on payment of two hundred and eighty dollars at the end of the year. There was inserted this innocent little phrase "Time is the essence of this con- tract. " Many did not understand what it meant but they found out its full meaning one year later. In 1860 when these contracts became due the people were worse off than ever and thousands gave up in despair. Had it not been for the dawning of a better day in 1863, when a nobler man occupied the presidential chair, and a blessed homestead law had been given them so that they 24 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA could settle upon other lands, their lives would have become miserable indeed. In the spring of 1860, Nebraska City was a bright, promis- ing little city, although business was dull in the extreme and many were leaving, yet it had promise of a bright future, w hen these dark clouds should roll by, but the "hour when we thought not" came upon us on the memorable 12th of May, I860, a dreadful day in a dreadful year! With a heavy gale from the south and everything as dry as tinder, the devouring flames came . upon us and it seemed as if in less minutes than it takes to pen this para- graph, the whole business part of the city was enveloped in flames. There was no possible means of combatting the fire monster. Forty -six of the best business houses were consumed with almost an incalculable amount of merchandise as well as a vast amount of household goods and other property. The post- office,the best hotel, "The Nuckols House," stores, shops and other buildings went up in smoke. The loss was immense, as most of the buildings were costly brick structures and there was but slight insurance. On that frightful day with that hot flame and smoke ascended such a wail of horror as we pray God we m^iy never hear again. When the fire fiend had spent its force, another flame arouse. This time it was a flame of passion from maddened men. Some slight suspicion had been attached to a poor wretch for having set the fire. An old lady had seen a fellow leaning up against the building where the fire started, lighting a pipe and some one thought it might have been this man who started the fire. Crazy men rushed upon him with the fury of a cyclone while he was in the hands of the ofticers. The mob was led by S. F. Nuckols who had lost heavily by the fire. The officers by dint of perseverence got the fellow away from the mob and into the jail (the old block house). For a time it seemed as if the officers would be overpowered, the man torn to pieces and sent up in a chariot of fire. On trial there was not a vestige of evidence against the fellow, only general bad character. HISTORY OP SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 25 The city was virtually destroyed even worse than Chic- ago eleven years later. All interests were paralyzed. Property depreciated until it had no sellinj? value. It seemed for a time that hope and energy had gone up in smoke with the property. Scores of men and women tied from the city as if it was a plague spot. Only three months had elapsed when we learned that our cup of bitterness was not yet full. Hot monsoons from southern shores swept this fair land as if breath from out the mouth of hell had been turned loose upon the world. Sixteen days and nights without a lull these scorching, blighting winds prevailed. Our Kansas neighbors were just a little nearer the gates of hell than we were and got the worst of it, but we were too near for com- fort, or profit. Our people secured a very little small grain. Wheat straw was not much longer than a pen stock, but the few grains in the little short heads were plump. So far as we heard there were no cases of starvation in Nebraska, but God only know how some of the people managed to live through the terrible ordeal. Those who pine and cry over hard times in these blessed days of plenty know little of what they are talking about, and if they could really know what the people went through in those dark days, just as the war clouds were gathering, they would hide their faces for very shame. Nebraska Oity, like all frontier towns, had some hard characters to deal with, and when the courts seemed lax and slow in executing the laws the people were ready and will- ing to lend a helping hand. In the winter of 1860 and 1861, a couple of worthless fellows were strongly suspected of being horse thieves and with "I guess so" evidence, an angry mob gathered and de- termined to tie the fellows to a post and give each of them forty lashes on the bare back. The mob was led by one Nick Labou, (a rather tough character himself.) The inferior one of the two was led out first, stripped and tied and received his forty stripes and meek- ly received the warning to take his departure immediately. The second fellow, much the greater rascal without doubt, but was smarter and was plucky to the last, proposed 26 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA to argue the case. He defied the mob and hurled anathemas and maramathas at them without stint, and he finally awak- ened the sympathy of a man of wealth and standing by the name of Isaac Coe. He undertook to talk to the mob, and at first they hooted him, but Coe was made of stern stuff and he fairly brow beat that angry mob out of countenance. They finally untied the man and sneaked off like whipped curs. In these early years Nebraska City was largely dominated by southern influence. Some of the government appointees were Southern gentlemen, or at least in sympathy with Southern sentiment. This was also the home of several Territorial officers. Among the resident officers was Gov. Samuel Black, a Pennsylvanian. but a pro-slavery democrat, and a most bitter partisan. However, when the supreme hour of trial came, he proved loyal to the old fiag and gave his young life in defense of its honor. The governor was a bright ap- pearing young man, with jet black hair and black eyes, nice- ly trimmed beard, tall, slender and stiaight as an arrow. It was generally understood that he was rather lax in his morals, but so far as we were able to judge with only partial acquaintance, he was a good officer. Hon. J. Ster- ling Morton was Secretary of the Territory. Mr. Morton was twice called upon during his encumbency to perform the duties of Governor. Major Denisten, Indian agent of the Otoe tribe, was the only one in government employ of whom we remember that proved a traitor. He was a traitor and a thief as well. The government had sent money (about fourteen thousand dollars) to pay the Indian annuities, and under some pretense he withheld the money until the Indians becanie impatient then exasperated. Finally the whole tribe headed by Chief Artaketa came from their reservation in Gage County to the city and demanded of the major their money. The business men of the city were in full sympathy with the Indians, not for their love for the red men, but they were anxious for their trade. Many of the people were anxious that the money should be paid because they feared an Indian outbreak if the Indians should not receive their dues. The major was obstinate and while he admitted having the money he did not propose to be dictated to by a lot of HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 27 red skins. He would not pay out the money till he got a good ready. The Indians were in no mood to be trifled with. At a criticcil moment the Indians made a rush for him and bound him with ropes and dragged him through the streets from the east end of the city to his residence in the west end. Wild excitement ruled the hour and the people rushed to the scene of trouble. When we reached the major's house the yard was filled with Indians and white people all in a state of terrible excitement. Many of the Territorial otticers were present including Gov. Black. Nearly all the business men of the city were in the crowd. The cooler heads among the officers and people exerted themselves in allaying the excitement and in some way af- fect a satisfactory compromise. By the help of an interpreter Chief Artaketa addressed the people setting forth in strong and forceful language the wrongs his people had suffered, how many of them had gone hungry and cold through the dreary winter by the perfidy of the agent when the Great Father had made ample provision for feeding and clothing his red children. The old chief had the full sympathy of the people. This was our one opportunity to listen to true Indian eloquence. His great soul was all on fire, his tongue was loosened and his every motion was eloquent while we could not understand a word spoken. Yet we stood entranced as his burning words came forth like a stream of fire from a volcano. Under pressure, the major finally agreed to go over to the agency in a few days and pay over the money, but the Indians would not take his word until Gov. Black pledged his honor as a gentleman and as Governor that the money should be locked up in Ware's bank safe and there re- main until the time set to go over to the reservation and the governor promised that he would go with the major and see that the money was properly paid out. This satisfied the people and the Indians acquiesced. We believe that the governor acted in good faith and fully intended that the agreement would be carried out to the letter. But it was the major's heart to steal the money and carry it over to the enemy of the country. He succeeded 28 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA in deceiving his friend, the j^rovenor, and while he was sleep- ing one dark stormy night, the major, with the help of per- sons unknown to us, got hold of the money somehow and started for Dixie's land, and they got there. If the money had been in Ware's safe, the question remains a puzzle, how they got it out. Efforts were made for his capture but they were unavailing and the next we heard of him, he was in South Carolina in the employ of the rebel government. It may sound strange to the younger readers to hear that Nebraska, in ante-bellum days, was a land of slavery. In 186U there were a number of slaves at Nebraska City. Alexander Majors had two or three. S. P. Nuckols had two and there were some others. One government official, Mr. Harden, brought some slaves to the territory. Wheth- er these slaves were brought merely as servants or to serve a political purpose we knew not. But this much we do know that the Northern people looked npon the matter with deep concern, and with a grave suspicion that it was an attempt to fasten slavery with all its hateful consequences on this sacred soil. Slavery however was out of place here, and when a slave desired to go free, it was easy to secure a ticket over the "Underground Rail Road" with safe conduct to Canada. Nebraska City was one of the stations on the system of which old John Brown was general superintendent. Here were rested, fed and cared for, scores of weary and hungry fugitives. In a deep ravine just north of the cemetery was a cave which was undoubtedly a resting and hiding place for the poor creatures. This cave was on the property of a Mr. Mayhew whose wife w.as a sister of Kagie, one of Brown's trusted followers. We visited the cave in the summer of 1H60. It was about sixteen feet deep and the entrance was from a deep ravine and well hidden by the brush, so that the casu- al observer would not discover it. A hollow log was used as a ventilator and reached the surface of the ground. The owner always claimed to be a rank democrat, but we could not get him to explain the use of that cave. It may aleo sound strange to young Nebraskans that the rebel flag once floated over our Nebraska. Some prominent HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 29 men of that day are inclined to dispute this episode, but we know of what we write, for we saw the hateful thing with our own eyes. It will be remembered that South Carolina, the leader in the secession movement, adopted a flag that fairly represented the venom that rankled in the bosom of the deluded people, "The rattle-snake flag." This most hateful emblem of treason embellished with huge and most vicious looking reptile, was found waving over the old block house one bright morning in the winter of lS(iO and IHBl, but Ne- braska had not seceded neither had she any intentions in that line. Just who was the guilty party was never quite plain, but grave suspicions rested on one Augustas F. Harvey, better known as "Ajax. Mr. Harvey was a strong pro- slavery democrat with secession proclivities. He was a man of marked abilities as a writer and was shortly after this editor of the Nebraska City News and later editor and publisher of a paper in Lincoln. He was a rank partisan and appeared to have no love for the government. That rattle-snake flag could not long float m the breezes of Nebraska. As soon as the good people of the city had awakened to what was going on that reptile flag came down in a hurry and the Star Spangled banner again waved over the land of free Nebraska. In the early spring of 1861 when President Lincoln called for troops, a war meeting of the citizens was held. Many prominent citizens were present. We well remember a young lawyer with a large, bushy head of long, raven hair, a man of grit and enthusiasm. This was O. P. Mason, later one of our most distinguished lawyers and once our chief justice. J. L. Boydston was present and lent all his force in awakening the war spirit and in organizing the Nebraska 1st regiment. General W.B. Burnett, surveyor general of the Territory, a man that had distinguished himself on many bloody fields in Mexico, made a little speech that thrilled our young heart as never before. ^ He loved the old flag under whose folds he had carried victory on many a hard fought battle-field, and now when recreant hands would trail it in the dust his whole soul rebelled against the thought. He was ready to sink the partisan in the patriot. We will never forget his eloquent 30 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA peroration wherein he quoted words of pathos, born of love for his country, the immortal words of Drake: "Flag of the true hearts only hope and home By Angel hands to valor given, Thy stars hath lit the welkin dome And all thy hues were born in Heaven." A most prominent character of that day was Alexander Majors, who was at the head and was general manager of the great freighting establishment of Majors, Russell and Wadell. The business of the concern was of immense pro- portions, employing in a single season four thousand men and thirty thousand oxen with thousands of great prairie schooners that would carry ten thousand pounds of freight each and which required six yoke of strong oxen to haul. Twenty-six of these great wagons were required to make one train and three hundred and twelve oxen to furnish the motive power. The drivers were known by the euphonias name of "bull whackers." Each train had its wagon master and assistant. These were shrewd wirey frontiersman, who were thoroughly schooled in all matter pertaining to the "wild and wooly west." They were mounted on broncho ponies. Eacli train was provided with two or three extra drivers. Every man in the train (about thirty) was furnished a pocket bible as a protection against moral contamination, two Colt's revolvers and a huge butcher knife as protection against Indians. Each man wore a broad brimmed hat which many times bore some strange device. The driver carried a great whip, the snap of which was a terror to the poor brutes under his control. Every wagon would had straped to the gear an extra pole, one or two yokes and an ingenious contrivance for greasing the wagon. There was a chip saclc hung to each wagon box in which dry cow chips were saved and carried to do the cooking and were filled during the day by the drivers. There was scarce- ly any timber along the road this side of the mountain. At night these wagons would be placed in a circle with but one opening through which the cattle could be hurried in times of danger or sudden attack. Vigilant guards were maintained every night. The camp must be continually on a war foot- History of seward county, Nebraska 31 ing, as prowling bands of Indians were constantly on the watch for opportunities to plunder, and with all these pre- cautions there were many trains pillaged, the wagons burned and cattle stolen and frequently many brave men perished. The "bull whackers" were a tough looking crew, but for all that the mass of them were noble men, in disguise. Many of them were finely educated and some of them graduates of eastern colleges and generally their hearts were as large as the hearts of the oxen they drove. They were generous to a fault, but ready to resent an insult at the drop of the hat. They would go all lengths to assist a comrade or other person in distress. While they were schooled to hardships and danger, in caring for the sick of their number they were as gentle and kind as a woman. Mr. Majors was a most remarkable man. He was illiter- ate so far as school education was concerned, but in a business sense he was wise beyond most men. A man of sterling integrity, of wide experience and a most ardent pro- fessor of the Christian faith, a preacher of the gospel of Christ. Wherever the Sabbath overtook him, in the mount- ain fastesnesses, on plains or at the city, he would gather his men about him and preach the Word of Life to them, and impress upon their minds the necessity of purity of life, of honest purposes, of high aspirations and a remembrance of their mother's teaching at the old home. In his contracts with the men it was required that they should abstain from profanity, and all kinds of immoral conduct. This had a very beneficial effect upon the boys. It was the aim of Mr. Majors to send the boys home to their parents better, rather there worse than when they had left the parential roof. He paid liberal w^ages for the round trip sick or well unless dis missed for misconduct or neglect of duty. Many of the boys saved handsome sums or money. Merchants, and especially clothiers, wore broad smiles upon their faces, when they heard of one of the trains a]3proach- ing the city, for it meant a harvest to them. Sometimes as many as thirty suits of clothes were sold over one counter in an evening. After the long tramp to Salt Lake and re- turned, the boys w^anted new clothes to wear home. At the outfitting station in the northwestern part of the city were 32 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA several large warehouses, one outfitting store, shops and several cozy dwellings and a nice little park which was pro- vided with seats, a speaker's stand where, during the sum- mer and fall there were held religious services every Sun- day. Most pictures have their shady side. Strange as it may seem to us such a good man, of such sterling qualities, Mr. Majors was a slave holder and actually brought slaves in- to the territory some of which we saw in the summer of 1860. If we remember correctly the last of them took passage on the underground railroad in the fall of 1860, about election time. It is safe to conclude that no slave ever suffered from cruel treatment at the hands of Mr. Majors. All the freight and most of the immigrants of that day came by steamers. The ari'ival of a steamer was a matter of great interest, for it brought supplies of all kinds also the mails and many passengers. Whenever the whistle of an incoming boat was heard there would be a general rush to the levee. Some went through curiosity, some on business, others to meet wife, mother or some friend. The river steamer was a thing of beauty and a joy to all beholders. One of the first things of importance, that many of our pioneers thought of, was the planting of orchards. Early as the fall of 1860 there were several orchards in bearing- We remember Joel Draper, J. H. Masters and a Mr. Gregg, each had bearing trees. It was my pleasant privilege in 1892 to visit J. H. Masters and was shown the first apple tree planted in the territory, planted by his own hands the day he first arrived, March 16, 1855. Its name is "Williams Favorite. " It began bearing in 1859 and bore fruit up to that date, 1892. Mr. Masters brought seven trees from Illinois with him and the planting of them was the first work of his long and noble career in Nebraska. We rejoice that the good old people yet live to enjoy the fruits of a well spent life. There were many we would be glad to mention in these reminiscences, who helped nobly in laying deep and broad foundations for this great arid prosperous common wealth. A few are yet living and are residents of the beautiful city, some in other places, but the great mass of them are sleep- ing, resting from their labors. We must mention some of HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 38 the brave souls whom it was our pleasure to know. Rev. J. M. Young, Bishop Talbot, Dr. Lemon, Rev. Tagert, all gone to their reward. The Master said in each case, "Well done my good and faithful servants, come up higher." Then there was good old father Rev. Giltner, who mixed the mortor with his own hands for the first Presbyterian church in Nebraska, and through all the years up to 1903, (when he was told, "it is enough,") he had jjroclaimed the gospel of his Lord and Master on the western border. He died at Aurora, "full of years and full of honors." Then there was H. K. Raymond who did so much to develop educational interests in the city. In the legal profession were Judge O. P. Mason, W. H. Taylor, W. L. Boydston, Judge Kinney, and John Croxton. In the medical profession were Dr. Bowen, the oldest physician in the territory. Dr. F. Renner, and Dr. Mathews. In the art preservative was Thomas Morton, who set the first type and printed the first paper in Nebraska, The Palandium of Belevue, dated November 14, 1854. Shortly after this Mr, Morton moved into the upper story of the old Block house and established the Nebraska City News. He owned and controlled the News as long as he lived. Hon. J. Sterling Morton was its first editor, be- ginning in 1855. O. H. Irish founded the Peoples Press in 1859. Milton M. Reynolds edited the News in 1860. Hathaway and Ma- thias (Mr. Hathaway died at Staplehurst recently) edited the Press just at the time of the fire. These were all faith- ful friends of Nebraska. Among the noble band of mothers that have gone to their reward was Mrs. Caroline Joy Morton, Mrs. Mary T. Mason, Mrs. Joel Draper and many others that we would like to name. Of the few faithful servants that still remain are J. J. Hostetler,*N. S. Harding, E. G. Hawley, Mrs. Darvin Peck- ham, Mrs. Robert Hopps and J. J. Imhoff. Among those who are gone we must not forget, our ancient and Squatter Governor Wallace Pearham. He was county treasurer in *Mr. Hostetler has died since the above was written. 34 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 1861 and 1862. Also sheriff Shroat and Hon. Jacob Dawson who afterwards helped so much in founding Lincoln. Then there was Col. Hiram P. Downs, who fought like a tiger in the war and was promoted to a brigadier generalship. One remarkable feature of the Nebraska pioneers was their marked individuality. There was scarcely one that if you chance to meet, whom it would be possible to ever forget. Every man was here for a purpose and every one was a host. They were here laying foundations upon which to rear this great and beautiful Nebraska. How well they did their work is fully attested by the glorious common- wealth that is rising in symmetry and beauty on the founda- tions which were laid by their hands. As an appendix to the above, we are able to give an extract from a private letter received from Hon. J. Sterling Morton date of January 25, 1893. It seems to be such a clear statement of historical facts as will forever settle some questions that hitherto have been in doubt, that we are glad to give it a place in these pages: Dear W. W. Cox:— The Nebraska City News was tirst published at Sydney, Iowa, and dated at Nebraska City in the autumn of 1854 and really moved to the city in December 1854. Then it was the property of the Nebraska City Townsite Company. In 1855 that company hired the writer to edit the paper at the princely sum of fifty dollars per month and was em- ployed for one year. I was authorized to hire printers and discharge them at will. At about this time I formed the ac- quaintance of Thomas Morton at Belevue, who set for the Palandium the first .stick of type ever set in Nebraska. I called him to act as foreman for the News, and with his help we issued the first number of the News ever issued in Nebraska April 12, 1855, from the original old Blockhouse of old Port Kearney, which had been built by the govern- ment in li-i47. In 1860, when the city was about wiped out by fire, the News office, among other things, was destroyed. Then the Mortons bought of Jacob Dawson the Wyoming Telescope office and all it contained in papers and printing- material and besides they purchased all the material of a HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 35 large establishment at Otoe City eight miles south of the city on the Missouri river. The old files show that the News for a long time had quite a successful career under the two Mortons. After the fire the owners of the Press (it also being destroyed) went to Omaha and purchased of Dr. G. C. Monell, brought it to the city, thence took it to Lincoln, and on it was printed the first number of the com- monwealth which was "John, the Baptist" of the State Journal. W. W. Carder was editor and publisher. But the first number of the Press was run oif on the press of the Wyoming Telescope as stated by the first number of the paper after the fire. This was by the courtesy of Jacob Daw- son. Then the Press was owned by Hon. O. H. Irish but subsequently sold to Mathias and Hathaway and Joseph E. Lamaster was financially interested in the concern. The rattlesnake flag episode, I never heard of it until I heard of it in your paper. It is .strange that the papers of that day made no note of such an episode, and I think that Dr. Renner is right when he declares that it was a joke of his own, that he personally put it up and took it down, the aforesaid rattlesnake emblem of secession and war. Signed, J. Sterling Morton. Circumstantial evidence is all against Mr. Morton's the- ory. There were plenty beside the strong republican like Dr. Renner that would like to see that flag float. CII A I»^l^ KU I I I, Salt Basin— The (ircat Wilderness — First Fianie House West of Neb- raska City— Wm. T. Donovan's Home— Antelojie on Gov. Square —Appearance of the Basin- Exciting Ride — Early Settlers of Lan- caster County Salt Business -Darwin Peckhani — First Men Met at Basin — Salt in (xreat D(>niand — A Corner on Salt— Visits of Distin- guished Men — Men Engaged in Salt Trade — First Frame House in lianuast(>r ('onnty- Making a Collin — S(mie Well-Dressed People — 1H()'* Prosperous- Indian Story, Cooked and \V(>11 Salted Fourth of July, lS(i2 The First Flag— Visit of Rev. Young and Party Found- ing of Lancast(>r--Yankee Hill — Old (^lay County John Cadnian — H. W. I'arker and J. S. (rregory — C^ounty Seat Election in lS(i4 — Indian War Dance — Great Fish Story — Game — Mi.ssouri Rebels — Fiist r^irths — Court Scenes- First District Court — Indian Scare — One Sad F(^ature Wonderful Transformation Is it a Dream-land? Wliilt' we were yv\ iicilizcn of N(>hiMsl\;i City in Il\('t';irly sniimicr (>r \^{)\, work l)('in<4" so .sen rcc ;munty ii(>af tlu> Uasin. lie ^"a\'e a ^lowin^- account of the country and of the ^reat possil)ilities of t h(> salt inticrests thei-e. So we ariMUiitul our alTairs and accompanied him honuv The usual mo(lt> of tiMA'cl in those >4'oi)d old days was lirst. proxide sonu» *'<4'rul)" to tak'e alon*:: and a crud(> campinii' out lit. \Vil(» titled us out with a l)asl<(>t ol lunch and a hlankct ortwoaiul friend Dono- \an had thecoll'ee pot and I'r.Ninj^' pan. ()nr con\<'yiince was an o.\ team and an old lundnM" wa*::- on. We set sail on the houndh^ss prairie just aftiMMioon and made our lirsl camp lire on Wilson ("reek ahout ei^hl miles from home. A Tier passing" the Major's farm four miles out. HISTORY OF SF.WAKn t orXTY. NEBRASKA 37 we entered upon an tx-ean or wua prairie. For some miles, or until we reached Wilson Creek, the only sigm of civiliza- tion was the trail and the surveyoi"s' stakes and monnds. Near our eampingr ^'ound at the little rocky foi-dHon.Wm. J. Thompson had a claim. He it was that became one of Sew- ard county pioneei"s a year later. A short distance away Mr. Wlisoii uvea. He was the man for whom the civek was named. The next day's jour- ney over the rolling hills led us by the McKee settlement twenty miles further out. That was on the Nemaha, near the site of the present town of Syracuse, but Syi'acuse had not got there yet. James Iler. that later ixH.unLe a eitizeu of the Pleasant Dale settlement, also lived just by the McKee ranch, as we called it. McKee's folks (a widow and two sons) had a very comfortable fi-ame dwelling, the only one between the Major s farm and the sundown, so far as we ever heard. It is quite certain there was not a fi'ame house in Ne- bi"aska west of that point and probably not in Colorado or Utah, as we have observed all the older buildings in the entire west wei"e of adobe We have noticed that all the old- er buildings at Denver and Salt Lake City wei-e something beside frame. So we believe that the city of Sacramento was the near- est frame house to the westwai-d. The next improvement we met was that of John Roberts on the west of Nemaha. near where Palmyi-a now stands. Some few miles westwai-d from this Mr. Meeoham had settled on a elaiiA- Mr.Meechani was a unique character that started to Salt Lake with the other Mormons, but somehow he fell out of the ranks or they put him out. we are not t-ertain which. He made us welcome and we ivmained over night with him. Right here we must tell a little story. Mr. Meecham. some years later, thought he was well titted to be a county eonkmissioner of Lan- caster County. He managed somehow to get a nomina- tion and made the canvass and got seaix^ly no votes, and upon hearing the election news he remarked that he ran to find c>ut what people thought of him. and he had found out. His claim was not far fix">ni wheiv Bennett station now stands. Fi"om this point it was an unbivken wilderness until we 38 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA reached the Salt Creek settlement at Richard Wallingford's farm, which is located about seven miles south of O Street Lincoln on or near the 14th street road leading to Cortland and Beatrice. Mr. Donovan lived at the time on what was known as the Cardwell farm, on the Creek just a little south of the Rock Island bridge. Please don't think the Rock Island brid|?e was there then. We reached Mr. Donovan's house just as the sun was sinking behind the western hills. The sight of the long line of timber and the beautiful valley of Salt Creek was enough to inspire a "wooden man" and put some life into it. Then you may imagine the feelings of one usually enthusiastic when something grandly beautiful comes his way. Three days were occupied in making this trip, that less ambitious people can now make in ninety minutes. Something good to eat and a night of rest put us in good plight to visit the Basin and see its wonders. JuJy 2nd, 1861, Joseph, the elder son of Captain Donovan, was to be our companion and guide. The hinder part of an ox wagon with a stiif tongue, a couple of tough ash poles fastened to the axle with a short board fastened across the ends of them served for a spring seat. Our carriage was complete. Buck and Bright were hitched to this unique vehicle and we started down to Lincoln, no! to Lancaster, no, but down Salt Creek (we hardly ever go up Salt Creek). We did not land in the Pen as we went by. Neither in the Insane Asylum although folks perhaps would think us good subjects for an asylum had they seen us that morning. The big flies that invested the low bottom land acted as persuaders for our oxen and at times our ride was most exciting as the oxen would dodge into the brush or tall weeds to brush the ugly tlies off their bodies. The trail led down the bottom and crossed O st., (to be), about where the U.P. palatial depot now graces the valley, and we found a ford just by the mouth of Oak Creek. Here was an old trail made by Salt Pilgrims in former years, but it was nearly overgrown by tall sunflowers. At this time the only sign of civilization on the land now covered by fifty thousand busy people was two dim trails, one that we were traveling which led down the valley to the Morand and Loder settle- HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 39 ments at and below Stevens Creek and one leading eastward to Weeping Water. Just as we were crossing the western part of the site of the future grand city, we had the exciting pleasure of see- ing for the first time in life a drove (perhaps thirty or forty) of beautiful antelope that were cantering across the prairie about where Government Square now is. Their white cotton tails shining in the bright sunlight with their curious antics were most bewitchingly beautiful. One noticeable feature was the splendid grove of majestic elms, entersperced with cotton woods and honey locusts. Could that grove have been saved, it would now be of ines- timable value as a park for the city. It brings strange thoughts to mind now after a lapse of nearly forty-four years as we heboid the transformation wrought by the hand of man. Of the surging throngs that gather in those streets, but few can realize what one genera- tion of people have accomplished. As we were on the way to the Salt Basin we crossed the Creek at the ford and had a struggle in making our way through the tall sunflowers between the ford and the Basin. But when in full view of this wonderland the sight that met our vision was enchant- ing. There was a fresh summer breeze that reminded us of the breezes along the ocean beach. The great Basin cov- ering three or four hundred acres was as smooth as a pane of glass and looked just like a vast slab of highly polished clouded marble. Theie were two deserted log cabins, one with a roof and some one had borrowed the roof of the other. They were covered with shakes. Now in this generation who knows what shakes are? Well we will tell you, they are boards split out of logs from two and one half to three feet long. They were sometimes nailed on cross beams and some- times weighed down by heavy poles. There were the wrecks of some abandoned salt furnaces. Later one of these cabins was tenanted by the writer. All was wild and solitary, but our soul was filled with rapturous delight. The bracing air filled with ozone or salt, we hardly know which. The shrill notes of the swarms of wikl geese, brant and pellicans all lent a charm. The nearest family was my friend Donovan five miles away. 40 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA We remember the following named families that were living in old Lancaster County, viz: Wm. T. Donovan, Joel Mason, Richard and Jackson Wallingford, Festus Reed, Dr. Maxwell, James Morand and brother, Wm. Shirley, John Wedencamp, Chas. Retslaff, J. D. Maine, Aaron Wood, Mr. Meecham and Joseph Forest, a bachelor. In the south half of Old Clay we found John Cadman, Mr. Etherton, J. L. Davison, the Prey families, three fami- lies we believe, the old people, John and brother, and Elmer Keys. This is all we remember. Then John and Lewis Loder lived just across the north line of Lancaster on Salt Creek. We returned to our home in Nebraska City and made preparation to embark in the salt busines to "save our bacon," however we did not have much bacon to save, but we had to do something to feed the wife and babies. We formed a partnership with Darwin Peckham, after- wards a prominent citizen of Lincoln for many years where his handy-work was manifest in the construction of many important buildings, such as the old stone structure on the corner of O and tenth street, where Sweet's bank was located. On the 2()th of August we landed at the Basin just as a rain storm came up to greet us and make it pleasant "you know." We camped in the old log cabin and took formal pos- session. At this time there were many pilgrims arriving and departing. That night we were not sole tenants of the cabin. Milton Langdon and another man from Cass. County happened there. They were on a hunting expedition. Old uncle Dan Morgan from the Blue river country was there after salt and right there that stormy night we formed two new acquaintances that continued all the remainder of their lives. When the morning dawned our company all left us and "we were monarch of all we surveyed." The first thing in order was to put the cabin in order, so that we could batch it there with some comfort. We hurriedly made us a salt pan out of sheet iron and planks which we brought along and set up a furnace con- structed of sod, went to the timber,chopped and hauled a few loads of wood and were ready for business. The weather HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 41 cleared and soon the water became strong, we soon were ready to try our hands as manufacturers of salt. Manufacturing salt so far away from the markets would naturally look like a strange venture. So we will ex- plain: Salt was scarce and very high all through the west in war time. It was gladly taken at the basin by pilgrims at two dollars per hundred pounds. Gur customers came from afar. The people came by the hundreds all the balance of the summer and fall from the river counties, from northwest Missouri from Kansas and Iowa. It was the only show to get salt. At this time the roads were well broken for there was a constant stream of people coming and going. When the weather was dry salt would rise to the surface of the smooth plain and people could scrape it and gather vas-t amounts of it, sometimes a wagon load or mor^^ in a day, but just a sprinkle of rain and all was spoiled. Going for salt was like going fishing, it was all in luck. Some would make a long trip of from one to two hundred miles and just get there in time to see a shower ruin all their hopes of salt. We "soon caught on," as the saying was, and concluded to help these people out and get pay for it. We kept our fur- nace running day and night and soon accumulated a little stock of salt. Now would come a drove of people, w^hen the scraping was good, and they would get a vast amount, more crude salt than they could haul. So we would trade them fine manufactured salt at $2 per hundred and take their scrapings at twenty-five cents per hundred. They w^ould go home happy with plenty of scraped salt for the stock and plenty of nice salt for their meat and table use. They left us happy for we knew it would rain some day wdien the other crowd would come and our scraped salt would sudden- ly rise to a dollar per hundred. Human nature "you know," we had a little corner on sait, that's all. When people came and there was no salt to scrape we accommodated people in more ways than one. They must have salt and we wanted wood so we would hire them to cut and haul and chop wood and pay in salt. Salt was "legal tender." Sometimes peo- ple would bring their molasses pans, build a furnace and boil their ow^n salt, and when they would get tired we would 42 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA trade them out of their furnace and pans and what wood they had on hand, and if any provisions to spare, we would trade for that also. We run a regular exchange business. Some would bring apples, butter, chickens, a dressed pig, potatoes etc. , all to trade for salt. Everything that the farm would produce was hauled and exchanged for salt. Soon, hoM'ever, we had help. Others came and started business, but the crowds increased and we all had plenty to do. Some people would make arrangements to rent a furnace of us during a night. They would spend the day hauling wood and at night would boil salt and get a supply. Any way and every way to get some salt. It is amusing at this time to think over the trades w^e made. One fellow brought a great tent for camping purposes and we traded him out of it. Another fellow brought a tine suit of clothes and we took them in. One company came from Winterset, Iowa, with tw^o four horse teams with live thousand pounds of good Hour, and we took it in and gave them pound for pound, or live thousand pounds of salt. We w^ere ready to trade for anything but yellow dogs. We drew the line on yellow dogs. We had some distinguished visitors that fall while we were batching. One rainy night Hon. O. P. Mason and Hon. J. Sterling Morton were our guests. We gave them quarters in our tent and as we were chief cooks of the occa- sion we put in our best licks at baking slapjacks for onr company. Somehow^ friend Morton was not partial to slap- jacks but the distinguished judge ate as if he had been hun- gry for a month. The evening was spent in telling spicy yarns. We also had a pleasant visit from his excellency, Governor Saunders and Hon. P. W. Hitchcock, afterwards our United States Senators. In our rough garb as a fron- tier salt maker, we seemed in poor plight to properly enter- tain such distinguished guests, but we put the best foot for- ward. One thing that gives us great satisfaction, the ac- quaintances there formed ripened into friendships that lasted as long as life remained with these good people. Among the many that we met first that fall were the Hon. Wm. R. Davis and J. N. Beaty. They, like other pilgrims, were hungry for salt. They came and camped perhaps two weeks. Little then did we think that our lives for many HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 43 years would be so closely knit together in building up Seward and Seward county. They were then citizens of Cass county. Late in the fall we moved the family to Salt Creek and occupied part of the Donovan mansion on the Cardwell place, it being a double log house Of course the salt business came to a dead stand-still during the winter and there was not much to do, only to prepare wood for fuel. Uncle Dick Wallingford somehow learned that we had graduated as carpenter and he made an otter to trade a cow for carpenter work. So we put in all the good w^eather building him a frame house, and thus it came about that we built for him the first frame house in Lancaster county in the winter of 1861 and 1862. We made the doors of black walnut lumber that was about as hard as glass. We dressed, tongued and grooved hard white ash flooring. The building was sided with black walnut lumber and shingled with split and shaved walnut shingles. We also call to mind that one dark night, Uncle Dick coming to our house at th^ Basin and routing us out with the sad news that his mother (Grandma Wallingford) was dead and requested that we go with him and help make a coffin. We had the long tramp in the dark seven miles, gathered up the necessary tools, ground them up, and when daylight came we went to a pile of this hard walnut lumber, made our selections and after breakfast went to work with a will and at two p. m. we had a better casket, save the trim- mings, than can be purchased of the undertakers now-a-days for seventy-five dollars. On May 1, 1862, we took our abode at the Basin with the good wife and two babes. That same day a county con- vention was held at the Basin but we were so busy putting our house in order that w^e paid no attention to the proceed- ings. We remember, however, that about every man in the county was there. Two or three days later Milton Langdon and family arrived and located at the smaller Basin, a mile or so north and east of us. We had gotten a pretty good floor laid in our cabin and a nice coat of whitewash, both inside and outside, before Sunday came. It was a most beautiful spring Sabbath morning with 44 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA the green grass springing up, tlie merry twittering of the birds. We were resting and enjoying ourselves in a lonely sort of a way when we caught sight of a gentleman and lady coming up the trail from the eastward. They were well dressed. We could hardly believe our eyes. Who on earth are theyV we said to each other. Well it proved to be Mr. Milton Langdon and his excellent wife. They had heard of us and had crossed Oak Creek on a foot log and come to form our acquaintance. It was like an angel visit. Mrs. Langdon and wife were fast friends from that day until death separated them twenty-five years later. The year 1SH2 was a time of wonderful prosperity at the Basin. Throngs of people were coming and going constantly and the Basin was a hive of industry. Other parties started salt works and many sod houses were built, and some made dugouts. It was like a great bee hive. Now we must indulge in a little story. There was an old fel low named Benj. Vanthusen camping alone and making salt. He was sort of a recluse. No body knew where he came from or where he went. One day,*in the winter of 1H62-63, a lot of Indians were camped not far away, and one young buck was strolling around and came to Ben's furnace. He was carry- ing a cane in his hand. Ben had become somewhat tired of the Indians bothering him in one way and another so he was a little ill-natured. The young stalwart approached with the usual salutation of "how'' and reached out his cane to Ben. Ben reached out to take it when the Indian struck him a sharp blow across the knuckles. Ben, quick as thought, gave Mr. Injun a blow with the list under the ear that landed him backward and he fell on his back into a pan of boiling salt. The chap gave a sharp shriek, jumped and ran into the swamp yelling all sorts of bloody murder in the Indian tongue. He was thoroughly well cooked and salted to keep. Other braves came to his rescue and carried him to cam]). The little settlement became suddenly alarmed, fear- ing that the Indians would be enraged and seek vengeance. A hun-iod consultation was had and a committee of citizens appointed to visit the camp and learn the temper of the red skins. The man was found scalded nigh unto death and while the poor creature was writhing with agony the other HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 45 Indians were pokino^ fun at him and calling him "squaw man" and pointing their fingers scornfully at him. Finally Ben Vanthusen appeared on the scene and the Indians at once began lionizing him as if to further tantalize the poor unfortunate. Finally they made a litter out of a buffalo robe and carried him away, whether to die or live we know not. Now comes the important epoch in the history of Lan- caster county, one frought with far reaching results as the sequel proves, the founding of Lancaster. On the morning of July Fourth, 1H(32, wife suggested that we celebrate by gathering a lot of gooseberries, of which there were great quantities. Just as we had filled our buck- ets, we heard some one hallooing, and as we emerged from the brush, who should we see but Elder Young and party, consisting of Rev. Peter Schamp, Dr. McKesson, Mr. Warnes, Luke Lavender, and Jacob Dawson. They were in search of a suitable location for a colony. They were patriotic, and had not forgotten the flag. Dinner was quickly provided and disposed of, the neighbors called in, and we had a cele- bration that was a feast to the sioul. As the dear old elder talked to us of our blessed flag, and how it had been trailed in the dust by recreant hands, and the mighty struggle that was going on to maintain its supremacy, how our hearts swelled with emotion as we realized that our country and our all was at the moment trembling in the balance. This was probably the first time our national flag ever kissed the breezes of Lancaster county, and it was an occasion long to be remembered by all the participants. Some, we know not how many, of that little group have gone to their long home. Uncle Jacob Dawson lived just long enough to see the foundations of Lincoln well laid, and was called away. Our dear old friend. Elder Young, lived to see the city of his founding great and strong, and march- ing forward to greater achievements, and "he was gathered to his fathers full of years and full of honors." In the second week in July, and after making a thorough examination of the surrounding country, the party made the settlement on the land where Lincoln now stands, and dedi- cated a portion of section twenty-two for a town site, and christened it "Lancaster." 46 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Lancaster did not grow as more modern towns do. A few settlers began to arrive, and settled on the beautiful lands in the vicinity, but not many cared to try their hands at building a city just then. Town building was a slow process in those days so far inland. It must be remembered that the bill providing for the Union Pacific railroad had passed but the previous winter, and the eastern terminus had not been fixed by the president. Our nearest railroad was at St. Joseph, Mo., and Ottumwa, Iowa. And further it was yet very questionable as to wheth- er our upland prairie was of any value for agricultural pur- poses. The farms were all yet confined to the creek bottoms. Prairie fires would sweep the prairies just as soon as the grass was dry in the fall and leave the roots exposed to the scorching rays of the autumn sun and then to the frosts of winter. The snow would gather into huge drifts, there be- ing nothing to hold it except the ravines. This resulted in very short grass crops on the upland, and frequently there was scarcely grass eaough to hide a garter snake in mid- summer. People saw the fact that the prairie produced but little grass, but were slow to discover the causes, and were ready to condemn the land as worthless for cultivation. Some are led to believed that great changes have taken place in the general character of tlie soil, as well as in the climate. We have frequently been asked if this land was not all cov- ered with buffalo grass. To this question we answer most emphatically, nc . It might have been at some remote period, but never since white men have known it. Many are of the opinion that it scarcely ever rained in those early days. That is certainly a mistake. The summer of 1860 produced scarcely any rain (we well remember the year of the Kansas famine; we resided at Nebraska City at the time), and to help matters along there were sixteen days and nights of continuous hot south wind. It was almost insufferably hot, so stifling it was that people could not bear to sit in the winds, even late in the evenings, but would be compelled to seek a wind- brake. Except that memorable year, rains were just as plentiful and as well distributed through the growing seasons in those years as now, and vegetation, where it had a fair show, made the same luxuriant growth. But we do HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 47 not wonder that the overland immigrant who passed through this country in the early spring or late in the fall pro- nounced this a desert land, for as far as the eye could reach, in all directions, nothing could be seen but black prairie. Most dreary indeed was the spectacle. There being nothing to retain the moisture, and the sun bearing down on the de- fenseless head, and the mirage playing in the distance like some specter, it did not seem that it ever could be a fit abode for civilized man. It took men and women of strong nerve and great faith to attempt to build a home in this wilderness then, but there were some brave souls that were equal to the hour, and such were the men who founded Lancaster. The story of the founding of the embryo city, and the struggle over the location of the county-seat, is an inter- esting theme. The settlement of Yankee Hill (where the insane hospital now stands), under the leadership of John Cadman and Wm. Fields, made an interesting and energetic fight for the prize. These men looked with jealously upon the Lancaster colony. Our friend Cadman was wide awake, and with a fertile brain was ready for almost any emergency. It will be remembered that the boundaries of the county were materially changed in the winter of lH(3"2-63. Friend Cadman secured an election to the legislature from old Clay county, John S. Gregory was by some trick of legerdemain elected to represent Lancaster, and Hon. H. W. Parker was sent from Gage. The trio each had an axe to grind. Parker wanted to make the county-seat secure for Beatrice, and Cadman w^anted to spoil Elder Young's little game and make a new^ town and clothe it with the honors of the county-seat. So they arranged and carried through the scheme to eliminate Clay county from the map of Nebraska, and give to Gage the south twelve miles, and the north twelve miles to Lancaster, in the interest of Cadman and his friends. Thus it came that Gage and Lancaster are each thirty-six miles long, and that Clay county was buried out of sight to be resurrected at a later day farther to the west. We have never been able to learn just what interest our friend Gregory was to have, but suppose he was to be endorsed for the post oftice at a salary of one dollar per month, and also to have his name perpetuated by re-naming 48 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA the great salt basin "Gregory Basin," both of which he secured; but the honors of his office and the name were very much hke a soap babble — they got away in a very short time. Cadman and his friends lost no time in fixing upon a point for their nfew town at Yankee Hill, and then came the tug of war. About this time, w^hat w^as known as the steam wagon road, was located from Nebraska City to the west, and cross- ing the Salt creek fixed at Yankee Hill. x\n appropriation of live hundred dollars was secured by the legislature for a bridge on Salt creek in Lancaster county, to be located by territorial commissioners. When these gentlemen came to fix the location of the bridge, the Lancaster party, headed by Elder Young, and the Yankee Hill folks, led by Cadman, each made an earnest showing why they should have the bridge, and we take it for granted that each succeeded in convincing the commissioners that their claim was the best, for they divided the money between the two points, and thus with the aid of private help, two good bridges were secured. Each ijlace made slow progress; a little store and a blacksmith shop were secured by each. Lancaster had the help of the salt interest to assist it, while its rival had the freight road. Each had energetic men as leaders, and they were equally as well situated, but Lancaster had the sym- pathy of the greater number of the people of the county. Friend Chadman had aroused the ire of all his old neighbors on the head of Salt creek. They were very sore over hav- ing all of their pleasant dreams of a county seat at Olathe suddenly vanish, and their county disappear, or torn in two and swallowed up by her greedy sisters. When the county seat problem came before people for settlement, the Lan- caster folks had a walkaway, and secured a grand triumph at the polls. This county seat election occured in the autum of 1^!(54 and was held at the house of the writer, just south of the Great Basin. Notwithstanding his defeat in his pet project of found- ing a county seat, Cadman secured a return to the legisla- ture for several terms and had an honorable part in mould- ing the destiny of the county, in helping to secure the cap- ital removal bill, and securing the location of it within her HISTORY OF SEWAlin COUNTY, NEBRASKA 49 bordei's; and while Elder J. M. Youn^ may justly be honored as the founder of Lincoln, to John Cadman belongs the hon- or of doing splendid work in securing a grand triumph in removing the capital and securing the principal benefits to his county; and while he did not realize the full fruition of his hopes in getting it at Yankee Hill, we are glad to know that he has been duly rewarded, and that in his green old age he was blessed with plenty of this world's goods, and friends innumerable to brighten his pathway. Long live the memory of Hon. John Cadman! In the early summer of 1862, we had the pleasure of helping to raise a log house for Charlie Calkins, on Middle Creek, on what was afterwards known as the Horton farm, and about five miles west of the city. This was the first log cabin between the Basin and the Grand Island settlement. In the beautiful month of June our good wife made a visit to Nebraska City, and left us alone "with our glory" for a little season-. One afternoon a throng of Omahas camped at the head of the Basin, but we thought nothing of it as it was a common thing to see a great number of Indians on their way to the summer hunting grounds on the Republican river. John Chambers' family lived a little way from our cabin. We went to bed as usual that night, with our bright saber under our pillow, and a rifle standing within easy reach. Near midnight we heard a (not very) "gentle tap- ping, as of some one rapping at our cabin door." "What's the matter?"' we cried, "Matter enough," says poor tremb- ling John, his wife clinging to him like grim death, and crazed with fear, "the Indians are upon us. For God's sake what shall we do?" Whether we dressed or not, you may guess. We forgot that we ever had a saber or a gun. When we awoke our ears were greeted with the most unearthly sounds, as if ten thousand devils were turned loose. We all run, as most folks do when badly scared, and we hid as best we could among the hills and awaited the coming of events, which we expected every minute. The pandemonium con- tinued, but came no nearer. We waited patiently for the enemy, but they did not come. We were disappointed. The Indians were expecting to meet their mortal foes (the Sioux) 50 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA on their hunting grounds, and were having a war dance. "Only this, and nothing more." Salt creek and its principal tributary, Oak creek, were wonderfully well supplied with fish. Black suckers and buf- falo were the leading varieties. The settlers had plenty of sport and much profit in fishing. We all had plenty of fish. Great numbers were caught that would weigh ten to fifteen pounds, and we have seen them that tipped the beam at thir- ty-five pounds. Elk and antelope were plentiful, and the nimrods of that day had great and exciting sport in the chase. Some of the settlers spent a great portion of their time roaming the prai- ries in search of game. Many of them never came home without a supply of meat. If elk could not be found or capt- ured, some luckless freighter's steer had to sufl'er the ordeal of being converted into elk meat. Many a steer has under- gone the change in short order, and Mr. Steer's only safety was in staying close to camp. The Basin was a great place for wild water fowls to congregate. Geese, brant, swan, ducks, and pelicans were there by the thousands, and it was the hunter's paradise. Wild fruits, such as grapes, plums, gooseberries, and alderberries, were abundant along the streams, and were gathered by the bushel. As the Union armies regained the rebel strongholds of Missouri, great numbers of rebels found it convenient to find other quarters, and many of them seemed to have the idea that salt would save their bacon, consequently hordes of them would congregate at the Basin, and frequently they would show their rebellious s]3irit in acts and words that it was very unpleasant for Union men to endure. At one time they be- came so insolent and threatening that the Union men of the valley thought it necessary to organize for self-defense. Our Mis.souri friends came to the wise conclusion that "discretion was the better part of valor," so nothing very serious oc- curred. Elder Young preached the first sermon of the locality at our house, on the Sabbath following the 4th of July, 1862, to a fair-sized congregation. A Sabbath school was organ- ized very soon afterwards, and was of great value to the youth of the little community. This was the first Sunday school HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 51 between the Missouri river and the mountains. Religious services were held quite frequently under the leadership of Elder Young, Rev. Dr. McKesson, and Rev. Peter Schamp, and other ministers that chanced to stray so fai' into the wild- erness. As a general rule the settlers enjoyed themselves very well, and were reasonably prosperous, but it was not always so. Sometimes winter storms would shut us off from com- munication with the world at large, and provisions would get short, and we would be driven to desperate straits. We have known families to live on boiled corn or wheat for a week at a time with no seasoning but salt. The winter of 1863-4 was a most desperate one. The cold was extreme. The last day of December, 1863, was a memorable day for the intensity of the cold. We had no thermometer except our own blood, and that told us that it was the most bitterly cold of any day of our life. We afterwards learned that at Burlington, Iowa, the thermometer indicated thirty degrees below zero. That winter was one of much suffering. Salt had de- clined materially in price, and the demand had fallen off; while wood for boiling it had become scarce, and the weath- er was so severe that it seemed as if all things conspired against the people, and for a time the whole settlement was on the verge of starvation. The spring of 1864 found the settlement in rather a dilapidated and impoverished condition, but hope soon revived. Immigrants began to arrive in good- ly numbers and began opening up farms, and that gave new life and hope to all. Settlements began to extend westward, and all the people began to have more faith in Nebraska. It may be well here to relate a common saying of those days, just to show how absurd the expressed views of many people were in regard to this country. If an incoming immigrant talked of going over to the Blue valley to look for a location, he was told at once that it was of no use to look at that country, for it never rains west of Salt creek. That fool notion had become so thoroughly embed- ded in the minds of numy of the early settlers that we expect some of them lirmly believe it to this day. It has been claimed that F. Morton Donovan was the first white child born in this locality, but this locality was rather 52 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA large, for the fact is he was born on Stevens creek, ten miles distant. The first white child born at the Basin, or in the im- mediate vicinity of the present city, was a son born to Joseph Chambers in the winter of 1862-3. He died in infancy. Our son, Elmer Ellsworth Cox, was born March 3, 1863, and was the first white child born in the immediate vicinity who lived to become a man. There were some exciting and almost ludicrous scenes in the courts at the Basins. Milton Langdon and J. S. Greg- ory were the two prominent attorneys, and in all matters of a judicial nature they were arrayed against each other. They were both keen and tricky, ever on the alert to catch the enemy napping, and they had some high old times. Occa- sionally a case would arise that tried the mettle of the court, attorneys, and officers. A rough customer, who it was said had graduated in the rebel army, put in an appearance, and made some violent threats, in which he promised to kill some citizen. An information was filed, and a warrant was issued and placed in the hands of the sheriff. A crowd gathered at the court-room, and it soon became known that the culprit refused to surrender to the sheriff. All became excited, and ■v^hile the court was giving some directions to the citizens about assisting the sheriff, the fellow came stalking into the court-room, carrying his rifle in a position for immediate use. The sheriff followed at a convenient distance of prob- ably ten rods. The court invited the man to take a seat, which was promptly declined, but he took a careful survey of the court and all the surroundings, and with the rifle ready cocked and finger on the trigger, he began a retreat, and all hands seemed ready to stand out of his way. The justice remarked to the sheriff and posse, "You will be justified in taking that man, if you have to kill him to do it," but they' didn't take him; he backed off with drawn weapon, and bid defiance, and no one was willing to take tlie risk of his capt- ure. He was bent on vengeance, and had no intention of leaving until he had wreaked it on somebody. He became angry at the justice for saying take him dead or alive, and during the next morning, while his honor was busy at his salt furnace, he happened to observe the sneaking scoundrel creeping up a small ravine in the rear, with a view of getting HISTORY OF SEWAKD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 53 a sure shot at him, but tinding that his victim had observed him, he started oft" at a rapid pace across the basin. His honor quickly halted him. He instantly cocked his ritie, but sternly and most emphatically his honor commanded a truce, and marched straight up to the fellow, who curled down like a whipped cur, received a court blessing in the open air, and then took his tinal departure to parts unknown. Had it not been for a good degree of firmness on that occasion, it is quite probable that some other writer would have had the honors of writing this book. On the morning of August 20, 1862, there was a heavy frost, which killed all the corn on the lowlands throughout Nebraska. During the spring of 1863, J. S. Gregory built the first frame house in the locality of the Basin, and made quite ex- tensive improvements. Mr. Eaton, of Plattsmouth, an uncle of our friend Gregory, became quite well acquainted with him during these years, and their fraternal relations are spread upon the court records of Lancaster county for many years. Settlements increased rapidly during the spring and early summer of 1864, but took a serious set-back later in the season, on account of the Indian troubles, so that the num- ber wintering here in the winter of 1864-5 was hardly greater than in the winter previous. That memorable day, November .s, 1864, when Lincoln was elected the second time, the good people of Nebraska could take no hand in the game, but the people of Lancaster had to do something, and if they could not vote, they could, and did hold district court. We do not forget that we had that day a genuine old-time blizzard of drifting snow. There was no discount on that blizzard. It was cold enough for the Klondike, and the whirling snow was terrific. It will be remembered that the county seat was located at the October election, and at the same time Jacob Dawson was elected county clerk, and that meant district clerk as well. Uncle Jake, as we called him, wanted something to do as clerk. So he set to work to have a term of court at the new county seat. They did not yet have that big stone court house but Uncle Jake was a man ready for any emergency. 54 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA He had a double log house, that would do for a hotel, family residence and court house combined. Uncle Jake gOL into correspondence with Hon. Judge Elmer S. Dundy and gave the judge some pointers. He made the judge understand that there was an emergency case on docket and that a court must be held. One Pem- berton, a sojourner at the Basin, had gotten in trouble with old man Burd about the depredation of some unruly chickens. The families had quarreled. At a very early hour one morn- ing Pemberton appeared at the cabin of Mr. Burd with a re- volver, ready for business. Some hot words passed, when Pemberton struck the old man on the head with the revolver then fired the revolver, the ball passing through the thin door, lodging in the wall of the room just over the bed where the young Burds were sleeping. A few minutes later, when the justice of the peace (who lived only a few rods distant) was being seated at the breakfast table with his little family, Mr. Burd appeared with blood streaming down over his face and a little x^anic occured just then and the break- fast lost its tiavor. A warrant was hastily issued and put into sheriff Chambers' hands, and the culprit was arraigned. An exciting examination resulted in Pemberton being bound over to court on charge of malicious assault with in- tent to commit great bodily injury. In preparation for the court a grand jury and also a petit jury had been summoned and it took about every eligible citizen in Lancaster county. Tw^o distinguished barristers had accompanied the judge from Plattsmouth. Neither judge or lawyers rode on passes then, but were content with an opportunity to ride on asses —that is, if the asses were to be had. The Hon. T. M. Marquet and Judge Pottenger were the gentlemen that helped the august judge in giving dignity to the court. Pott, as we called him, got the whi])row of Marquet and secured the appointment as prosecuting attorney, but Pemberton was ready to give Marquet a job, but was lather short. A ten-dollar greenback was the sum total of his cash and Mar- quet had to take that or go without a job. He took the greenback, of course. The grand jury was duly sworn and after examining the justice docket and interviewing several witnesses, they HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 55 presented a true bill against defendant, and Pott framed the indictment in his strongest language. It sounded like a form- idable document, but Marquet got hold of it and after reading it over fi-om left to right and from right to left a few times there didn't seem much left of it, and the judge very reluct- antly pronounced it a failure and befoie the court had time to give any further orders, Mr. Pemberton disappeared in the storm and has not been heard of since that memorable day. The court allowed Lancaster county to draw its first warrant to Judge Pottenger for $76 and adjourned until warm weather. Thus ended the first term of the district court of Lancaster county, November 8, 1864. In the summer of 1864, the whole West was very easily excited after the horrible massacre in Minnesota. Wild rumors were afloat continually, and the scattered settlements were harassed with fears throughout the whole summer and fall. The most trifling circumstances were magnified as they were related by the panic stricken people into general massacres, or wholesale slaughtering of some neighboring settlement. The impression i^revaled that the rebel govern- ment at Richmond was inciting the red-skins to a merciless warfare all along the frontier. Tomahawks and scalping knives of the red devils were vividly pictured in all our dreams. We knew this much, that the dark hours of the war presented a grand opportunity for them to clean us out, root and branch. We also knew that they were in no friendly mood; or, in other words, we were quite sure they were thirsting for our blood, all that kept them back was their fear of a terrible retribution, and further, the fire we saw was not all fox fire. There were people murdered by them in Nebraska, and not a few. At Plum creek of the west, on Turkey creek, on the Little Blue, there were mur- ders and kidnapping, such as make our blood boil to this day as we think of them. We had just cause to fear, and it would have been foolhardiness to be otherwise than on the alert. On one occasion, when the writer was at Nebraska City with a load of salt, we had arranged to help Jacob Dawson haul a steam saw-mill out from Little Wyoming, which was 56 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA a few miles north of the city. While we were yet loading the boiler, word was current that there had been murders at Plum creek. Now there were two Plum creeks, and we all feared it might be the Plum creek in Seward county. How- ever, it proved to be the other. But it answered the purpose of getting up a big scare. We were uneasy and hurried up all we could with loads. We reached Stove creek ranch, thirty miles east of salt basin, that night at about eleven o'clock, and had it not been that we dare not attempt the crossing in the night we probably would have traveled all night. In the morning it was raining and we could not cross until about noon. We were eating dinner when we saw a long train of teams coming over the hills from the west. We knew mischief was to pay. W^e hailed the first to a]3proach us to learn what we could. "Oh, all the people on Blue river are killed, and all the settlements of Salt creek have tied from their homes and are at Shirley's ranch on Steven's creek." "Do you know anything about my family," asked the writer hurriedly, "Yes, they are at Shirley's ranch with the rest." Hurrah, boys, now for the Shirley ranch on a double quick. We tumbled the engine out of one wagon, unhitched from the boiler and put four yoke of oxen on an empty wag- on, and if ever oxen traveled it was there and then. There were four of us, and we took turns whipping ,and the wonder is that we did not kill the oxen, for it was ex- tremely hot. We reached the ranch just after dark, and a motley crew we found; at least a hundred people were there, men, women, and children. They were well over their scare but were well along in the mad state. Everybody was cross almost to ugliness. Shirley had built a new house but had not moved into it. This was stowed full both above and below. His old house was full and his yard was full. The clothing was all wet and also the bedding. Many were suffering with hunger. We found wife and babes stowed away up-stairs in a bed that was wet as wet could be. The story of their panic was told, and was as follows: The night before, word came to the neighborhood that the settlement on the Blue were all murdered, and to all appearances the red-skins would bounce on the Salt creek settlers that night; it was HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 57 then nearly dark; wife and children were at the mercy of some good neighbor, as they had no team. Uncle Peter Bellows came nobly to the rescue. With his broad German accent he said, "Mrs. Coax, you shall go wid us." Blessed be the name of Uncle Peter forever! But Uncle Peter had his peculiarities. He was a great hand to gather up things, such as old log chains, old plow shares, broken pitchforks, horseshoes (he hadn't a horse in the world), ox yokes and all sorts of old irons; he was rich in old irons. Well, in packing u]) to go, Uncle Peter had to take the last one of his old irons, but in his hurry he forgot to take any provi- sions for his family. When he comes for wife, he says, "Mrs. Coax, ve takes you and de childerns, but ve can't take noting else; vel dot is so, hurry up. Mine Cot, the Ingins is coming shure enough. " Wife protested that she must take something to eat and some bedding, and finally jjersuaded him to take a sack (50 lbs.) of flour and a ham of meat and a bed, if she would walk herself. We then had three children, aged respective- ly, a girl five years, a girl three years, and a boy sixteen months old. The oldest girl walked, the second one was perched up on the load of goods; wife carried the babe on her right arm and with the left she carried one end of a trunk a mile and a half. The babe, she carried the full ten miles that dark, stormy night. Wild with fright they went p^ll-mell. Imagine, if you can, the terrors of that awful night ^the rolling thunder, the lurid lightning, with a mortal ilread of the savage foe. Weary and fainting, they arrived at the ranch late in the night. In the morning it developed that that sack of flour and ham of meat were all the provisions in camp for a hundred hungry souls, except some green corn purchased of Shirley. But they had plenty of old irons. It further developed that there were no hostile Indians within less than a hundred miles. By the morning after we arrived in camp the panic had entirely subsided and all were ready to return to their homes. Within the following two weeks things were (luiet. The writer had a quantity of salt that it was necessary to haul to market. Our bread and butter for the coming winter de- 58 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA pened on it. It was perilous to leave. It was certain starva- tion to stay at home. We must go and take our chances. One bfi«i-ht summer afternoon we made ready with a big load oi' salt and started lor Nebraska City, arrived at Wood's ranch at night, turned the oxen out to grass, ate su])per and went to bed. Near midnight, Dr. Crimm, wife, and her sis- ter, came as if Satan was after them. "Tlie Indians are upon us sure enough this time," they, shouted. "You must go for your wife and little ones or they will all be slaughtered." All was wild excitement. The writer was somewhat in- credulous, but standing between doubt and fear, there was only one course to take. We must lly to the rescue. We hastily hitched up old "Nig" and "Darb,"and went on the dead run for home. Just as the morning light was breaking we pas;5ed Uncle Jake Dawson's cabins, standing on the ground now occupied by Commercial block. There was a sleep-and-go-easy sort of fellow by the name of Jolm Giles in the neighborhood at the time. John was standing sentinel at the west end of the cabin. We hailed him and asked what was the matter, rather derisively. We were somewhat pro- voked at what we thought to be a useless scare. He sharply retorted, "You'll find out before you get to the Basin." We went on feeling that it was another sell out. When we reach- ed home we found everything in dire confusion. Many had left and all the balance were hurriedly preparing for flight. In the anguish of despair we said, "Wife, what shall wedoV" She answered, "I will stay if others would stay, but we can't stay if the place is deserted by all the neighbors." A hur- ried consultation resulted in this, that w^e w^ould all go to the river with the salt and remain there until matters had be- come settled. Uncle Pete here appears on the scene again. Wife had gone over the hill to drive up the cow that we might take her, while we were busy loading up our bed • clothing and provisions. We were talking over the situation, when all of a sudden several Indians put in an appearance. They were some twenty rods distant when first discovered. We were just then sorry for our incredulity. The dread moment had come, we said to ourselves. Uncle Pete started on the double quick, but we commanded him to face about and dance to HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 59 whatever music miyht come. "'It's too late to run," we said, and at the same moment we jumped into the road ahead of the red-skins, and commanded a halt. The leader pulled out a dirty white rag- and bej^an swinge- ing it and hallooing that, "Me good Ingin," ''me good Omaha," "me no Sioux. '' Oh, how our hearts fluttered just then. The Indians were about as much frightened as we were; they knew the people were wonderfully excited. "Me good Omaha' ' was sweet music in our ears just then. We loaded up our little stutf, tied the old cow behind the wagon, loaded on the children, and pushed out for the river, leading almost a* for- lorn hope. The load of salt was left at Wood's ranch. When we had piled our beds, provisions, and children on top of a huge load of salt we must have presented a grotesque spectacle. It was no laughing matter then, but now it's no matter if you laugh. Suffice it to say we were welcomed by our friends in Nebraska City just as cordially as if we had ridden in a gilded carriage to their door. When it became certain that the Union would triumph over the rebellion and there would be ample security here as elsewhere for life and ijroperty, then great numbers came. Also a further stimulus to settlement was the certainty of the building of the Union Pacific R. R. Its eastern terminus had been fixed in the fall of 1864, and the first ground was broken, and it may fairly be said that Nebraska had awaken- ed to a new and vigorous life. During the spring of I^io4, having become convinced that it occasionally rained on Blue river, we made up our mind to cast our lot with the little settlement in the neighborhood where now^ stands the beau- tiful litde city of Seward, and made preparation daring the summer, accomplished our object, and made the removal December 1st. Thus ends our immediate connection with the struggling pioneers of Lancaster county, and there it begins with these of Seward county. Of those good old days of pioneer life we have many, yea very many, pleasant recollections. There were some dark clouds overspreading our skies at times, but every cloud, let it be never so dark, "had its silver lining." Friendships there sprang up that will remain true so 60 HISTORY OP SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA long as life shall last. To have been a pioneer in Nebraska in helping- to open the way of civilization, we consider an honor, and looking back through the years — years of pleas- ant sunshine and prosperity, years of dark clouds, of danger and adversity, we rejoice that we came to Nebraska and helped to lay the foundations of the mighty commonwealth — "our own, our loved Nebraska." There were quite a number of the early settlers that should have honoi'able mention in these reminiscences, and we can hard ly forego the pleasure of mentioning some of them. •J. N. Beaty and Wm. R. Davis spent part of the autumn of 1861 making salt. These gentlemen had the honor of opening the tirst store at Seward as is especially noted in another chapter. For many years they were quite promi- nent in business circles in this county. Mr. Beaty removed many years ago to Osage, Kansas, and later to Oklahoma City and was engaged in the hardware business. He has now gone to his long home. Mr. Davis remained in active life in Seward until he was summoned home in the summer of 1899, full of years and full of honors. Hon. Wm. Imlay conducted the salt business at the lit- tle Basin near the point where the B. & M. track crosses the U. P. track north of Oak creek He became one of the very first to make a settlement at the Seward settlement in the spring of 186-1. Here he remained on the old homestead un- til his work was finished and he was called home in the sum- mer of 1H96. John S. Gregory located on the north side of the basin in the fall of 1862, and for a time cut quite a figure both in business and political affairs. He was naturally a hustler and a schemer, and we believe he had a little more "brass" in his face than any other character on the frontier. He had formed a partnership with an old "uncle by the name of Eaton who had some money which he exchanged for experience in the salt business. Gregory & Co, put up quite expensive works, built (juite a large frame house (the first at the basin) and with all cut quite a figure as long as Eaton's money lasted. Mr. G. secured a post office and had it named Gregory Basin, and so pulled the wires that he was nominated for the legislative honors and was elected. He told some awiui wolf stories which the wolves had no HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 61 part in. Mr. G. took a hand in despoiling- old Clay county. His name did not stick to the Basin worth a cent, and his post office was of short duration. Mr. Greo;ory, we under- stand, is now a resident of Galveston, Texas. Milton Lanj^don, known in his days as our walking en- cyclopedia, was in the salt business from 1S62 to 1804, when he became treasurer of Lancaster county. Some years later he took up his residence in the northeast part of Sew- ard county and engaged in the lime business. Both he and his noble wife have passed over the dark river. Dr. John Crimm and his wife's brother, Mr. Diers of Brownville, conducted quite extensive works in 1S64, and tried the manufacture with solar heat, but somehow it proved a failure. There are many more men that were interested in these early developments whom we would like to mention. One sad feature about these little stories of our frontier life and experiences is, nearly all the actors have gone to their long home. In counting over the long list of names mentioned in this long chapter, from start to finish, we know of but three, besides myself, that remain on this mundane sphere, viz: Peter Scham]5 of Lincoln, A. J. Wallingford in north- west Nebraska, and J. S. Gregory. It seems that we are almost alone to tell the story of our ventures, of our mis- takes and our triumphs. It seems but yesterday as we look back across the vista of years since the scenes herein related occurred. But when we happen to look into the glass and behold the individual, who was then in the prime of young manhood with the little children around our knees now an old man carrying a load of three .score and twelve years, with one child that is a grandparent, with a new generation of people all around; then again as we view the wonderful transformation that has been wrought in converting the des- ert wastes of wilderness into fruitful farms and the building of a thousand cities on the land of the Indian and buffalo, with a thousand iron steeds hauling the commerce of two continents past our door, with the news of the day riding on the wings of the lightning, w'ith a telephone in every w^ell ordered household and a mail box at every door, with the darkness of the night lighted bj' the heavenly torch harnessed 62 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA by the hand of man; as we stand dazed by the darting of the swift winged chariots hither and thither with nothing to push or pull, but going "all the same;" as the bicycle whirls past bearing its burden of human freight, and as the automobile goes thundering through the street, we are sometimes led to wonder if we are really in a dream land, in another and grander world, or is it for a fact that these things have all come to pass in our short life time. From the fullness of heart we may exclaim with prophet of old, "Our light has come and the glory of God has risen upon our land." CHAPTER TV. Historic letters — Hon. Pai^l Morton's early freighting — Extracts from Rev. Byron Beall's Scrap book — Dr. G. L. Miller's "Fifty Years Ago" — Letter from Moses — Father of Arbor Day, and tablet with memorial address — Historic Sketches of Governors John M. Thayer and R. W. Furnas, also of Rev. J. M. Young. EARLY FREIGHTING ACROSS THE PLAINS BY HON. PAUL MORTON NOW SECRETARY OF THE U. S. NAVY, WASHINGTON, D. C. Washington, D. C, Nov. 28, 1904. Dear Mr. Cox: — I happen to be one of the young men who did not take Horace Greeley's advice and go west. I arrived there ahead of his advice, and long before the steel rail. I was brought up on the w^st bank of the Missouri river in the Territory of Nebraska. My earliest recollections of transportation is in the days before the Union Pacific was built, when I saw- trains of from twenty to sixty wagons each drawn by six yoke of oxen, leaving Nebraska City, headed for Denver, Salt Lake City, or "Pike's Pealv or bust." Not a few of them reached the last destination. Those were the good old days of the overland stage and the bull team. A wagon load was about three tons. The rates of freight for short hauls were generally computed at one cent per pound per hundred miles; but at variance with modern practice, for longer dis- tances the rates were increased. Any shipper could under- stand the tariff. The rates were as follows from the river to Denver: Flour, 9 cts. per pound. Tobacco, 12i cts. per pound. Sugar, 13i- cts. per pound. Bacon, 15 cts. per pound. Crackers, 17 cts. per pound. Whiskey, 18 cts. per pound. Trunks, 25 cts. per pound. Furniture, 31 cts. per pound. 64 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA These were bull train rates, and by mule train rates they were doubled. It is remarkable how the Rocky Moun- tain country could atford to pay such rates; but the vast mineral wealth of the country enabled it to do so. I think they were fully as well satisfied with those rates as they are now with rates approximating): less than one-fiftieth of what they were. There ox teams would swing- along the old California trail which passed by my father's house under the direct charge of the boss who generally rode a fine horse and who was the division superintendent of that period. The drivers, or "bull whackers" as they were called, seemed to enjoy themselves mightily, and were generally yelling or singing. As a rule they enjoyed the best of health. They walked by the side of their teams, for it was impossible to ride and keep the teams moving regularly. The average speed of these trains of prairie schooners load- ed and under full sail, was nearly fifteen miles per day, al- though in tine weather and with excellent roads twenty miles was occasionally made. I remember distinctly the great steam wagon which was brought west to revolutionize the freighting business and to take the place of oxen. It was regarded by all the nations with even more curiosity than the modern gasoline racer now creates where it has never before been seen. The steam wagon resembled somewhat the modern traction en- gme only it was much larger. Had it been preserved instead of dismantled and sold for scrap iron, it would have been an interesting curio for exhibition. The family of the owner of the machine was massacred by the Indians and he left the machine standing on my father's farm for a number of years. It started west in about 1S64 with about ten wagon loads of freight. You will notice it was one hundred and twenty ox power. It did fairly well for about five miles and then failed. The failure was due to too much weight per ox power, and also too much weight for the small bridges on the trail. It was the first real engine failure of western trans- portation, and the failure was complete. The failure of that steam wagon to do its work over prairie roads emphasized the necessity of steel rails. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 65 An old time song of the plains, which became very pop- ular was, "Root Hog or Die." The boys used to make the welkin ring with old songs. Here it is: ROOT HOG OR DIE I'll tell you how it, is when you first get on the ro;id: You've trot an awkward team and a very heavy load! You've grot to whip and holler, if you swear it's on the sly— So punch your team along boys and root hog or die. Oh it's every day at noon there's something to do; And if there is nothing else, there'll be an ox to shoe. So with a rope you throw him, and there you make him lie. Till you tack on the shoes, boys, root hog or die. Oh there's many strange sights to be seen along the road. The antelope, the deer, the great big sandy toad. The buffalo, the elk, the rabbits jump .so high. With all the bloody Indians too— root hog or die. Times on Bitter Creek, they never can be beat; Root hog or die i.^S on ever.v wagon sheet — The sand within your throat, the dust within your eyes; We are tough and we can stand it too— root hog or die. We arrived in Denver on the 2.5th of June, The people were surprised to see us come so soon! But we are brave bull whackers on whom you can rely. To bend our backs and stand it too—root hog or die. These stalwart men of the plains were a good natured crowd. They went forth to their work and adventures as if they were going to a picnic, and many of them met a fate never to return. They had all kinds of trouble to overcome. The question of feed and water for the stock was a most difficult one. They could not take supplies with them, so they had to select a route where the grass and water were good. The firm of Majors, Russell & Waddell, probably the largest single firm of overland freighters, owned at one time six thousand wagons and seventy-five thousand oxen. It was no small job to look after such a caravan as that, as in one train their outfit was estimated to reach forty miles in length. Wood was scarce and hard to get. At certain points on the Platte river it was sold at fifty dollars per cord. Had it not been for bufl'alo chips for cooking purposes, the wood supply would have been still more of a problem. Then there was the gentle savage abroad in the land, the original scalpers in the transportation business. They 66 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA had to be reckoned with, and rates fluctuated more or less with their behavior. Besides the Indians, there were vast herds of bufl'alo, the bad weather, and an occasional rattle snake bite to kill a man or a steer. Those men of our early transportation had their difficulties just as we have now. They had the Pawmee instead of the Populist; the Sioux in- stead of the walking delegate: and the rattlesnake in place of the demagogue. I am not sure but they had the best of us. In those days they had their fast and slow trains. Six horse or mule stages was the rapid transit a generation ago, and without any baggage except hand baggage. They were glad to accommodate you or your friends at the rate of twenty- five cents per mile per passenger — owner's risk of scalp. The pony express was the fast mail, and the six horse stage was the limited with no rebate for delays. The stage ride and driver were more popular than the stage eating house. The facilities for marketing and the high freight rates made a limited bill of fare. Dried apple pie was a continuous per- formance. As one of the stage drivers expressed it, "it was dried apple pie from Genesis to Revelations." The following lyric poem written by a regular passenger and scattered broadcast along the line changed the bill of fare so that for a while they only served the pie Sundays and holidays. DRIED APPLE PIE, I loathe, abhor, detest, despise. Abominate dried apple pies. I like sood bread. «ood meat Or anythintr that's good to eat. But of all poor grub beneath the skies The poorest is dried apple pies. Give me a toothache or sore eves In preference to such kinds of pies. The farmer takes his earliest fruit, 'Tis wormy, bitter, and hard to boot. They leave the coi'es to make us coutrh. And don't take half the peeling's off; Then on a dirty cord are strung. And from some chamber window hung; And there they sei've a roost for flies. Until they're i-eady to make pies! Ti-ead on my corns or tell me lies. But don't pass to me di-ied apple pies, A story is told of a Pittsburg man who dined at one of these eating houses and was served- with a slice of fat pork. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 6T He remarked, "I never eat pork." "Very well," said the bland waiter, "help yourself to the mustard." Pork, mus- tard and dried apple pie was the bill of fare at that house. I am glad that I am owner of one of those old coaches. My brother and I have the *one that Mark Twain, Generals Sherman and Sheridan rode in part way across the plains. It is the identical coach that was attacked in the Blue valley during the last Indian raid in that region. It was formerly known as Ben Holliday's private coach, and was the pala- tial private car of that era. Mr. Holliday was the owner of the stage line. Have you ever thought how in one generation of man the abridgment of distance has been accomplished? Today with great luxury and ease and at a rate of less than three cents a mile you may achieve in less than an hour what forty years ago was a hard day's journey. As we look back forty years and note the improvement in transportation, we cannot but anticijoate what the prog- ress will be in the forty years to come. ' No one can tell what is before us. We all know that some of the most re-, markable men of the last century have been identified with this great problem of transportation; and the names of such public benefactors as Stevenson, Bessemer, Morse, Pullman, Westinghouse and Thos. A. Scott will always appear promi- nent among, those w^io have done much in extending civili- zation and making traveling a luxury. Look at the great plains of those days and behold the change. Civilization with its railroads, its schools and churches, and millions of fruitful farms has taken the place of the bullwhacker, the buffalo and the Indian. Nebraska and Kansas are now two of our very best ag- ricultural states, and never in their history have the people owned outright as much and ow^ed as little as they do now. Nature has done much for them, and now intelligent irriga- tion is developing the arid plains on their western borders and of the states beyond into farms and orchards that are now and will continue to attract thousands who are seeking new homes. *It has been the pleasure of the author of this book to see and ex- amine the old coach at Arbor Lodge. 68 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA EXTRACTS FROM THE SCRAP BOOK OF REV. BYRON BEAL Rev. Byron Beal came to Nebraska with his parents in the autumn of 1860 and settled eight miles west of the site of Grand Island at the mouth of Wood river. The author feels that he has struck a mine of wealth in being permitted the free use of the reverend's scrap book. From a series of most interesting communications to the state papers we freely quote. Doctor Beal commences his papers with the grand old poem, "Breaths there a soul so dead." Later the doctor says, "If you will follow me I will draw aside the curtain and permit you to look in u]:)on the life of the pioneer homes of this state." My father, Enos Beal, ca.me from Wisconsin in the fall of I860 and took a claim and made settlement at the mouth of Wood river. Grand Island city was not yet in existance. Here he took a claim beside a man by the name of David Crocker, who soon sold out to Fred Evans, the millionaire owner of the health resort of Hot Springs, South Dalcota, who was at the time a poor man, a dashing dare devil plains- man. A man of exploits as Indian lighter and buffalo hunter and will be noticed later. At this time I do not think there was a foot of rail-road in the state. There was a telegraph (built that year) beside which ran the four horse overland stages. Father had been a man of wealth, but business reverses had swept it away and here we were to build a new home. Mr. Townsley put in a saw mill on Wood river and fa ther built the first frame house in that country. To the north or south there were no settlements for hundreds of miles. West of us there were a few straggling settlers for thirty miles until Ft. Kearney was reached. Among these was Hon. James E. Boyd, later our gov- ernor. He lived on Wood river twelve miles from the fort. When a boy I worked for him a few weeks putting up hay for the government. It seemed like old times and as if I was a boy again as I met the governor a short time ago in the city of Lincoln when he took me by the hand and called me ' 'Byron, " and reminded me that I was getting gray. I said. HISTORY OF SEWAUD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 69 "Governor you must remember that forty years have pass ed since we were neighbors on Wood river. " I well remember some furious debates the governor used to have with his father-in-law, a radical republican. No man in that day doubted Mr. Boyd's democracy. To the eastward eight miles away was the German settlement. Among the leading men of thiit day who yet remain are Fred Hedde, Wm. Stalley and H. Koenig. The little village of Columbus seventy miles to the east- w^ard with but few scattering settlers between us and them. There were less than thirty thousand people in the whole territory. But mark you there was a sociability and hearti- ness of welcome among the people of that day never excelled since, if indeed equaled. If any one had a little wheat he went seventy- five miles to mill, somewhere north of Co- lumbus. Potatoes were four dollars per bushel. I have sold corn at $3. per bushel in ear and $3.50 shelled. Our markets were at our doors; the vast trains of cover- ed wagons that passed along on their way to Pike's Peak and California with the soldiers at Ft. Kearney bought all we had to sell. The climate was much different than at present. Fear- ful winds came in summer and downed trees, unroofed houses and often hot winds came and withered the crops, and such blizzards in winter and long droughts in summer. There has not been anything like it of late years. The thunder seemed to roll on the very ground and the lightning was terrific, something fearful. We lived here in peace for a while, but on the 5th of Feb. , 1H62, our little settlement was thrown into a fever of excitement, when two families were clothed in mourning. On that day Captain J. P. Smith and two sons, Charles and Willie, aged nine and twelve years with a four horse sled and Alex Anderson, a fourteen year old neighbor boy with a two horse sled, went to the Platte four miles away for loads of wood and were all murdered by the Sioux Indians. It was a small party of them out on a horse stealing expedition. Mr. Anderson followed the boys to the river where he saw Mr. Smith and a boy on each side of him fall down on the ice shot to death with arrows. Little Willie was not quite 70 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA dead. They had started to run when shot. With agony in his heart, Mr. Anderson wheeled his team around and drove home and gave the alarm. Swift riders went up and down the road and Mr. Wm. Eldige found the Anderson boy about a hundred yards up the channel where he had run and was killed. The parties put the four bodies on a sled and re- turned home then i^ushed on after the Indians. A light snow was falling and it obscured the trail and as there were but few of them and they pooi'ly armed they turned back. I saw the horrid sight of Mr. Smith and three boys after they were prepared for burial. I shall never forget that sight, but certainly do not desire to see such another. Sadly we lowered the coffins into one grave under an elm tree on the banks of Wood river. In following papers we will tell of the fate of those murderous Indians that will till you with sadness or glad- ness as to whether you are a reformer or an old settler. Trapping beaver, mink and otter in. 1860 was quite prof- itable. I have sold beaver skins from two to three dollars per pound and they weighed from two to three pounds each. One trip up the Platte, near Boyd's ranch and down the river, I caught enough so I sold forty skins. I think it was in 1863 that three of us boys were camped on the South Loup about ten miles above where Loup City now stands. We went hunting and trapping when a band of Sioux warriors passed one night with a dozen stolen horses taken from the Pawnees. They passed within a few feet of our wolf traps. We trailed them far away, but concluded that we did not want to meet that crowd and we pulled for home twenty-tive miles away. (Like the boy in the bear story the track was too fresh). When we got home the whole county was in an uproar. The Pawnees were out in full force after the Sioux and it was thought that likely we were killed. Hunting buffalo was the way the people got their meat. I once went out with a party and got back with eleven quarters of meat for my share and some hides. I dropped a line young bull at tirst shot. This is tine sport as long as you are the hunter, but when an old bull HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 71 turns hunter and you are on foot then comes a time when the bull has the fun. I was out on Elm Creek west of Kearney in company with an old hunter (Mr. Hiller). We slipped down a ravine close to a herd and Hiller restiny;- his i;-un over my back and shot a cow. This performance was relocated several times, we would lie down in the tall grass. We had three dead cows within a hundred feet. By this time the herd was thirty rods away and just on top of the hill. When his dead- ly gun was turned on another cow she was hit. She whirled and down the hill she came, striking a bee-line for us, striking her front feet in a vicious way. She came like a cyclone. I said to Hiller, "great guns; old man let's get out of this." He said, "lie low and keep still." We did so and the result proved just what Hiller predicted. She had not seen us at all for she turned aside, ran down the gulch and fell. Had we run she might have caught us. Of course in those early days we had some bad men in Ne- braska. Every body carried a pistol even to church. I car- ried a navy then far more regularly than I now carry a pen- knife. It was a bad practice and is apt to breed a murderous spirit. There was a man named Slade neai' Laramie that was a terror to the whole country; he was killed by the vigilantes. The vigilantes were an excusable force in a new country. Tom Keeler and two brothers were a hard lot. One of these fellows was in constant dread as he carried a cocked revolver in his belt. I had to sleep with him one night and I objected to his putting a cocked revolver under his pillow. So he hung it up on a nail. Hank killed a man on the Platte with a double barrel gun and my father defended him at his preliminary trial. He was sent to the penitentiary at Lincoln and I be- lieve he was burned to death at time of fire in the prison. Tom was a small but desperate man. I was with an Omaha wagon train once. The train was in charge of a big burly ruflflan named or known as "Big Burns," a gambler and gen- eral bad man. We camped on the Elkhorn when Burns and a lot of 72 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA drivers went over to Tom Keeler's two miles away and got to gambling and in the midst of the game Tom blew out the lights, drew his gun, knocked Burns down and coolly rob- bed him of several hundred dollars with the house full of men. I saw Burns next morning; he looked bad. Tom got into trouble with a neighbor and they had sworn to kill on sight and Tom was the victim. He went dead the first round. Horse stealing was considered the crime of crimes to be punished with death. A little Frenchman stole an Arabian horse at Lone tree (now Central City). He crossed the Platte and joined a train for the west. John Rise and Ben Johnson (men that I knew) followed and captured him, hung him on an island and threw the body into the river. I am heartily glad to say the neighbors did not justify this murder. But in some cases linch law did seem neces- sary else the whole country would have been given up to thieves and murders. Grasshoppers came, time and again destroyed our crops. Our political meetings of that day were held in our log school houses. Governor Thayer, Senator Tipton and Governor Butler were among our first political speakers in Hall county. These men were then young and in their prime and made speeches that I have never heard excelled. In gratitude I mention my adopted father Hon. Enos Beal. He was Probate judge two terms in Hall county and a member of the Legislature. He was a man of remarkable powers of mind, a genial whole souled Christian gentleman whom I loved as I loved no other man on earth and "our Nebraska" is dearer to me because it holds his ashes. The doctor here pays a very high tribute to our "grand old man," Colonel, General, Senator and Governor Thayer, but as these pages contain another sketch of him we omit this. (The religious meetings on the frontier has never been excelled to our knowledge. They were held sometimes in a mill, sometimes in the loft of a barn or in a log cabin.) Rev. Thos B. Lemon was about the first to visit us. We all loved that great hearted brainy man of God, an honor to humanity and the Christian ministry. I cannot forget how Rev. John L. Martin, on bended HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA id knees and with streaming eyes, besought the people to be- come Christians. Then Rev. Jenny and Rev. Manpiette that did grand work lor the master in the wiklerness. Many times we were long times without churches and ministers, but we were not without God. Some of the grandest thoughts of God and our own lit- tleness comes to us when alone viewing his wonderful works. The man only, is educated who studies nature, men, and books and God. And although without churches we were not without religious instruction. We had many teri-itic pi-airie tires in IHilO however, little destruction was wrought because there were few houses and no cattle to burn. The sight of a prairie tire at night when the long line extended for miles was a grand one and most beautiful. Sometimes, however, it lost its charming features where it was headed our way. One night a great tire swept in from the north, leaped the tire guard and burned father's stable with two tine work horses and also my nice colt that I had just bought. This was my first horse that I had saved my money and paid for. My boyish grief was unbounded. The coming of the U. P. railroad wrought mighty changes. Before this lands had little value, but with it came a mighty tide of people. Cities sprang up aloug the line as if by magic, and almost before we were aware of it, we were surrounded on every side by the forces of Chris- tain civilization. I remember the event in 1»57 of a young lawyer, the forerunner of a new intellectual life as the railroad marked a new era in material progress. Word spread far and wide that a lawyer had come. I had seen Indians, buffalo, freight- ers and Mormon trains. I new how to drive oxen. I could ride a broncho, had traversed the plains. I was indeed quite a traveler, but in all my rounds had not seen a live lawyer. So I saddled my broncho and straped on my Colt revolvers and rode down to Grand Island to see the new and strange sight, a lawyer. It was our O. A. Abbott. The first editor of our community was the irrepressable Seth P. Mobley and his superior half, Mrs. Mobley. She was the best writer of the two. My "first ride on the rail" was from Grand Island to Omaha, fare $15. It was in spring 74 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA time when the valley was largely under water. We had rid- den ten miles when we came to a dead stand still and the conductor stuck his head into our car and yelled out, "You folks who want to go to Omaha, come out and help get the tender on the track." Out we went and helped pry it on, then run the train by hand around a bend. We walked part of the way and pushed. We boated it across the Elkhorn. After a night and day of labor of this sort we reached Omaha. Here the Rev. indulges in a little moral lesson. He says: I have been in almost every town in the state before the ad- vent of a railroad to their ]3lace and heard the fervent pray- ers of the people for the coming of a railroad, but no sooner do they come than "Hades, is to pay and the company is charged as robbers without mercy." To an old fogy this looks funny. In closing the doctor says, 'Young men and young wo- men of Nebraska, Yours is a goodly parentage, yours were noble sires, prove yourselves worthy to live in this grand state. It is a grand heritage to be decendants of the first settlers of this commonwealth. They were educated in the great university of trial and contlict with the untamed forces of a new land. You are enjoying the fruit of their labors. ' I teach my children to be especially reverent to the old settlers and the old soldiers. For myself I feel like saying of Nebraska and her people as Ruth said to Naomi, "Thy people shall be my people and thy God shall be God, where thou diest there will I die and there will I be buried." Our state has a grand future. We live in a wonderful century. Our country is moving forward and upward to- ward the sun kissed mountain, peaks where righteousness reigns. Up where the fatherhood of God and the brother- hood of man will not only be beautiful in sentiment, but in living principles observed by alk God grant that in this ujDward march of our race to bet- ter things our state may keep well to the front. I close in the language of the immortal Grady. "The trend of the times is with us. The world moves steadily from gloom to brightness and bending down humbly as Elisha did and praying that my eyes may be made to see, HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 75 I catch the vision of this republic, its mighty forces in bal- ance, and its unspeakable glory falling on all its children, plenty streaming fiom its borders and lights from its moun- tain tops, working out its mission under God's approving eye until the dark continents are opened, and the highways are established and the shadows lifted and under one lan- guage, one liberty and one God, all the nations of the world harken to the American drum beat in which favored land, Nebraska! ("our beloved Nebraska") shall be one of the chiefest states and shall march amid the breaking of the millenial dawn into the paths of righteousness and peace." In looking through the doctor's scrap book, we find some thrilling events related which w^e must give on the subject of "Hunting for scalps." The avenging of the murder of Smith and the three boys at Wood River. Upon the death of Smith and the boys, Fred Evans mounted his swiftest horse, (he had good ones) and he was noted as being the hardest rider in Central Nebraska, well armed with six-shooters, rode in hot haste to Kearney to in- form the commander that he might at once get his soldiers on the trail. But that coward did not propose to risk his worthless carcass on so perilious a mission and so informed Evans. This caused the brave plainsman to boil over with wrath and he denounced the captain as a coward and a fraud. Evan's work was not entirely lost. A company was sent a little way up Wood River but soon returned. Mean time John Talbot of Doby Town, with a small company of settlers captured fourteen Sioux a little w\ay east of the Fort and thinking them to be the murders, took them to the Fort and gave them over to the military. The captain tui-ned two of them loose and told them to go to their camp and in- form the chiefs that unless the murderers were given up the twelve would be shot or hanged. The Indians soon re- turned with the news that if the twelve Indians were not turned loose immediately there would be, ere long, some more dead white men in that section. The coward turned the cut throats free. From this hour hostilities were on. Soon another band of fifteen Sioux came from the north and 76 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA stopped about six miles west of the scene of tragedy and killed some oxen of a settler who locked himself up in his house, then the Indians struck north, when seventeen set- tlers pursued in haste, and as they remembered the perfidy of the captain at the Fort, resolved to take no prisoners. The trail was lost in the sand hills and the Indians escaped. But now a new i^arty appears as crafty and cunning as the Sioux and as rapid riders as the best, the Pawnees, overtook a band of Sioux on Wood River and in the midst of a winter blizzard entered their cam 3 and killed all but one of the band. They returned and came to the wndow^ Smith's home with the bloody scalps to show the poor woman how that they had avenged the murder of her husband and children. There was apparently peace now for a while. In May, 1S61, I was camped with three teams on the Platte for two months. There were five of us including two young women. All of a sudden we were sui-rounded by a war party of Cheyennes, numbering about one hundred and fifty. They had just come from a light with the Pawnees where they had the worst of it and were not in good humor. They pulled out papers, however, to prove that they were good ingins. They wanted Hour, meat and everything else in the eating line. Just then w^e had nothing too good for them, although we did not feel so very generous in our hearts. The scoun- drels stole tw^o blankets while they w^ere parading as "good Indians. '' (Here the doctor reads a little lecture to Dr. Geo L. Mil- ler that was sensible but space forbids it a space here.) In 1864 the Sioux attacked Martin's ranch on the Platte and shot two boys, Nathan and Robert, who were riding a stallion. These boys were pinned together and fell off the horse and were passed by. They both recovered. Later came the massacre of a train at Plum Creek. These were immigrants followed by the stampede of settlers, beginning at Boyd's ranch and extended to every part of Nebraska west of the Missouri river settlements, and even the resi- dents of Omaha and Nebraska City trembled. It was a ter- rible panic stricken stampede from the mountains to the river. We went that night to the German settlement, eight miles, where Wm. Stally built a fort of logs 24x24 and others HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 77 put up socl forts around Koenig^s and Wiches store. The crowd went on to Columbus and there halted. It was a motley crowd of wagons, cattle, horses, men, women and children. It was a solid mass of confusion. At Columbus Fred Evans organized a smnll party on swift horses well armed and went back to learn of the true situation. The danger did not prove so great as feared and soon most of us returned to our homes. About this time Mr. Storey, a blacksmith near Boyd's ranch was killed while away on a hunt. Soon eight Indians came to the ranch and were taken by a squad of soldiers who set out for Fort Kearney and camped on an island and later reported that the Indians escaped, but later confessed that they killed them. (There were more interesting incidents related in these reminiscences but space forbids and we close their recital reluctantly.) Am glad for my readers that I got hold of the doctor's scrap book. HISTORICAL LETTER OF DR. GEO, MILLER I arrived in Council Bluffs on the night of the 18th of October, 1854, after an overland journey of five days and four nights in a Concord coach of the Western Stage Com- pany from Keokuk, Iowa. I had come from my home in Syracuse, N. Y., by way of St. Louis and steamer to Keokuk by appointment to meet my father, the late L. Miller, by whose influence I M^as persuaded to become a citizen of the new territory which was born into the Union in the earlier months of that year. I accompanied him in the wild venture to the new land on that delightful journey. On the morning of the 20th of October we crossed the Missouri, planted foot on Nebraska soil, and took our first view of the untamed re- gion from what is now the chief town in one of the youngest and greatest agricultural states of the national sisterhood. My age was twenty-four, I was bj^ profession a physician, and I claim whatever distinction may attach to the fact that I was the first medical practicioneer bearing proper cred6n- tials who located in Nebraska. My wife, the bride of a year, was left to the hospitality of kindred in Ann Arbor, Michi- 78 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA gan while I came on to spy out the land and select our future home. "Omaha City" was the name of the place which had been playing havoc with my imagination for several months, from pictures of its importance and glowing promises that had come to me from my father who had the disadvantage of never having seen it himself. When I say that the ter- ritory did not contain a single white tiller of the soil at that day, and that Omaha consisted of a map of three hundred twenty acres subdivided into town lots, numerous white stakes, not more than a dozen white people who could truth- fully say they were residents, and not a house that would not disgrace the name, some idea may be had of the scene that first impressed the immigrant from imperial New York. The great motionless ocean of prairie land was spread out in the attractive contrasts of rolling upland and valley with the familiar browns of autumnal vegetation lighted up by warm sunshine which descended from beautiful cloudless skies through a hazy atmosphere in a way that no other country dare attempt for a comparison. Apart from these natural charms of scene, wildness and chaos was on every hand, and confronting all was the discouraging legend of the great "American Desert. " But aboriginal savagery was here to aid the work of disenchantment in the form of the first Indian, the real thing, I had ever seen except the half- civilized Iroquoise of the New York reservations. The Omahas were camped in their tepees on the low- lands where the smelter works and Union Pacific shops are now; bucks, squaws, papooses, ponies, dogs, and wigwams in marching disorder. They were resting for a few days on their way to their annual hunt in the Elkhorn valley region where the burly bison, elk. deer, antelope, and other game abounded, and which is now one of the agricultural gardens that constitute the backbone of the state. They were friend- ly, but sullen, and looked upon the white man with mingled expressions of sadness and curiosity. They had been bayo- neted to their doom by the merciless rapacity of the greatest land pirates on earth, and they knew their fate. ■ My first patient in the new country was a man who was not very patient after 1 reached him in the corner of a fioor- less and roofless log cabin, whose sole companion was a jug HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 79 of whiskey which, though speechless, told the sad tale. He was dead from alcoholic poisoning. The next victim of my professional prowess was an Omaha papoose. I had brought with me a tin sign which bore the warning in gilded letter- ing of the two words, "Doctor Miller," which had done duty two years in Syracuse. I announced myself by placing it between two twisted boards of a cottonwood boarding shanty that was about fourteen feet long with a small room for the wife and baby of Mr. Bedell, the sole proprietor, who kept a boarding place without any place inside to board. My "of- fice" was on the broad prairie outside of the structure. An Indian was told that the sign meant "medicine man," nnd I had my second "call," to which I was in great dread of re- sponding with visions of tomahawks and scalping knives dancing through my thoughts in alarming confusion. With every hair on my head ready to rise, I invaded the Indian camp to find a beautiful child fatally sick with double pneumonia. It died the same night, and, in a jociiliar way, the story was told in Sunday schools, and survives to this day with the question: "Are you the Doctor Miller who killed the paijoosev" That question was asked of me a year ago on an Omaha street car. I would like to paint the scene of sorrow wdiich touched my own heart with the keenest sympathy, with the grandfather, grandmother, father and mother of the dying child, w^hen I gave sign to the inmates of that mourning Indian household that there was no hope for it. The next day the father appeared plastered all over wnth clay as a badge of sorrow, with no other dress than a breech clout and moccasins. My professional life, so far, had not given me a very wide name for skill in my profession. At that time deer w^ere hunted in what is now the wholesale business center of the city, and wolves yelped discordantly all over the town at night. I w^as homesick and wanted to "get out of the wil- derness," and made known my yearning to Gov. Thomas B. Cuming, wiiose name and influence had much to do with my coming out to the new country. He ordered me to go to Ann Arbor, of whose university he was a graduate, and get my wife, which I did without a day's delay, and here is the woman with the golden hair and gentle heart, as brave as 80 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA any other soldier in the combat of trials and tribulations in the conquest of new countries who ever lived, or died. Cuming was a remarkable man, intellectually brilliant and full of executive ability, courage and aggressive force. The death of Gov. Burt a few days after his arrival from his South Carolina home devolved upon Cuming the respon- sibility of organizing the territory under civilized rule, be- cause the Organic Act provided that the secretary of the territory should be the acting governor on the death or in the .ibsence of the governor. With what intelligent resolu- tion and wisdom he created counties, election districts, polls for voting where there were no voters, and the first legislat- ive body for the enactment of laws, all by the fiat of proc- lamations, which were models of style, history will not allow future generations to forget. One illustration of how the first law- givers of Nebraska were created must suffice. It was the Burt county district to which, I think, one member of the Council (Senate) and two representatives were allotted. There was not a white resident in all that region. But B. L. Folsom, a resourceful pioneer and a near relative of Mrs. Grover Cleveland, was equal to the occasion, and he, H. C. Purple of Council Bluffs, and two or three others started out from Omaha one fine morning witli a team, tent, equipage, and both solid and liquid supplies, to have an election in Burt county. And they had it after this fashion: they pitched their tent in Washington county, instead of Burt, opened the polls, and voted for tliemselves, and each other in due form; the ballots being deposited in a cigar box; a canvas of the ballots was made on the spot by the voters who acted as an election board; they were all "elected," for- mal "returns"' were made out and sent to Gov Cumings, and certificates of election were duly issued upon which they took their seats in the capitol of the Territory where they served forty days and many nights in bringing it under codes of civil and criminal law. I was thosen chief clerk of the Council, which consisted of thirteen members, by a majority of one vote. Joseph L. Sharp, representing the Cass coun- ty district, was actually a citizen and resident of Glenwood, Iowa, and never resided in Nebraska a day in his life, either then or afterwards, but was chosen president of the Council, HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 81 and he was a very able and dignified presiding officer. My pay was $4.00 per diem for keeping the legislative journals, and I worked on an average fifteen hours a day. My home that winter was about a mile and one-half northwesterly from the scene of my labors, and consisted of a single room, perhaps twelve by fourteen feet in area walled in by cotton- wood boards which were decorated on the inside by one coat of what was called plaster, which was mostly clay, and which seemed to have been thrown on the wall with a scoop shov- el. That home was in keeping with other hovels in which the founders of Omaha lived that winter; and the one room served as parlor, bed-room, kitchen and laundry with great versatility. A single tallow candle at the only window, which was of an unpainted sash, was my guiding star as I walked and wandered at about one o'clock at night, not one human habitation intervening on the way from the capitol to the frail box in which I lived. But for the mild and beautiful winter of 1854-55, the place would have been unin- habitable. Food supplies for the people came from Coun- cil Bluffs and the sparse settlements near that town, except side meat of hogs, canned stuff, with cove oysters from Bal- timore. Eggs were so scarce that as high as a dollar a doz- en w^as paid for them by the few wiio could pay the price. It may be said that the first year of the white occupation was one of doubt, hope, and expectation, just as subsequent years were those of gradual discovery and advancement. The panic of 1857 practically destroyed and depopulated Omaha. No agriculture, .no railroads or telegraphs, no com- munication, except occasional boats by river marked this part of the country, and revival came only through the dis- covery of gold in Colorado, which was soon followed by the construction of the Union Pacific railroad. I cannot better close this article than by a mere mention of the larger men who laid the foundations of Nebraska. The Mortons, Masons, Nuckolls, and Furnas of the South Platte section; the Cumings, Creightons, Poppletons, Pat- ricks, Merediths, Woolworths, Hanscome, Ferguson, Esta- bropk. Lakes, Byers, Doanes, Wakeleys and Folsoms of the North Platte, are names that will live on in the history of 82 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA the now younf? and powei'ful state among its chief founders, and future generations will preserve them with honor in its enduring annals. Geo. L. Miller. DR, GEORGE L. MILLER One of the few Nebraska architects and great builders who helped to lay broad and deep foundations fifty years ago is the person of Dr. Miller, physician, editor, and orator. Our great and honored citizen was born among the rugged hills of old York state at Boonville, in 1830. Like most New York boys, George put in much time grubbing brush, burn- ing log heaps, picking up stone, and navigating a stone boat, but this manner of life did not quite suit the high- minded boy. He was one of the kind that took to books, and many an old tallow dip did he burn in gaining knowl- HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 83 edge of the world. He outgrew the httle red school house of his day, and hied himself away to Syracuse, where he, in due time, graduated in the College of Physicians, in 1852. Then he stuck up his shingle in Syracuse and practiced two years, when he heard of Nebraska, just as it was organized as a territory. He was not long in finding the trail which he followed to Omaha. However, before coming west he had wooed and won the heart and hand of Miss Harriet E. Dickinson December, 1853, at Syracuse, and their wedding trip was toward the setting sun. She was a native of Syra- cuse, born in 18^4. The Doctor practiced his profession in the little city with success for about eleven years, but some- how while ministering to the wants of the sick, he had his keen eye on politics, and took a great interest in the great questions of the day. It cannot be said that Dr. Miller was ever an office seeker. He was more a sort of a power behind the throne, in his party. In the councils of his party he was always, and even to this day, a leader. In 18B5 he dropped the pill bags, and founded the Omaha Herald, which he edited with great ability for twenty-three years. Under his guiding hand the Democratic party had a great defender and wise exponent. The Herald never forgot Omaha, and our Nebraska always had a true and valuable friend. The Doctor did very much for his city and state by the use of his ever ready and able pen. Some years ago he met with fi- nancial disaster with so many other brave Nebraska men, and his ample fortune was swept away, and at the same time the fire fiend visited his home and the beautiful mansion at Seymour Park was destroyed. About the same time the death angel visited the home and took his life companion from him. After years of loneliness, he found a new com- panion, Miss Frances Briggs, a New Hampshire lady, and he is again blessed in his old age with a home where love dwells. Dr. Miller is an honored member of the A. F. and A. M., and the church home is with the Trinity Episcopal people. 84 HISTORY OP SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA J, STERLING MORTON, THE FATHER OF ARBOR DAY Others will write the story of the life and labors of Sec- retary Julius Sterling Morton, but we deem it a privilege to pay this small tribute to the memory of one that has done so much for Nebraska. In 1902, just after Mr. Morton was called from earth, it was our privilege to wander over Califor- nia and our way led us through the great redwood grove near Sante Cruz, where we were permitted to dedicate a great tree to the memory of our friend. This beautiful tree of ponderous size stands in the middle of the great park. It is HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 85 symmetrical, lifting its branches two hundred and seventy feet. Upon our return home at the meeting of the Nebras- ka Historical Society, a resolution was offered and adopted to place a bronze tablet upon the tree in memory of the Father of Arbor Day. The author and Dr. Geo. L. Miller, of Omaha, were appointed a committee to attend to ihe matter. A beautiful bronze tablet was secured. It was two feet square, containing this inscription; on the upper left hand corner was the mandate, "Plant truths," on the upper right hand corner the words, "Plant trees." "In memory of J. Sterling Morton, Father of Arbor Day, Born April 22, 1832 ; Died April 26, 1902. By order of State Historical So- ciety of Nebraska. In 1904 on Arbor day the good people of Sante Cruz, led by the Mayor and assisted by the city schools, received the tablet with fitting ceremonies and placed it on the great tree. Letters from President Roosevelt, Secretary Wilson and many other distinguished men were read and the follow- ing address from chairman Cox, of the committee, to the people of California was read: To his Excellency Governor Pardee, and the Hon. D. C. ' Clark, Mayor of Sante Cruz, California, and All the Good People of the Golden State, the People of Nebras- ka Send Greeting: In the name and by the authority of the State Histori- cal Society of Nebraska, it becomes our pleasant duty to pre- sent to you this beautiful bronze tablet in memory of our greatest citizen that has finished his work and gone to his reward on. this, the seventy-second anniversary of his birth, and on the thirty-second anniversary of Arbor day as established by the legislature of our young commonwealth. May I tell you in brief of the life work of Julius Ster- ling Morton. He accomplished two praiseworthy feats in the state of Michigan before his removal to Nebraska. He graduated in the state university at Ann Arbor, then married Miss Joy and with his noble bride came straightway to the new territory of Nebraska in 1854, where he at once commenced 86 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA helping to lay deep and broad foundations for our great commonwealth. He was among the very first to put in motion, that en- gine of magic power, the printing press, editing the Nebras- ka City News, commencing in the spring of 1855. The pa- per was first published in the old government block house. He was one among the first to till our virgin soil. He located at what the world now knows as Arbor Lodge, near Nebraska City, and there began in a business way to make a home. He and his good wife began planting trees and it would do your soul good, ladies and gentlemen, to see Arbor Lodge to-day, with its wealth of shade and fruit. Mr. Morton was called by President Buchanan to other duties. He became secretary of the infant territory, and was acting governor twice during his administration. He per- formed well whatever his hands found to do, but his politi- cal creed was not in accord with the majority of our state and for long years it became his pleasant duty to lead our people to a higher plain in agriculture. He became a model farmer, but his principal delight and highest ambition was to clothe our boundless prairies with groves of timber. He saw the great necessity of our people. He saw with his keen eye the wanton waste of our forests in the states, where nature had blessed the people with forests. His great soul was all on fire on this important subject. It was his study by day and by night. His great efforts and the inspiration of his life caused such an awakening that con- gress took the matter in hand and passed the timber culture act and the forest reserve act, and the Nebraska legisla- ture was induced to name Arbor day as a holiday and also encourage the planting of trees by relieving certain lands from taxation, where timber was i^lanted and cultivated. Nebraska taking the lead in establishing Arbcr day as a hol- iday, nearly all our states have followed as well as many na- tions of the world. When Nebraska became a state in 1867 it was a boundless prairie, with scarcely a tree or shrub in sight, except along a few of the streams. Now it is dotted all over with beautiful groves of timber, aggregating thous- ands of millions of trees. The great middle west is now beautiful with hundreds of thousands of groves that are a HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 87 joy to all beholders, giving shelter from the chilling winter winds and a cooling shade in summer, and adding a great wealth of fuel and useful timber for a thousand uses. One of the sages wrote the axiom: "The man who causes two blades of grass to grow where only one grew be- fore, ijs a benefactor." Then how much more is our hero a benefactor, that has led the way in planting countless mill- ions of the grandest plants upon the earth. In recognition of his great service to the country and to mankind, President Cleveland called him to a place in his cabinet, and he became, in 1892, the secretary of agriculture. In organizing the department of agriculture he displayed such business ability that he was soon recognized as the master mind of the administration. Now, my f el low" citizens of our great republic, is it not most fitting that this noble character should have his name carried to future generations as an inspiration? And now we ask the good and wise people of California to accept this table and place it upon this giant of the forest, he loved so well. Grand tree, that has stood for so many centuries, 'till thou hast, with thy roots, penetrated deeply in the soil of California, and upon thy great symmetrical trunk, lifted thy evergreen sombrero high up toward the sky, where it has kissed the breezes of the great ocean for thousands of years. Now thou hast another duty to perform. Thou mayest carry upon thy body this memorial of thy greatest friend, as an inspiration to all people, and countless gener- ations yet unborn. May thy majestic form stand through the coming centuries, the delight of all beholders bearing this precious memorial in everlasting bronze, and may the children to the remotest generation gain a new and better inspiration as they gaze upon the ponderous form in all your grandeur, bearing the name of one that has accomp- lished so much for humanity! With the kindest regards of all true Nebraskans, to your great and growing commonwealth, we have the honor of being your obedient servant, W. W. Cox, Chairman Committee. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA GENERAL JOHN M, THAYER Full fifty years ago John came to Nebraska from the Old Bay state where he was born, 1820. He received a lib- eral education and spent his young manhood as teacher in the common schools, and was married in 1843 to Miss Mary T. Allen, of his native state. They were the parents of six children, two of which yet live, viz., Geo. D. and John M. , Jr. Mr. Thayer had not long to wait in Nebraska until there was something to do. The first legislature in the winter of 1855 made Mr. Thayer commander of the militia to defend the frontier from the marauding Indians and he performed these duties from 1855 to 1861. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 89 General Thayer had led squads of militia at different times against troublesome Indians, but the story which we wish to tell here is a peculiar episode in military history. The Pawnees had been committing depredations along the Elkhorn river, and urgent word was sent to Omaha asking for protection. The Governor was absent at least from Oma- ha and Secretary J. Sterling Morton was in that case com- mander-in-chief of the militia. It was suspected that Gov. Black might be absent from the territory. The Secretary saw there was an emergency and a hur- ried consultation with General Thayer resulted in an order to march at once against the red-skins. Gen. Thayer prompt- ly obeyed the order. He raised about forty men in Omaha and left that night at midnight and pushd on to Fontanelle where the panic stricken j^eople were assembled. Two days later a sufficient force was gathered to pursue the Pawnees with a force of one hundred and ninety-four men. He had one cannon, the only piece of artillery in the territory. He took the trail and pursued the Indians in hot haste. There were five thousand Pawnees and they had devastated the whole settlement along the Elkhorn river. They had five hundred ponies and these had been turned into the growing crops of the settlers. The commander had secured the co-operation and assit- ance of Gen. Curtis, an Iowa citizen, and Lieutenant Robin- son of the U. S Cavalry dragoons and with the force as well organized as possible under the conditions, they were push- ing to the front. When Gov. Black got wind of what was going on he immediately took the trail and appeared in camp the 4th day just at night fall. The Governor of course was commander-in-chief, but unfortunately hear, he was par- tially intoxicated. Now Gen. Thayer. (He had had that title conferred by the Legislature) was in a "quandry" to know just what to do with a commander over him in a state of in- toxication. The general found the governor's demijohn while the governor was asleep and emptied it. Far away from civiliza- tion and long before the terrible scenes of the war in which Gen. Thayer so wonderfully distinguished himself, he was brought face to face with one of the most trying ordeals of 90 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA his eventful life with all the responsibility of success or failure restin*^: upon his shoulders with a commander-in-chief over him in a condition of intoxication. They were in the noon camp the following day with Gov. Blac-k hid aw^ay from public gaze in a tent guarded by soldiers, when the governor sent for Lieutenant .Robinson to come to the tent. The lieutenant obeyed. When the governor issued this famous order, "Colonel, I order you to take sf'venty-tive men and go over to Columbus (away over on the Platte) and procure -ten barrels of whiskey and four sacks of Hour." Col. Robinson was schooled in the regular army and knew that orders of superior must be obeyed. Gen. Thayer rose to the occasion. He readily learned that this famous order would create insubordination in the camp. Loud mutterings were heard among the men cursing the governor. Gen. Thayer at once mounted his horse and in a sentorian voice he called out "Attention Battalion! Pall into line! and prepare to march." Every man rose to his position and ob3yed orders. There was no more sign of mutiny; that ques- tion was settled. He then detailed two soldiers to take the governor from the tent, place him in an ambulance and take seats beside him and allow no man to approach him but himself, and if he objects "You put him in at all hazards." The General saw that he must act promptly and with determination, and it ended the trouble. The expedition was successful. It met fourteen hundred warriors and sub- dued them without (by strategy) tiring a gun. We would gladly follow up this interesting story of the Pawnee war but si^ace forbids. We, however, refer the reader to pages 281 to 246 of volume 5 of the second series of the Nebraska Historical Transactions for a full account of the same. When the thunder drums began to beat in the year of 18(il, our friend readily heard and at once set about organ- izing the Nebraska tirst regiment, of which h<^ was elected the first Colonel. That grand regiment that did such grand work in the Sanguinary conflicts, where it had such an hon- orable part. Its history, if it could all be told, w^ould make a volume of surpassing interest, and we have thought that HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 91 if it should fall to our lot to ever write another book, that above all subjects we would choose the work of the Nebraska First on the field of ^lory. We cannot t^'ll here of the thousand valorous dec'ds of Colonel Thayer, Brigadier General Thayer and of Major (xeneral Thayer. They are written in the chi-onicles of the greatest conflict of history. His name shines out grandly among the bright stars. Always true and brave, always kind and gentle and always ready to dare aid do what his Chief commanded. When the white dove of peace again came to bless our land, Gen. Thayer returned to us covered with honors. Our first state legislature honored him with a seat in the United States senate, where in the troublous days of re-construction, he did good work for the country, while never forgetting his loved Nebraska. Then he was honored by his old Commander, General Grant, by the ap- pointment as Governor of Wyoming Territory; and then the good people of his adopted state conferred upon him twice the honors (the greatest in their gift) of Governor of the state. Truely he has been a most faithful servant and is justly entitled to all honors. He has now retired from active life, but in his green old age he enjoys the love and friendship of a grateful peo- ple. His noble life companion was taken from him some 3^ears ago and the dear old man now in his 86th year, just having passed the Hoth mile stone, now has to "tread the wine press alone." GOV. ROBERT WILKINSON FURNAS Is a man so well known to this generation of Nebras- kans that our poor pen is hardly capable of doing him jus- tice. In the language of another, he was a man that "does things." Governor was a man of "strenuous life." The first im- portant step he took in Nebraska was to edit a live paper, the Brownville Advertiser. It was a first class, newsy, clean paper intended to advance the best interests of the new Ter- ritory. It was republican in politics. The Advertiser 92 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA poured hot shot into the camp of the democratic federal of- fice holders. He bef^an immediately to take an interest in the agri- cultural development of the territory, and helped organize the Agricultural Society, and was a main spoke in the wheel at our first territorial fair, held in the fall of 1859 at Neb- raska City. Mr. Furnas landed in the territory at Brownville, April 6, 1853. He was a brigadier genei^al of Nebraska militia at the opening of the war. He received a commission as colo- nel at the hands of the immortal Lincoln in the Union army, and later was colonel of the Second Nebraska cavalry, and was sent against the depredating Indians in the northwest. He has been President of the State Board of Agricul- ture twelve years, and was serving the board as its sec- retary twenty-two years. He was elected governor in 1872 on the republican ticket by the largest vote ever cast up to that date. He served honorably and well. He was Presi- dent of the State Historical Society, and refused after a long term of years to accept its farther honors; but upon the death of Hon. J. Sterling Morton, was induced to accept the place again, and he retained it up to the annual meeting of 1905, when he declined to be a candidate. Gov. Furnas was born among the blue clay hills of old Miami County, Ohio, when it was pretty much of a wilderness. May 5, 1824, and remained there until seventeen, when by some hook or crook he took the southern trail and landed in old Kentucky; but that old rocky-tumble down town of Covington did not suit hl'n; so he went to Cincinnatti where he found his best girl, Miss Mary E. McComas and was married there October 29, 1845. She was an Ohio girl, born in Green county, De- cember 2S, 1828. Eight childi-en came to brighten and bless their home, viz., William E., Arthur W., Fillmore T., Geo. G., John S., Mollie, now Mrs. Wm. H. Weeber, andCeliaH., now Mrs. E. E. Lowman. The Governor had a membership in all branches of the Masonic and also tho I. O. O. F. fraternities. He was born a Quaker but later was connected with the Presbyterian church. His noble wife, who had been such a grand helper in all his early struggles, was taken from him some years HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 93 ago. Decembei' 25, 1901, he married Mrs. Susanah E. Jami- son, and again had a happy home. He resided continu- ously at the first old home in Brownville almost fifty years. Governor Furnas has been a very active man all his Nebraska days. In tree planting he has been a success. Next to Morton, he has done more to encourage forestry and fruit growing than any other citizen. He has through all the years taken a keen interest in horticultural society work. He was a i^leasant speaker and a good writer. He was al- w^ays listened to with pleasure, and his waitings always find attentive and interested readers. The readers of this vol- ume are especially requested to read his pen pictures of the long ago. We can't tell a tenth of what we would like to say for Gov. Furnas. The dear old man finished his work and went to his reward June 1, 1905. REV. ]. M. YOUNG, FOUNDER OF LINCOLN Among the grand men that helped so well to lay these foundations, was the Rev. John M. Young the founder of Lincoln, an old, tried and true friend of the author. The good old man finished his work and went to his re- ward, Feb. 26th, 1884. We clip from the State Journal a tribute to his memory paid by the writer on Feb. 27th, 1884, as follows: Our hearts are very sad as w^e read in yesterday's Journ- al that our dear old friend, Elder Young, has passed away. Of the useful and good, he w^as among the best. All that knew him well, loved him well. He was a worker in all useful fields. Where any good w^as to be accomplished no task was too hard for him. He would face winter storms, camp out at night, or do anything to further the w^ork his hands found to do. He was among the most enterprising, helping other people to help themselves. He loved to make money for the sole purpose of doing good with it. Place a mountain of gold at his door and he could not be rich while any one was in need or there was a laudable enterprise to help. The city of Lincoln owes its existence more to him than any other man living or dead. We say what we do 94 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA know. Had it not been for him, there is no doubt that the Capitol of our state would have been placed elsewhere. Il was our good fortune to make his acquaintance in IHHO at Nebraska City, and in 1862 we were living at the Salt Basin, where the elder made his home with us when he first visited the la ad where your splendid city now stands*. His com- pany reached our place at noon on the Fourth of July, 1862. They expressed themselves glad to see us, and God knows we were glad to see them. We, that day, raised the stars and stripes to kiss the breeze for the first time in that new land, and we had a celebration. A celebration meant some- thing in those dark days, when the war clouds hung like a pall over our land. As the Elder talked to us, we would cheer or cry when reference was made to the dear boys at the front, of their brave deeds, and their sufferings, and of our blessed flag that was being trailed in the dust by recreant hands. The company remained with us over Sabbath, and the Elder preached the first sermon in that vicinity. After viewing a wide extent of country, they located their colony on the site of your city, and dedicated a portion of section 22 for a town site and christened it Lancaster. It was our pleasure to continue an intimate acquaintance with him for a number of years. While his colony was in its infancy he was the soul of it. His presence was an in- spiration to all the struggling pioneers. Always ready with words of cheer and a little cash, when needed. He would always find some work for those willing to work. He would manage somehow to make work for them. His every day lif H was full of good works. His noble Christian example (he lived the religion he professed) was valuable to all that knew him. Your beautiful city is to-day a monument to the memory of its founder and faithful friend. AN INCIDENT OF RANCH LIFE IN CENTRAL NEBRASKA MY FIRST, LAST AND ONLY BUFFALO HUNT "Ranch" life on the plains of Nebraska, or the great west, generally speaking, is somewhat different to ordinary farm life where the chief business is the cultivation of the HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBliASKA 05 soil. "Ranch" is a S])a.iiisli word, and is derived froiii its customary use in old Spain or Mexico and other colonies of Spanish origin and is generally applied to a ti-act of land where stock — such as cattle or horses, or both are raised, and is a])])lied to the house where the cattle men or rancliers make their lieadquartei's and reside. In th(? early history of Nebraska, many of tliese ranches were scattered over the wester-n plains or along the timbei-ed streams oi" valleys. The first in Neljraska were confined chielly to the well travelled road and the roads to ('alifornia, Colorado and Oregon, along wliich the ovei-land stag(;s travelled. Most of these travelled roa,ds from the east centered a.t or near' Fort Kearney, and there was oik' main I'oad from there on west. The overland travel caused more or less of business along that great highway, so ■'ranches" were established all along the road and every few miles, where the ranchman would put up his stables and a small store for tin; sale of some assorted groceries that travellers sometimes needed. Here the traveller could have his tcuims fcid and cared for over night, with shelter and meals for himself if he so de- sired. Sometimes he had a lame animal to trade to the rancliman for something iK'ttei- or to sell for cash, so each ranchei" usually liad a "bunch" of horsc^s (n- otlua- stock to look after for increase and benefit, there being always a good j-ange of grazing land for such animals. So the ra,nch- man liad almost all he could do to loolc aJter his stock, cut wood and haul it, or cut hay and haul it, looU' al'ter his stoi'e and wait on travellers, coming and going. In the early days, before any government surveying was done, the ranches wen; all "scjuatter's claims," using such land as they needed and by common consent and und(;r- standing with ncnghboring ranchmen, regai-diess of a,ny specially surveyed lines. Such was "Sydenham's Ranch." at the "Sevente(mth White Point" west of Kort Kearney on the overland mail route to Cyiilifornia, ('olorado and Oregon. This j had built foi- a home for my motlu^r and brothers and sistej-s, wliil(! a,s postmaster, etc., at old Foi't Kearney, I was eai-ning the money for tlie su])por1, of the fajiiily there not Ixiing 96 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA enough of ranching business at that time for their living. I put up some good strong buildings for a residence, and for stables and out of good tough sod, six inches thick, all cut and squared with a sharp spade. For a store on the oppo- site side of the travelled road from the residence, I put up a story and a half house made of hewn logs from the islands near by, some being made into boards with a rip-saw for flooring, doors, etc. The family lived at the ranch; that is, my mother, brothers and sisters. I was then unmarried, and only a single young man I lived and slept most of the time at the fort. Fort Kearney — where I was postmaster for fifteen years — and some of the time Indian trader and post trader. Once in a while I went up to the ranch from the fort with my team to see how the family were all getting along and to see'what supplies were wanted; and when convenient for me to do so would stay at the ranch over night but this was not very frequent, as my duties at the fort kept me most of the time steadily there. On one occasion when I had stayed over night at the ranch, the next morning about daylight the house dog commenced to bark.furiously. I knew at once that there must be some polecat, wolf or other animal prowling about the house, so I called my brother Richard, the only young man besides myself at the ranch at that time, to go and see what the dog was barking at. He went out to look and there at the front of the garden gate of the house, only about four rods distant, was a buffalo. My brother was not disturbed much by the buffalo and went to bed again. I tried to get him to go out and get a shot at it, but he did not see the reason as I did and so lacked the energy and disposition necessary. Well, I knew the ranch was short of provisions and then Omaha was where I gener- ally got my supplies — over two hundred miles away — be- sides money was rather scarce with me. So as a matter of necessity for the sustenance of the family at the ranch, it occurred to me that it would be a wise measure to secure that buffalo for provision for the ranch if possible, although I was no hunter and had not the bad tastes or desires for hunting, and besides, I was a "vegetarian," living on fruits and farinacea and never eating any meat. Not being able HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 97 to get my brother started after the buffalo, I conceived the idea to go out after it myself, and then the next thing was to act. So I jumped out of bed and slipped my clothes on quickly and got the Sharp's rifle from the corner, and then learned that there was only one shot in the rifle magazine, and no more to be had. Well, seeing as I had got started I was going to see the thing through and have the buffalo, or part with the only one shot. By the time I was out of the house the buffalo had got scared and was off quite a distance. I started and went along a low slough to try and get near enough to hit it. I had got but a short distance when I discovered a traveler's camp about half a mile off and they had seen the buffalo and two men had gone out from the camp after it. After a while crack went a shot and the buf- falo was shot in the leg, that made it go along some what limping; but went over the ground pretty fast with the two men following him. I was hoping that they would get the buffalo down, so I willingly let them have the field all to themselves, while I held my one shot in reserve. If they downed the buffalo they would get some of the meat, but I would get the most of it for the ranch after they had taken what they wanted. But they soon gave up the chase after the buffalo, as it went farther and farther into the sand hills. They could not spare the time to follow it up, so they told me as I met them on their way back to the camp. I had my eyes on the buffalo, however, and kept on after him. I had not gone far when in another direction I saw another buffalo going over the top of the hill in the distance. I im- mediately quit following the wounded buffalo and as quick as possible got to the top of the hill where I had seen it dis- appear. When I got there I saw the buffalo lying down in the valley below in a very favorable position, with his back towards me and the wind blowing from it to me. I then went up quickly to within two or three rods of it to make quite sure of making the one and only shot I had a success- ful hit. I took aim at what I thought was a vital point and fired and retreated. Of course it was a daring venture to leave myself without another shot to give him in case he came after me; but there was no alternative. When the buffalo was hit it seemed to jumped up about a foot high in 98 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA the air, ran a little way, then swinging around towards me, shaking its great shaggy head, then he turned and went on a gallop in the opposite direction. I followed him and soon saw the blood drops on the ground in his tracks. He went on and on through the sand hills and I thought he must be getting weaker, so I thought I might head him off and get him to going in the direction of the Platte river valley and the ranch. I got somewhat close in on him after a while, as near as about twenty yards, when suddenly he turned and came towards me at a full gallop, as it undoubtedly concluded that I was the cause of its trouble. Then I ran as well as I could with a heavy cavalry overcoat on, and it was a clear field for the buffalo, for we were in the midst of a level valley among the sand hills. From my heart came the call on the One I could always trust in a time of trouble as I looked to that Heavenly pro- tector and commenced to pull off my overcoat to lighten my weight and accelerate my progress, as well as to swing it on the buffalo's head and dodge if possible when it got too close. I turned around to see how close it was to me, when all of a sudden it stopped and very soon fell down and died. I must have been some miles out in the sand hills from the ranch, but knew about the direction of the Platte valley and soon got back again to the ranch when my brother Richard and I got the yoke of oxen hitched to the wagon, and without much trouble found the dead butt'alo. Then we skinned it, cut it up and loaded it on the wag- on and before night it was at the rancli where they had roast buffalo, boiled buffalo, buffalo rump, buff'alo tongue, dried buffalo, jerked buffalo, buffalo in all styles served up even to the artistic taste of the "chief cook" of a Delmonico. Anyway it kept the dear people at the ranch supplied with food for a long time, relieving me of that much of care and worry for them. Well, this was my first, last, and only buffalo hunt in which I ever engaged out on the plains, and it was surely a successful one, especially when it is considered that I had only the one shot in the gun. I have seen buffalo in larger herds on the Platte valley, and as late as 1870 when I was over on the Republican val- HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY. NEBRASKA 99 ley taking the census as dpputy census enumerator, I must have seen fully a hundred thousand of them rano-in^ over the Republican valley hills a^ t m- as iho eyc^ could see for many miles along the valley. I Ii.'ao often had the oppor- tunity to go out on buffalo hunts from Fort Kearney with English lords, prominent Americans and army officers wiien hunting parties were made up, but I declined, having no taste or inclination in that direction. The editorial ba;i:i!.) hunt which took place in sight of old Port Kearney at one time would make an interesting and readable article of itself, but this is all that can be said now relative to buffalo hunt- ing and my own reminiscence of an incident of my own per- sonal experience in connection with it as a little bit of ranch life in these early days of Nebraska history at Sy- denham's ranch. Moses H. Sydenham, Kearney, Neb. CHAPTER V. List of Territorial and State Officers, U. S. Senators, Representatives in Congress, and U. S. Maishials from tlie organization of the territory to the present time. TERRITORIAL GOVERNORS Francis Burt, appointed Oct. 16, 1854. Dem. Mark W. Izard, appointed Feb. 20, 1855. Dem. Wm. A. Richardson, appointed Jan. 12, 1858. Dem. Sam. W. Black, appointed May 2, 1858. Dem. Alvin Saunders, appointed May 15, 18t3l. Rep. ' STATE GOVERNORS David Butler, elected, took seat Feb. 21, 1867. Rep. Robert W. Furnas, elected, took seat Jan. 13, 1873. Rep. Silas Garber, elected, took seat Jan. 11, 1875. Rep. Albinus Nance, elected, took seat Jan. 9, 1879. Rep. James W. Dawes, elected, took seat Jan. 4, 1883. Rep. John M. Thayer, elected, took seat Jan. 6, 1887. Rep. James E. Boyd, Jan. 8, 1891, Dem. Lorenzo Crounse, Jan. 13, 1893. Rep. Silas A. Holcomb, Jan. 3, 1895. Pop. Wm. A. Poynter, Jan. 5, 1899. Pop. Chas. H. Dietrich, Jan. 3, 1901. Resigned. Rep. Succeeded by Ezra P. Savage in spring of 1901, being Lieutenant Governor. J. H. Mickey, Jan. 6, 1903. Rep. LIEUTENANT GOVERNORS Othman A. Abbott, Jan. 4, 1877. Rep. Edmund C. Cams, Jan. 9, 1879. Rep. A. W. Agee, Jan. 4, 1883. Rep. H. H. Shedd, Jan. 8, 1885. Rep. Geo. D. Meikeljohn, Jan. 3, 1889. Rep. Thos. A. Majors, Jan. 6, 1891. Rep. Robert E. Moore, Jan. 3, 1895. Pop. James E. Harris, Jan. 7, 1897. Pop. HISTORY OF SEWAKD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 101 E. A. Gilbert, Jan. 5, 1899. Dem. E. P. Savage, Jan. 3, 1901. Rep. E. G. McGilton. Jan. 6, 1903. Rep. SECRETARIES Thomas B. Cuming, appointed Aug. 13, IH',4. Dem. John B. Motley, appointed March 23, 1858. Dem. J. Sterling Morton, appointed July 12, 1858. Dem. A. S. Paddock, appointed May 6, 1861. Rep. T. P. Kennard, elected, took seat Feb. 21, 1867. Rep. W. H. James, elected, took seat Jan. 10, 1871. Rep. John J. Gosper, elected, took seat Jan. 13, 1873. Rep. Bruno Tzschuck, elected, took seat Jan. 11, 1875. Rep. S. J. Alexander, elected, took seat Jan. 9, 1879. Rep. E. P. Roggen, elected, took seat Jan. 4, 1883. Rep. Gilbert L. Laws, elected, tojk seat Jan. 6, 1887. Rep. Benj. R. Cowdery, Nov. 20, 1889. Rep. Appointed by Gov. Thayer to fill a vacancy. John C. Allen, Jan. 8, 1891. Joel A. Piper, Jan. 3, 1895. Wm. F. Parker, Jan. 7, 1897. Geo. W. Marsh, Jan. 3, 1901. Al. Galusha, Jan. 5, 1905. AUDITORS Chas. B. Smith, appointed March 16, 1855. Dem. Samuel L. Campbell, appointed Aug. 3, 1857. Dem. Wm. E. Moore, appointed June 1, 1858. Dem. Robert C. Jordan, appointed Aug. 2, 1858. Dem. Wm. E. Harvey, appointed Oct. 8, 1861. Rep. John Gillespie, appointed Oct. 10, 1865. Rep. John Gillespie, elected at organization of state govern- ment. Rep. Jefferson B. Weston, elected Jan. 13, 1H73. Rep. F. W. Liedke, elected, Jan. 9, 1879. Rep. John Wallichs, appointed to fill a vacancy, Nov. 12, 1880. Rep. John Wallichs, elected Nov., 1881. Rep. H. A. Babcock, elected, inaugurated Jan. 8, 1885. Rep. H. A. Babcock, re-elected Nov. 8, 1887. Thos. H. Benton, Jan. 3, 1889. Rep. 102 HISTORY OF SEWAUD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Eugene Moore, Jan. 13, 1893. Rep. John F. Cornell, Jan. 7, 1897. Rep. Chas. Weston, Jan. 3, 1901. E. M. Searle, Jr., Jan. 5, 1905. TREASURERS R. P. Rankin, appointed March 16, 1855. Dem. Wm. W. Wyman, appointed Nov. 6, 1855. Dem. Augustus Kountze, appointed Oct. 8, 1861. Rep. Augustus Kountze, elected, 1^67. James Sweet, elected, inaugurated June 11, 1869. Rep. Henry A. Koenij'-, elected, inaugurated Jan. 10, 1871. Rep. J. C. McBride, elected, inaugurated Jan 11, ls75. Rpp. Geo. M. Bartlett, elected, inaugerated Jan 9, 1879. Rep, Phelps D. Sturdevant, elected, inaug Jan. ^, 1883. Dem. Chas. H. Willard, elected, inaug. Jan. 8, 1885. Rep. Chas. H. Willard, re-elected 1887. Rep. John E. Hill, Jan. 3, 1889. Rep. Joseph S. Hartley, Jan. 13, 1893. Rep. John B. Meserve, Jan. 7, 1897. Pop. Wm. Stueffer, Jan. 3, 1901. Peter Mortensen, Jan. 1903. Rep. LIBRARIANS James S. Izard, appointed March 16, 1855. Dem. H. C. Anderson, appointed Nov. 6, 1855. Dem. John H. Kellom, appointed Aug. 3, 1857. Dem. Alonzo D. Luce, appointed Nov. 7, 1859. Dem. Robert S. Knox, appointed 1861. Rep. T. P. Kennard, appointed June 22, 1867. Rep. Wm. H. Jones, appointed Jan. 10, 1871. Rep. Guy A. Brown, appointed March 3, 1871. Rep. Died in office. Walter A. Leese, appointed Oct. 29, 1889. D. A. Campbell, appointed July 14, 1890. Lee Herdman, appointed May 1. 1900. ATTORNEY GENERALS Champion S. Chase, elected 1867. Rep. Seth Robinson, elected 1869. Rep. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 103 Geo. H. Roberts, inaugurated Jan. 10, 1871. Rep. J. R. Webster, inaugurated Jan. 13, 1873. Rep. Geo. H. Roberts, inaugurated Jan. 11, 1875. Rep. C. J. Dilworth, inaugurated Jan ^', 187V). Rep. Isaac Powers, Jr., inaugurated Jan. -1, 1883. Rep. Wm. Leese, inaugurated Jan. 8, 1885. Rep. Wm. Leese, re-elected 1887. Rep. Geo. H. Hastings, Jan. 8, 1891. A. S. Churchill, Jan. 3, 18V)5. C. J. Smythe, Jan. 7, 1897. Dem. F. M. Prout, Jan. 3, IgOl . Norr is Brown, Jan., 1905. Rep. SUPERINTENDENTS OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION Seth W. Beals, elected 1869. Rep. J. M. McKenzie, elected, inaug. Jan. 10, 1871. Rep. S. R. Thompson, elected, inaug. Jan. 4, 1877. Rep. W. W. W. Jones, elected, inaug. Jan. 6, 1881. Rep. Geo. B. Lane, elected, inaug. Jan. 6, 1887. Rep. A. K. Goudy, Jan. 8, 1891. Rep. H. R. Corbett, Jan. 3, 1895. Rep. W. R. Jackson, Jan. 7, 1897. Wm. K. Fowler, Jan. 3, 1901. Rep. Jasper L. McBrien, Jan. 5, 1905. Rep. COMMISSIONERS OF PUBLIC LANDS AND BUILDINGS F. M. Davis, elected, inaug. Jan. 4, 1877. Rep. A. G. Kendall, elected, inaug. Jan. <), 1881. Rep. Joseph Scott, elected, inaugerated Jan. 8. 1885. Rep. Joseph Scott, re-elected 1887. Rep. John Steen, Jan. 3, 1889. A. R. Humphrey, Jan. 8, 1891. H. C. Russell, Jan. 3, 1895. Wm. W. Wolfe, Jan. 7, 1897. Geo. D. FoUmer, Jan. 3, 1901. Henry M, Eaton, Jan. 5, 1905. JUDGES OF SUPREME COURT CHIEF J USTICES. Fenner Furguson, appointed Oct. 12, 1854. Dem. Aug. Hall, appointed March 15, 1858. Dem. 104 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Wm. Pitt Kellogg, appointed May 27, 1861. Rep. Wm. Pitt Kellogg, re-appointed May 8, 1865. Rep. Wm. A. Little, appointed 1866. Dem. O. P. Mason, appointed 1866. Rep. O. P. Mason, elected 1867. Rep. Geo. B. Lake, elected, inaug. Jan. 16, 1873. Rep. Daniel Gantt, elected, inaug. Jan. 3, 1878.* Rep. Samuel Maxwell, elected, inaug. May 29, 1878. Rep. Geo. B. Lake, elected, inaug. Jan. 5, 1882. Amassa Cobb, elected, inaug. Jan. 3, 1884. Rep. Samuel Maxwell, elected, inaug. Jan. 4, 1886. Rep. M. B. Reese, 1888-90. Rep. Amassa Cobb, 1890-92. Rep. Samuel Maxwell, 1892-94. Rep. T. L. Norval, 1894-96. Rep. A. M. Post, 1896-98. Rep. T. O. C. Harrison, 1898-00. Rep. T. L. Norval, 1900-02. Rep. S. A. Holcomb, 1902-04. Pop. ASSOCIATE JUSTICES AND JUDGES Ed. R. Harden, appointed Dec. 4, 1854. Dem. James Bradley, appointed Oct. 25, 1854. Dem. Sam. M. Black, appointed; date not given. Eleazer Wakely, appointed April 27, 1857. Dem. Joseph Miller, appointed April 9, 1859. Dem. Wm. F. Lockwood, appointed May 16, 1861. Rep. Elmer S. Dundy, appointed June 22, 1863. Rep. Geo. B. Lake, elected, inaug. Feb. 21, 1867. Rep. Lorenzo Crounse, elected, inaug. Feb. 21, 1867. Rep. Daniel Gantt, elected, inaug. Jan. 16, 1873. Rep. Samuel Maxwell, elected, inaug. Jan. 16, 1873. Rep. Amassa Cobb, elected, inaug. May 29, 1878. Rep. Amassa Cobb, elected, inaug. 1882. Rep. M. B. Reese, elected, inaug. Jan. 3, 1884. Rep. Samuel Maxwell, elected 1887. Rep. T. L. Norval, 1890, twelve years. Rep. A.M. Post, 1892, six years. Rep. T. O. C. Harrison, 1894, six years. Rep. jtDied in office. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 105 Julian Sullivan, 1898, six years. Dem. Silas A.Holcomb, 1900. S. H. Sedgwick, 1902. Rep. John B. Barnes, 1904. Rep. CLERKS OF SUPREME COURT H. C. Anderson, appointed, 1856. Chas. L. Salisbury, appointed, 1858. E. B. Chandler, appointed, 1859. John H. Kellom, appointed, 1861. Wm. Kellogg, Jr., appointed, 1865. Geo. Armstrong, appointed, 1H67. Guy A. Brown, appointed, 1868. Died in office. Walter A. Leese, appointed, 1889. D. A. CamiDbell, appointed, 1S90. Lee Herdman, ai^pointed, 1900. REPORTERS SUPREME COURT J. M. Woolworth, appointed, 1870. Lorenzo Crounse, appointed, 1873. Guy A. Brown, appointed, 1875. Walter A. Leese, 1889. D. A. Campbell, 1890. Lee Herdman, 1900. U.S. MARSHALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEBRASKA Mark W. Izard, appointed, 1854. Dem. Eli R.Doyle, appointed, April 7, 1855. Dem. Ben. P. Rankin, appointed, March 29, 1856. Dem. P. W. Hitchcock, appointed Sep. 19, 1861. Rep. Casper E. Yost, appointed April 1, 1869. Rep. J. T. Hoile, July 1, l86l. Rep. Wm. Dailey, 1^70. Rep. Ellis Bierbower, 1885. Rep. TERRITORIAL DELEGATES TO CONGRESS Napoleon B. Gidding, elected Dec. 12, 1854. Dem. Bird B. Chapman, elected Nov. 6, 1855. Dem. Fenner Furguson, elected Aug. 3, 1857. Dem. Experience Esterbrook, Oct. 11, 1859. Dem. Samuel G. Daily, Oct. 9, 1860. Rep. Samuel G. Daily, re-elected Oct. 1862. Rep. lOfi HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Phineas W. Hitchcock, elected Oct. 11, 1864. Rep. John Taffe, elected Oct. 9, 1866. Rep. REPRESENTATIVES TO CONGRESS Lorenzo Crounse, Oct. 8, 1872. Rep. Frank Welch, Nov. 7, 1876. Rep. Thos. J. Majors, Nov. 5, 1878. Rep. E. K. Valentine, Nov. 5, 1H78. Rep. A. J. Weaver, March 7, 1883. Rep. James Laird, March 7, 1883. Rep. Re-elected 1884 and 1886. G. L. Laws appointed to fill unexpired term. G. W. Dorsey, March 5, 1885. Rep. Re-elected 1886. John A. McShane, Nov., 1886. Dem. MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, FOURTH DISTRICT E. J. Haiuer, Rep., 48rd congress. " 44th Wm. L. Stark, Pop. 45th " " 46th " " 47th " E. H. Hinshaw, Rep. , 48th " " 49th " U. S. SENATORS John M. Thayer, 1867 to 1873. T. W. Tipton, 1S67 to 1875. P. W. Hitchcock, 1871 to 1877. Algernon S. Paddock, 1875 to 1881. Alvin Saunders, 1877 to 1883. C. H. VanWyck, 1881 to 1887. Chas. F. Manderson, 1883 to 1895. A. S. Paddock, 1887 to 1893. W. V. Allen, 1893 to 1901. John M. Thurston, 1895 to 1901. M. L. Hay ward, 1899; died before taking seat. Chas. H. Dietrich, 1901 to 1905. Ezra Millard, 1901 to 1907. E. J. Burkett, 1905 to 1911. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 107 ADJUTANT GENERALS G. A. Alexander, appointed, 1879. E. P. Rogen, 1883. J. C. Connell, 1885. C. V. Baird, 1886. A. N. Cole, 1887. Victor Vifquain, ' 1891. J. D. Gage, 1893. P. H. Barry, 1895. J. M. Killian, 1901. L. W. Colby, 1901. J. H. Culver, 1903 to date 108 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA SE^^ARD COUNTY William H. Seward CHAPTER VI. Change of the covinty name— Democratic Nebraska— First Repub- lican Congressman— Survey— Thomas Grahams diary— First settlement —The McKinley and Morton story— Tomy West— The Morgans" Indian Troubles— Frontier life and privations— Bright spots— Fii-st bridge on the Blue— Ranches and their settlement— Hole in the ground— Crossing of the Beaver a bad place— Great freight trains— Turkeys in the tiain— Mormtms— A Missourian and his pigs— John Scott— First settlement in "G" precinct— First homestead entry— First land entered -Settlement at Milford— Made a ford and placed a mill by it— The old speculator held the Seward mill site— The future site of Seward county-seat problem in the distance— County an attache oi Lancaster— First election remi- niscence of the settlement -Saw Seward by the eye of faith— Sad death —Arrival at homestead— A child to be born. 110 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Seward County did not from the first bear its present honored name. It will be remembered that Nebraska was or(?anized under a democratic administration and the student of history can hardly fail to observe how carefully the party in power were to leave the names of their statesmen before the world in naming the counties of the infant territory. Thus we have the names of Richardson, Johnson, Cass, Sarpy, Douglas, Burt, Pierce, etc. This list included Greene which was given in honor of Greene, the Missouri statesman. This tract of wilderness was but little known or thought of in antebellum days. It will be remembered that everything was thoroughly democratic in Nebraska until after the fall election of 1860, when agitation and a general awakening resulted in break- ing the democratic ice and a new political era dawned upon the territory. That year Samuel G. Daily was elected, to congress, being the first republican delegate to represent the people at Washington. Soon after Mr. Lincoln's inaugura- tion the swarm of democratic territorial officers from gov- ernor down were relieved and all things political were speedi- ly changed. Mr. Greene had proved to be a rebel. This county was yet unorganized and therefore was under the control of the legislature and they were not long in determining that no part of this sacred soil under their control should bear the dishonored name of a rebel. Hon. Wm. H. Seward was then Secretary of State and was a rising star and his great name was justly honored and perpetuated in naming this beautiful county Seward, and among the thousands of dwellers here from that time to the present, we believe the universal verdict has been Amen! Thus the name of our grand, rich and beautiful county bears a name that stands high among our country's immortals. We are glad to place his picture at the head of this chapter. Prom the best evidence at command we conclude the lands of the county were surveyed in the summer of 1857. We note in Thomas Graham's diary kept while examining general surveys that he and party visited Town 10 Range 3 Sec. 34 or sec. 35 on July 13th IH58. We refer the reader for particulars to his dial on another page. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 111 It will probably always remain on unsettled question as to who was the first white settler within our present bounda- ries. We have a tradition that two men (single men we take it) by the names of McKinley and Morton made settlement near where Ruby now stands in about the summer of 1858. In the legend it is stated that these men got into trouble with the Indians and that they killed two Indians and vacated to save their scalps. The graves of these Indians, or supposed Indian graves, were pointed out to us in the summer of 1865 by the Morgans. They were located on the hill-side east and south of Ruby near the old Morgan settlement. The Morgans claim to have made settlement in 1858 on the river about four miles north of Milford, but it seems probable they were considerably olf on their dates. From Mr. Graham's notes we learn that there was a small settlement at time of his visit, but he fails to give the names. This might have been the Morgans as the place was located on the east bank of the river, but it was proba- bly the McKinley and Morton settlement, later occupied by the Morgans. Rev. Walter Morgan, son of Thomas Mor- gii(l settled on the l?lu(\ Mr. Wyinore on ilu> liiiul Hint hiter IxH-anie tlie lioinesteiul of VV. W. C\)x, and Oliiisteiid on the ()sc:ir li(>ni(>cK"er I'nnii. lint it soon tr;ins- |)ired tliati llu'se men wertMleserlcrs IVoin t lu» ITnion iU'iny uiid al'tiM- diu> consideration witJiont l)ein^ arrest(Ml tliey retunnul to duty, sorvod tlioir tiiii(>oiit and were lioiuM'ahly discluirj^ed. Mr. IvolxM't T. (iriile made the lirst. homestead entry .Ian- nary l\ 1S();{. nunilxM' 7 in this land district, in th(» (Nist(>rn part ol' section 'J I . .township 1 I, rani;"e ',\ east, hut he was not ahl(> to occupy t]i(> land until the s\)rinji: of l^tVI. W. W. C'o.x made a trade* witli Mr. Wyuiore for his claim (a prt^-iMn])- tion) in tli(> winter of Isivl and lionicstoadod it in March. He s(>t to work' to form settlement and siM'uriHlieco-opevationof Mr. dale. lion. William liiday, (iraiulpa David Imlay and bis two other sons, l)a\id and .losepli, and these folios all nun'cMl to tlu> set t hMiKMit in tli(> i^irly sprins^:; hut Mr. Cox did not move until DectMiibiM' 1, ISlil. Dui'in^- that summer old Mr. Dunaway made settlement also but died during the t>arly fall before 1lit> family came. The account of bis death and burial will be found elsewhere in these paji:es. The lirst entry {^\' public lands in this county was made l)y h). \j. MIlis in the summer of 1S()I in section KS, township 1 I. rani;i> ;'. east. Mr. I^'.llis was at the time sojourneyinjj: on Salt ('r(>(>k. Ih> rt^turniHl to Missouri where luM'cmained un- til the s])rinii- i^l' ISS(i. wluui h(* made settlement on section S o\' same township. In t he sprini»- of 1S()4 .). L. Davison, with the ludi^ of John ('adman and Wm. b"'ields of Lancaster county, located the steam wai^'on road that shortened the route from Nebras- k'a City to b'oi't l\(>arney and which led by Yankee Hill on Salt (^r(>(>l\, the prt^i>osed site cd' Mil ford, and intersected the old trail at Walnut Creek, and Mr. l)a\idson ])iiIUh1 ui> stalces at the Camden I'ancb and movinl to the new propo.sed town of Milford w1um'(» he opened a nmv uj) tcvdate ranch on the si^ht of Uv. Laiiridi;(>'s Hospital rii::ht near tlu» old ford. Some tinu* durinii* the sunmier of lS(>i\c>n(* .huliiv Hilton t)f Cincinnatti, throu^'h the ludp o\' a brother-in law, ,\oo Mason o\' Lancaster county, entered a part of section 21, IIISTOK'N' OK SKVVAKI) CorNTY, NKHIiASKA I 1 < tovviislii|) I I, I'iin^c ;> cast, f'(iil)raciii<4' the mill site now occu- |)i('(l l).v the Sowai'd mills and tJx" line j^rovc timber on the Moftitt estate. '^Phis provM^d a serious menace to this eom- miinit-y fof a. nurnbei" of year's, which is t'nily discussed in another i)lac<'. Mr. Hilton was a hard old specidaior, such as the ea,i"ly settler just, loved to desi)ise. Tn 1Hf')4 tlie larid u])on wliich the city of Sewa,rd now stands yet beloni^ed to tJie e()vernment, and had no occu- pant or claiinant, and the land where Millord now stands was occu|)ied by only on(^ laniily, and the ])ersons named heretofore oidy about, t-wenly-five votes in the entire county, yet the con)in<.^ county-seat (pjestion be< other fellows had time to think. W(dl, all went w
sing of the prior right of another claim- ant, and we struck for Nebraska City on foot to make our homestead entry. Our homestead entry was made March 27, 1864, but for various causes we did not move until De- cember 1. We had a long hard struggle with adverse circumstances before it was possible to occupy the new home. The Indian trouble of that memorable j'ear was ever before us like a horrible night mare. After our return from the last Indian scare and stam- pede we visited the new home to put up hay for the winter when a very sorrowful and pathetic incident occurred. Father Dunaway, an aged man, had taken a homstead up Plum Creek on section 3, township 11, range 3 east. His family had not yet come to the county and the old man was living alone in a new lumber shanty that he had hastily built. Grandfather Imlay, also a very aged man occasion- ally went up and spent a little time visiting with the new neighbor. So one bright summer afternoon Mr. Imlay called to see Mr. Dunaway. The shanty was solitary and alone. Father Imlay thought that his friend might just be away somewhere on the place. He picked up a book that lay on the table and read a while waiting his return- Bye and bye he began to search after hallooing. About ten rods from the shanty he found the ghastly sight of his friend cold and stiff in a field of wallowed grass. He at once has- tened home and reported to his son David, who at once mounted a horse and hurried to the hay field on Lincoln Creek, where is now the farm of Lewis Anderson, where Wm. Imlay, R. Y. Gale and W. W. Cox were at work. We were thunderstruck at the appalling intelligence. A hur- ried consultation was had. The hour was getting late and neighbors were few and far between and we were five miles from the dead man. There was not an officer in Seward county It was called to mind that Mr. Cox was Justice of the Peace in Lancaster county and that Seward county was 120 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA an attache of said county and that he probably came nearest having proper jurisdiction than any other available person. The next serious question was where to get a coroner's jury. Mr. Gale thought that enough men could be found in the Morgan settlement, so a venue was hastily written with a pencil on a scrap paper taken from a memorandum. Mr. Gale was sworn in as special Constable and at once mounted a horse and instructed not to spare horse flesh. Just as the sun was sinking behind the western hills, our company had gathered at the scene of their dead friend. Those present w^ere R. T. Gale, special constable. Father Imlay, William David and Joseph Imlay, Job Reynolds, Thomas and Will- iam Morgon and W. W." Cox. It w^as a most solemn scene, a little meadow nearly sur- rounded by a beautiful fringe of timber; a calm autumn even- ing, a sad stillness in the presence of death. With uncov- ered heads and uplifted hands the jury took the solemn oath which, considering all the surroundings, made a deep and last- ing impression upon all present. Full forty years have now passed, but in spite of all efforts, tears dim my eyes as I write of this sorrowful event. The verdict of the jury was that they "verily believed that the old man came to his death from the effects of cramp colic. " A rough board coftin was hastily improvised of lumber from the shanty, and by the "moonbeam's misty light" we buried him beneath the waving branches of a sturdy oak, there to rest until called on the morning of resurrection. We, late at night, returned to our homes with sorrowing hearts because the death angel had so early visited our infant settlement. His goods and chat- tels were properly cared for and turned over to the widow upon her arrival. All things were made ready for our removal to our new home, and on the morning of Nov. 30, 1864 we loaded up the remainder of our earthly possessions with the assistance of Hon. Wm. Imlay and started up the long ridge north - w^est of the Basin toward our new home and arrived there on the first day of December. The day we reached the home- stead was cold and gloomy, and the sight of our beautiful grove made us glad. We hastily built a huge fire with dry wood at hand, and while the north wind whistled making a HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 121 melancholy sound as it rustled throug-h the trees, we rejoiced in the comfort of a good lire at our own home. Our little cabin, although crude in the extreme, with its great fire- place was a home of comfort and pleasant memories There were four families of us now in the community and we put in the time as best we could. We visited back and forth frequently; we chased rabbits, gathered wild grapes, trapped quail, etc. Soon after our arrival, about the 8th of December, there was a cold night with much snow on the ground. In the small hours of the night a gentle rapping by Joseph Imlay was heard. He brought the refreshing news that a child Was about to be born at the home of Mr. Gale who lived just across Plum creek east of the Bemis home. Wife hurriedly dressed, old Nig and Darb, our oxen, were hitched up to the old wagon, and away they went down the bottom and across the town site that was not yet a city, and lo the bank of the creek. Here the poor oxen were chained to the wagon and the good wife was compelled to slide down a huge snow drift to the creek. When she arrived at the house she found that Miss Clara Gale had arrived just a little ahead of the ox team. This was the first white child born in "G*' precinct. Miss Gale is now resident of Portland Oregon and is said to be an intelligent and accomplished lady. CHAPTER VII. Starvation near at hand — Perils of the Night — Moffit's visit— New com- ers to different localities First boy of north half of county — First Sermon — First house on the site of Seward — Post-Office — Sabbath School — Slow progress in opening farms — Going to mill — Cold corn cake— Indian scare and panic— Early comers on the south Blue — First mill —First orchard— The last buftalo—First Post-Office— Mor- gan settlement increased — New settlers at Milford-Moved the mill Milford founded — First county officers— Unborn Seward — A great Empire — First tax levy Bridges — Ctranty seat agitation — First store— Camden school— Camden mills — B. & M. R. R. abandons Camden — Milford eager for the contest— Seward not ready— Seward Surveyed — Three cornered tight— No choice — Second election — Mil- ford makes a point— Twelve votes thrown out — A wrangle ensues — A curious record. The winter of 1864 and 1865 was a stormy one and rath- er cheerless. By some mismanagement there was not a sufficient stock of provisions laid in by the settlers to secure them against want should the winter prove severe. The writer was more fortunate than his neighbors in that he had by two long and wearisome trips to mill before moving se- cured a thousand pounds of flour and meal, but he had such good opportunities to lend it in the early spring when the rivers and creeks were overflowing and the whole settlement came near starving. There was not an ounce of breadstuffs in the settlement. There was no meat, no potatoes, and cruel as it may seem to tell it, one milk pan of shelled corn had to be divided up to keep the families from starvation; and there was scarcely a pound of boiled corn left when a load of provisions arrived that had been storm stayed and water bound. What a feast we had then! In the month of February we had a very heavy rain. Fortunately for the family, Mr. Wm. Imlay had just re- turned from Omaha, else this would have been a more lurid picture. Mr. Imlay and also Mr. Gale had built their cabins on low ground, never dreaming that the river could get on su"--!! a bender. Understand, the ground was frozen. The rain fell in torrents for about forty hours. On the second night at dark the river had risen comparatively little, and HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 123 all went to bed not thinking of what terrors tliat awful night would bring. Now to make the situation plain, we would say Mr. Im lay lived on the west side of the river. Mr. Gale and Grand- pa Imlay lived on the east side of Plum creek, and W. W. Cox lived on the east bank of the river. So we were power- less to render each other assistance, except Dave and Joe Im- lay were able to save Mr. Gale's family. In the dead of night Mr. Gale discovered water rushmg in at the cabin door. At this moment the water had sur- rounded the house and things looked perilous in the extreme. The only thing possible to do was to carry his wife and child to the roof of the cabin and wrap them up as best he could, and let them remain in that cold winter rain in a frightful wind until he could wade out through the ice water, some of the way waist deep, and go over a mile to grandpa Imlay's for help. A team was secured and the family was rescued just in time, for before morning dawned there was not a ves- tige of the house to be seen as the wild waters rolled entire- ly over it. What caused the sudden rise was this: the ra- vines leading to the river and creek were full of snow drifts which held the water back until the body of water became irresistible, and it all broke into the streams like a thief in the night. Mr. Imlay's family were awakened by a child crying in the night (David M.), Mr. Imlay got out of bed to attend to the child, and to his horror stepped into ice water knee deep. He rushed to the door and opened it, and a great volume of water rushed- in that was appalling. The only possible show to get the family out of the house was to tear a window out at the back part af the house, which lead to higher ground. He got out himself and the frantic wife helped the children out, and he had to make many trips through the ice water for quite a distance to a hay i-'tack. He carried all of the children, and there were lots of thom, also his wife and then some bedding and provisions. They took refuge on the haystack for four days and were entirely surrounded by water. For the first day or so they had a lit- tle patch of ground upon which they could build a fire, then as the waters continued to rise there was no place to cook or build a fire. The haystack was all that was above the surg- 124 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA ino- waves of the mighty river. After four days and nights of suffering with cold and hunger the family were rescued. The wild waters had somewhat subsided, and Mr. Imlay on one side of the river and the writer on the other, two tall trees were chosen, and we cut them so the branches would lock, and the family were carried over. Were it not for getting into this story too much, we might tell of our two unsuccessful attempts at their rescue in which we came so near losing our life. In the interesting historic letter of Mrs. Sarah F. Anderson that matter is well explained. During that winter, Lewis Moffitt visited the neighbor- hood and entered the future town site and homesteaded a quarter of land on upper Lincoln creek near the present Marysville mill, which later he sold to old Mr. Hartman. Mr. Moftitt moved to the settlement in the July following. In the spring of li^65 there were added to the settlement the Dunaway family, Richard Sampson, John N. Roberts, Thomas Skillman. w^ho settled in the edge of "F" precinct on Lincoln creek, and John Durland who settled in ''C" precinct near the present site of Staplehurst. In the summer of 1864 Thomas L. Rodgers made a set- tlement near the Morgans. During the spring of 1865, the first white boy was born in the north half of the county. On another page may be found a picture of the lad. It was Lincoln W. Cox, born March 16. In June, Rev. Dr. McKesson, of Lancaster, visited the community and preached the first sermon in all this region. This had to serve our i^urpose in that line until October, when the Rev. E. L. Clark drifted down from among the icebergs of northern New York and preached to us. The first sermon was preached in one of God's first temples, a grove, near our cabin. Rev. Clark preached at our home. Although we had no preacher or preaching during the sum- mer, we met from sabbath to sabbath and maintained a bible class. There w^ere not enough children of school age to or- ganize a sabbath school. There were yet but four old enough. These four children, however, were properly cared for. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 125 Mr. Moffitt built the first cabin on the future town site. It was built of hewed logs and stood on the ground now oc- cupied by Mrs. Moifitt in the southeast part of the city It, was what we called a double log house, having two rooms. For the next year or two that house belonged to the public. We had it for sabbath school, for an election booth, for a church when a preacher happened that way, and finally we made a post-office of it, with its owner as the first in the line of Seward's honorable postmasters. The salary was a great inducement, "you know," one dollar per month. During the summer of 1864, thirty acres of sod were bi'oken on three farms, viz., Wm. Imlay's, D. P. Imlay's and R. T. Gale's, and during 1865 about one hundred fifty acres were broken on seven farms. It is undoubtedly a surprise to the casual reader that no more was accomplished in the way of opening up the farms these first two seasons, but to those who "went through the mill," it is a surprise that we were able to ac- complish so much. It may be well to state something of our environments. First the settlers were all as poor as "Job's turkeys," that had to lean against a stump while gobblin. We had but few and very poor teams. Corn was two dollars per bushel and money did not grow on our trees. Our breaking plows were crude, generally old, and more fit for the scrap pile than for business. Could the reader have seen the writer one hot summer morning with a pair of old dull plow shares strapped together and swung over his shoulder, trudging down the valley nine miles to old man Morgan's, and then watched the poor old soul as he pounded away on those shares for half a day, that were heated by a cob fire, and then followed us home again, foot-sore, weary and half starved; then watched our preambulations running through the brush perhaps for miles hunting the oxen; and again seen us with the old oxen traipsing ofi: seventy-five miles to mill, camping out at night and eating cold johny-cake: could he have seen all these struggles to keep soul and body togeth- er, while we were menaced by Indians begging us out of countenance, and frequently showing a spirit of arrogance and impudence, so that it seemed dangerous to leave our 127 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA families any lenj^th of time, the reader could more fully ap- preciate the situation. Frequently, notwitlistandino^ it seemed so dangerous to leave home, we were compelled to scour distant settlements in Lancaster, Otoe and Cass counties for meager supplies of provisions. Oh! it was so pleasant fording streams, get- ting stuck in the mud, perhaps breaking a wagon tongue or axle forty miles from anywhere, with scarcely any money and no credit. (Our wife's relatives were left far behind in the old states.) With but a m3ager supply of clothing we were compelled to struggle through the weary years of the first occupation. We had to make "bricks without straw," but we made them all the same. Houses had to be built without proper tools, and of such material as the country afforded, viz., logs and prairie sod. Every class of work had to be accomplished under most discouraging conditions. Iron bridges were not furnished then. We had to go to the timber, cut, haul and pile logs in the river as best we could during the day, and perhaps a flood would wash them all away before another day had dawned. Sometimes we have wondered that we did not all give up the struggle and go back to the wife's relations as some of the weak kneed people did. Happily most of us stuck to the text and waited the dawm of better days w4ien our wife's relations came to us. During the great Indian scare, August 1864, just after the terrible Minnesota massacre, and about the time the red- skins had plundered the Plum creek settlement west of Kearney and murdered many of the people, a general panic ensued all over the frontier settlements. This was at the time of the exodus from Salt creek, mentioned on another page. This little community of four families also took fright and had prepared to vacate. Mr. Gale happened to be away from home at the time and his family was left to be cared for by the neighbors. The families had all gathered at Grandpa Im lay's on Plum creek and had prepared for flight, when Wm. Imlay's old wagon tire burst, and before it was possible to get it in shape the scare subsided. This catas- trophe proved a blessing in disguise for it saved the infant settlement. It is gratifying to know how the pioneers stuck HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 126 together in timer of danger. The other f amihes would not go and leave one helpless family to perishal one, but stayed with him and his, to take a share in whatever trouble might come. Thus by this accident, these people were saved from sacrificing their homes. The year 1865 brought a few scattering settlers to vari- ous localities. We note that this year brought to the South Blue, Mr. A. E. Buzzard and family (we have not been able to get his first name neither his exact locality,) C. G. W. Clark and Columbus Clark settled southeast of the present town of Beaver Crossing and Isaiah and Philip Michael set- tled on what is now known as the Migott farm. A little further down the river in the Johnson Neighbor- hood, 1864, brought David Barton and Samuel Englehouft,and 1865 there came the Campbell families, also the Wilsons, the McCrockens and Okeefes. We note by further scearch that Wm. J. Clark settled in the neighborhood of the Wests in 1862. Jesse R. Johnson settled in 1864 two and a half miles above West's. This year Mr. West built our tirst mill, a small combination of saw and grist mill. He put in an old fashioned corn cracker and it was a God-send to the com- munity. Mr. Jesse R. Johnson claims the honor of planting the first orchard in the county. As near as can be ascertaind a log school house was built in 1865 in the Johnson settlement in District No. '6. The old school-house stood on the David Barton farm. I. M. J. Johnson followed his parents in 1865 and took a homestead. In 1864 Thomas West, Jr., killed the last buffalo ever killed in Seward County. In 1865 James Johnson became the first post-master of the county at the old Camden bridge. This office distribut- ed mail for a vast area of country. It supplied the South Blue valley as far as the settlement extended and it served all the people of this valley through Saline and Seward counties. The Morgan settlement was increased in 1865 by the ac- quisition of C. J. Neihardt and family and in 1866 by I. D. Neihordt and family and a little further up the river Abra- 128 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA ham and Van Hageman and also eld Mr. Wm. Hageman a mile further up the river. In 1H63 Joseph Stockham and several of his kindred settled in "O" precinct, also Chris Lezenby, S. R. Douglass and Chas. Smith settled in 1865. In 1M66 the Milford settlement secured a goodly number of settlers when Abram Courtright, William Reed, Henry Wortendzke, Samuel Brown, Mrs. E. J. Badgley, William and Lee Smiley, L. D. Laune, S. G. Merrium, David Tift, Wm. Colier, Schuyler Clark, Dr. J. L. Bondy, Geo. Gillespie, N. Senott, Chris, and R. C. Hooker. This year Messrs. Dav- ison and Reed moved the mill from Weeping Water and the nucleus of village of Milford was formed and bright dreams of a prosperous future were had by the enterprising owners. During the summer of 1865 the preliminary steps were taken to organize the county and at the Territorial election in October county officers were elected as follows: J. L. Davison, Probate Judge, Thomas West, County Clerk, C. J. Neihardt, Treasurer, Chapin, Sheriff and H.J. Parker, Wm. J. Thompson and Wm. Imlay were elected County Commis- sioners There is no record of the election of other county officers . The board of commissioners were thoroughly representa- tive men. Parker and Imlay had each served terms in the Territorial Legislature and Mr. Thompson was a wide awake business man of more than ordinary ability. Both members were in dead earnest to do all possible to benefit their respect- ive localities, but all were loyal to Seward County. They had each been long residents of the Territory and were well schooled in all the ways of the "Wild and Wooley West." Mr. Parker was on the lookout for the Camden interests. Mr. Thompson was the strong arm upon which Milford de- pended and Mr. Imlay was watching the interests of the yet unborn Seward. It is sometimes a pretty good idea to look out for cities yet unborn as well as for children yet to be born. The county board was constructed on wheels, and their meeting places were just about as it happened they could find a camping- place The first was held at the Walnut Creek ranch, the home of Thompson, next they met at Thos. West's at the clerk's office and then they tried another HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY. NEBRASKA 129 change and met at the Treasurer's office, 0. J. Neihardts on the North Blue. The county had no seat to rest on, and the boys could go where they pleased, so that something to eat was in sight and a shelter at night. These commission- ers had a great empire under their control, reaching westward their jurisdiction extended over York, Hamilton, Adams and, that part of Hal] County lying south of the Platte. We find buried up as among the "ancient and forgotten lore" of the county clerk's office a petition asking our com- missioners to have a voting precinct formed with the follow- ing boundaries, and also for the appointment of a justice of the peace for said precinct: Commencing at a point on the Platte river, beginning at the corner of township eleven north, range seven west of the 6th P. M., thence south to the south-east corner of township eight, thence west to the boundary line of Kearney county, thence north to the Platte river thence eastward to the place of beginning. Please ex- amine the map and trace the boundaries of that precinct and you will discover that it includes the southern portion of Hall and the northern portion of Adams counties. The 1865 tax levy made by the board was six mills on the dollar and if all collected would yield four hundred and twen- ty-three dollars, but we expect much of the personal tax may yet be due and uncollected. At this time there were no schools to maintain, no county roads, no bridges except on the freight roads and they were built and maintained by priv- ate enterprise. There was one low water bridge on the farm of Wni. Imlay built by the neighbors. The location of the county seat began to be agitated quite earnestly by the people in the southern portion of the county. The Seward people were in no condition to take a hand in the strife as yet as they had only a site, but no town by a long sight. H. W. Parker with the help of Fordice Roper of Beatrice, was building a grist and saw mill at Cam- den, and had a railroad in view, and although at the extreme south end of the county, tliey thought they ,had the w^orld by the trail. Camden was to be the city of the Blue valley. Wm. Buckhannan opened a little store. The enterprising citizens 130 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA went over into Saline county and got a school house, (wheth- er they borrowed it or bought it, we are not advised.) They opened a school in the winter of 1866 and 1867 with the Hon. Thomas Graham as teacher and we suppose one of the principal branches taught was, that all roads lead to Camden, the coming city of the valley. Quite a little town sprang up. The mill was completed in 1867. The pros- pects for Camden were bright, but somehow the settlement at Milford was gaining on them. Milford settlement could grow in all directions and Camden had that ugly county line just near their door, then during the heat of the contest the B.& M. folks had determined to abandon their Camden survey- ing and go through Saline county. The Milford people were anxious to have the county seat question placed before the people at once, but Parker was too scary and Imlay thought wise to defer the matter till the regular election of 1867. At this time a large perponderence of settlement was in the south half of the county. Milford was a village in fact with a mill and a good bridge, with a great freight road, a most splendid water power and a very strongly united people, ex- tending from east to west through the county and reaching southward within two miles of Camden and north as far as the center of "J" and "K" precincts. Seward community was rapidly gaining in strength, but we had some serious obsta- cles to contend with. We had no town. Although the com- munity had chosen a town site by common consent at the very first, long before the land had been entered in the early wint- er of 1865, yet the friends of Seward that were striving with might and main were powerless in the matter. For three long years the friends of Seward coaxed, im- portuned and finally bull dosed the owner of the land to have the town site surveyed and platted and put on the market. This is a scrap of hitherto unwritten history that is cer- tainly due to the men who first suggested the building of Seward and who stood by it in every hour of adversity when the proprietor seemed luke warm and careless or indifferent of the wants of the community. He wanted a town, but would not and did not perform his necessary part and when the contest came our votes were cast for the Seward of faith that only existed in our brains. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 131 Well the contest came in October, 1867, in the shape of a three cornered fight with Milford, Camden and Seward with only a name in the contest. The returns of that election are entire- ly lost to the world. Uncle Tomy West, our county clerk, with all his good qualities was not a very good scribe or book-keeper and not much used to keeping county books. Then we guess he had no books to keep. We remember that Milford was in the lead and Seward a close second with Cam- den in the rear with thirty votes. Not much over one hun- dred votes were cast. The votes were canvassed and no place having a majority a special election was ordered. At the fall election the following county officers were elected: Wm. J. Thompson, re-elected commissioner; J. D. Main, county judge; Wm. H. Reed, county clerk; A. J. Walling- ford, sheriff; Thos. Graham, superintendent Public Instruc- tion; W.W. Cox, coroner(did not qualify); R.T. Gale, surveyor. In this election Milford gained one important point, the election of Wm. H. Reed as county clerk, who had a very im- portant part in the contest to follow. At the special county seat election Camden withdrew from the contest and a share (probably a large share) of the Camden friends wanting to kill oif their near neighbors threw their influence and their votes for Seward, the same sha^dow without a substance. When the votes were counted it is discovered that Seward had a clear majority of ten votes, but Mr. Reed, as county clerk and by virtue of his office, was the one to choose the canvassers and right here the trouble began, that led to almost endless litigation. Mr. Reed wanted Milford to win and he saw well to it that nothing should be lacking. He of course saw that Milford friends should be well represented on that canvassing board. They saw fit to throw out twelve Seward votes, claiming they were fraudulent, thus giving Milford two majority. We were never able to learn what twelve votes were thrown out nor on what specific grounds, and more we were never able to learn that there were any illegal votes cast, but we will not cast a reflection on the board for we do not know what evidence influenced their action. Now the trouble begins in earnest. At the next meeting of the county board a general wrangle issued, with Parker and Imlay pulling together and 132 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Thompson and the Clerk pulling the other way. They con- tended and talked and almost quarreled and finally adjourned as Parker and Imlay assert, but in making the record of the meeting Mr. Reed said a resolution had been passed that the County Clerk be instructed to post notices m each precinct of the location of the County Seat. This meeting was held December 2nd, 1876. At the next meeting of the Board, which was held at the County Clerk's Ofiice in the little old mill at Milford, Mr. Imlay offered the following resolution: "That so much of the record of the proceedings of the meeting held December 2nd as relates to posting notices of the location of County Seat be expunged from the record." Imlay and Parker supported the motion and insisted that no such resolution had been passed. Mr. Thompson voted in the negative and the Clerk also assumes to record his vote in language following, "and so saith the County Clerk." This remarkable assumption of the Clerk is recorded in his own hand in the records of 1876, and stands out in history as one of the curiosities of a peculiar epoch in our history. At this meeting Mr. Reed had fortified himself with an attorney and was prepared for a fight. Major Tullis, from Salt Creek, was on hand to see that Milford had a fair show. At this moment a state's warrant was served on Mr. Imlay on some hatched up charge. (We have nearly wrecked our brain trying to remember what that charge was but to no avail.) This warrant was issued by an old farmer Justice of the Peace, living near Milford, by the name of Harrington, that knew about ds much about law as a pig knows about a latin grammar. The Commissioners' meeting came to an end in the midst of great excitement. Sheriff Wallingford was on hand and arrested the Commissioner and when the curtain again rises it is at the country office of his honor. Squire Harrington. The only legal counsel Mr. Imlay had on that occasion was this unsophisticated, backwoods Author, but that made no difference for if Rufus Choate or Dan Webster had been there it would have been just the same. Mr Har- rington was a fast friend of Milford. Mr. Imlay was bound over to court, but some how the court to try his case never convened. It is rather a sad commentary on the courts in HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 133 all this region round about that they were so biased in this embrolio that the Seward party stood no earthly show with a court in the southern part of the county, and j ast the same on the other hand. The Milford party, in rough language of another, "might as well be in H — without claws," as to fall into the hands of a court in the northern half of the county. Human nature is pretty much the same the world over. Now it comes the Seward fellow's turn and articles of impeachment were filed against the Clerk for falsifying the record. Mr. Reed was arrested and brought to the north midst the chilling blasts of an arctic climate. At least a score of his friends came along to see him through. He, having the right to a jury, had some show although he was in the land of the enemy. Our little, old, log school house served as a court room. Just at dark, on a bitterly cold, winter night, the prisoner was brought in. A jury of very worthy intelligent men were chosen and sworn, but remember that they were not "Angels." Some were Sewardites and some were Milfordites. Well, while the wind whistled and the snow drifted that cold, stormy night, that interesting trial proceeded until the stars ceased to shine in in the morn- ing. Oh! what flights of oratory were heard by that excited audience, court and jury as it came in living streams from those young attorneys. It was a drawn battle; of course the jury disagreed as might be expected. Now the case was set for another hearing and the next time it was agreed to make the jury to consist of three men and the next trial was held at Camden, in their school house. This time the jury concluded to end the matter by giving a verdict of acquittal and here the first chapter, of the ridicu- lous proceedings, ends with a round cost bill of seventy-five dollars for the Seward fellows to pay for their fun they had, besides a large attorney fee. Milford held the County Seat now for a time, but found it rather an expensive Seat. In another chapter we will fol- low up this embrolio to the final conclusion. CHAPTER Vm. Desperate wintei — Snow bound — Starving stock — A trip to Milford — Homeward throiigh a blizzard — The floods of spring— Terrible straits of settlers — Nebraska admitted — Brighter days — Blue valley ex- amined — Nebraska City's mistake— Grood markets— Hauling stone — Lincoln people hungry — Seward surveyed — Beaty and Davis store — The cyclone — Tuttle's hotel— The saw mill — ^We celebrated— Parker defeated — County seat fight waxes warm — Seward out generaled- Hon. D. C. McKillip — Free hotels — Looking after new comers — Seward had seven hovises — No public roads — No bridges — The old well in the square — Settlements extended — First railroad bond pro- position—Episodes of the embroglio — Records 1 :»st — ^Cadman's court^ — The house was searched- -Court at Lincoln — Reed's arrest- Brown hid — Dan got mad. The winter of 1866 and 1867 was most memorable. Of all the hard winters we have experienced in forty-five years of residence in Nebraska, that was by far the most severe. It began to snow on the first day of December, and from that time to the first of April it was a succession of storm after storm, and many of them were regular bhzzards of the most ferocious character. It was a providential circumstance that settlements had not yet penetrated the great prairies, but were confined to the valleys along the streams where the timber was plentiful. The snow became very deep and was drifted into such huge drifts that communication was entirely cut off between distant settlements. Long before spring the meager stock of grain had become exhausted and the supply of hay was limited. This resulted in great loss of stock. Many cattle actually starved. To demonstrate more fully the severity of the weather, we must relate our personal experience. There was a little ravine between our house and a grove where there was a quantity of dry wood which we were anxious to secure. The ravine was drifted full and we shoveled a road through that drift many times with the hope that we might crossjit with HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 135 the team, but before we could ^-et home, yoke the oxen and return, our road would become impassable, and for three months we could not get a team across that ravine. We were completely shut in from the outside world. The game nearly all perished. What horses there were in the country were walking skeletons. On March 15, neighbor Ellis and the writer concluded to make a tremendous effort to get some bread stuff. That morning was fairly pleasant. Ellis hitched up the horses, and what horses! They were just a lot of bones with old dry hides stretched over them. We had a pretty good home-made sled armed with some empty sacks, and a couple of shovels we struck down the river just at daylight, and reached the Rogers settlement in time to share their dinner. We bought all the corn he would sell us, two bushels each, and made our way on to Milford by the time darkness came on. Uncle Billy Reed lived in the mill. He made us welcome although we were from the land of the enemy. He ground our grist during the evening while we talked over matters. It had begun to thaw on the fifteenth, and the roads began to be slushy, but on the morning of the sixteenth it began to snow and turned cold. We took an early start for home, but were compelled to halt at Uncle Sammy Brown's to thaw out. There we met two of Rev. Clark's daughters who had somehow made their way from Nebraska City on their way home. They wanted passage homeward, and we took them in. The storm increased in fury. We reached the Clark home (where Schuyler Clark now lives) at 4:00 p. m., nearly frozen. After warming up we pushed on to Moffitt's cabin on the future town site. Mr. Moffitt invited us to remain for supper and while his good wife was preparing supper we were invited to go down into the timber and help him lift to their feet a lot of cows that were about ready to bid this vain world farewell. This pleasant task accomplished, and supper over, we set out on the home stretch. Our way lead across where Seward was not yet, and across the bottom toward home, through snow two feet deep through which the poor horses floundered at every step. This last three miles was among the most perilous trips of a life time. It seemed that in spite of every effort we would perish; but at 11.00 p, m., in 136 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA a half frozen condition, we reached home with our two sacks of meal. The snow did not melt sufficient to begin to get into the river until April 6. Then it let go all holds at once, and such a river as we had.- No other high waters since that April have been seen in this valley. A good sized steam- boat could have run with safety anywhere on the low bottom land. Where our cereal mills now stand the water was at least ten feet deep. The water backed up to Richard Sampson's door yard, and within a few rods of E. L. Ellis" residence. In places the little river was a mile wide. It drove many of the settlers out of their homes. In our set- tlement Rev. E. L. Clark's family and E. B. Shafer's were driven out of their homes at night. Old Mother Rogers had to be carried out from her home on her dying bed and taken to Milford where she died within a few days. It was one of the grandest sights of a life time to stand and watch the waters roll down the depressions from the highlands. Vast sheets of water, some of them from twenty to forty rods wide, were rolling down like little Niagaries, sometimes moving great snow drifts with an irresistible force. This vast bed of snow left the ground in excellent con- dition for crops. Grass sprang up under the warm April sun as if by magic. Wheat sown that spring brought an abundant harvest. The spring of 1867 brought in a host of settlers into all localities where settlements had been started. While the wild waters were holding high carnival, thsre was much suffering in the valley. Breadstuffs were com- pletely exhausted, and people had to resort to all sorts of schemes to exist until communication was restored. Some lived for days on boiled wheat, and some on hominy. Some lived largely on the fat of their ribs, and they were not very fat either. This summer Nebraska was admitted to the sisterhood of states and there was a general awakening as to its won- derful possibilities. ,As provided by act of congress, the first session of the new state legislature convened in Omaha in the early spring, and its most noteworthy act was the passage of the capital removal bill. The bill provided for a HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 137 board of commissioners composed of state officers to select a point where a section of land would be donated somewhere withm the boundaries of Saunders, Butler, Lancaster or Seward counties. The commissioners, headed by Gov. Dav- id Butler, took a regular junketing tour, visited Ashland, various points in Butler county, then took a general survey of the valley from Ulysses to Camden. Our people tried hard to get the board to fairly consider section 16, the school section just north of the present city of Seward. They laud- ed our location to the skies, but they didn't give us a ghost of a show. They went to Milford and to Camden and had lots of good things to say for them also; then they went over to Yankee Hill, the home of the prime mover of capital re- moval bill, Hon. John Cadman. They talked very pretty to the Hon. John, but somehow the whole thing had been fixed by a "power behhid the throne" at Nebraska City. The business men had lent every energy in dealing what they thought to be a death blow to Omaha and had secured one point and now they proposed to have a say as to where the capital city should be built. They thought the salt interest would be an important factor and their intention and expec- tation was to build a city that would be tributary to Nebraska City and that the consequent development of the country would cause a tremendous boom at their city. They wanted the capital close enough so they could command all the bene fits of the location. Little did they dream that Lincoln would soon overshadow their city and destroy its opportunity to ever become a metropolitan city and not hurt Omaha in the least . Yet subsequent developments show that the move- ment did not injure Omaha, but etfectually shut the gate against the possibility of Nebraska City's growth. Had Lincoln been located in the Blue valley it would not only be more central in the state, but Nebraska City would to-day be a much more important city. But Lancaster got the capital and it remained for us to make the best of it. Immediately upon the location a great host of land seekers swarmed our prairies. Homesteads were taken by the thousands all over these counties near the new city. A new life had come to the country and every- thing was on the boom. Whatever a pioneer settler had to 138 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA sell found a ready customer. At this time the reader must remember that there was not an iron rail in all south Nebras- ka. A city was looming- up on the wild prairie, where every pound of provisions, building material, etc., had to be freight- ed with teams. The stone for our first capitol was hauled by ox teams from Beatrice quarries. The first two years fuel was hauled from Seward county groves north of Germantown. Those fellows that laid the foundations at Lincoln had good appetites and seemed to have plenty of cash. They would just buy anything to eat, good, bad or indifferent and pay most any price. Wood was ten dollars per cord, butter fifty cents per pound, potatoes $1.00 per bushel, hay $10 to $15 per ton, fresh pork, dressed pigs 12^ cents per pound and everything in proportion. During the spring of 1868, Hon. Thomas Graham was employed by Lewis Mofiitt to survey the north half of the southwest quarter of Sec. 21, town 11, range 3 east, into a town site and fit it to the name adopted two years previous- ly (Seward) and in June of that summer the firm of Beaty and Davis opened a little store. Shortly after this W. H. Tuttle built the first section of the old commercial hotel that has recently been torn down and then Dr. Leland Walker met with a disaster with his frame house on the claim on Sec. 11, town 11, range 3 east. A young cyclone had come his way and scattered his house all over the prairie. The doctor gathered up the frag- ments and built a residence where the opera now stands. Soon thereafter Wm. O. Pierce built a small frame dwelling and in these glad days Seward began to be a town. H. L. Boyes and son had just got a little saw-mill in operation just below town. Seward grew a little right along and by the Fourth we were anxious tc celebrate, and we did and an extended ac- count of our first celebration is given on another page. In the autumn of 18(38 H, W. Parker of Camden, a strong partisan of Seward, secured the nomination by the republican convention in this representative district for member of the Legislature. The district was composed of Saunders, But- HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 139 ler and Seward Counties and it was at the time strongly re- publican. Marcus Brush, a bright young lawyer of Ashland, was the Democratic nominate. The Seward people looked for- ward for relief at the hands of the coming legislature. Could Parker be elected it was almost certain that such legislation would be had that the county seat embroilio could be settled by a majority vote. The contest was spirited and bitter. The Milford people all agreed that Parker would be a dang- erous man and they would not dare to trust him a minute, and about the solid vote of that large locality was given to Brush, although four fifths of the voters were republicans. Other parts of the county divided on party lines. Parker was defeated and Brush, a rank democrat, represented a strongly republican district and in this Milford gained a strong point. Every effort to get Reed's canvassing board's decision overruled by the courts had proved unavailing, and now our hopes of relief from the Legislature had gone glimmering, we were in a rather sad dilemma. It was considered entirely un- safe to attempt the removal by a two-thirds vote. The sum- mer of 1868 was full of contention. Parker's term of office as commissioner expired and J. L. Bandy a strong Milford par- tisan was elected to take his place and now for a time. Milford had a majority of Commissioners, the County Clerk and held the county seat with a firm grip. In the mean time the county seat had attracted a young lawyer that gave their cause material help. Hon. Daniel C. McKillip located at Milford during the summer and was ready to take a hand in the contest. During this year Seward had been completely out-gen- eraled and was compelled to hold an empty sack. However Seward was growing and the north half of the county was settling up rapidly and as Seward was much nearer the cent- er of the county we were gaining steadily on our rival. Some how we had gained favor with the people of Lincoln the new capital city, and they lent us a helping hand in pointing out our locality to passing immigrants; yet at this time and up to the end of 1869, Milford had many advan- tages over Seward. It was the recognized county seat. It 140. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA was on the great overland trail where tens of thousands of immigrants were passing and giving trade to the business men and furnishing a ready home market for everything the farmer had. It had a grist mill in operation. It had such stalwart men as J. L. Davison, Wm. H. Reed, Henry Wor- tendyke and Dan McKillip to lead. These men were all "up to snuff," and they made it most interesting for us. In those good old days the country was full of hotels. Some were built of logs, some of sod, but they were all free and the "latch string" was always hanging out. Strangers were always given a hearty welcome. When a prairie schooner was sighted in the distance people would make haste to go out and meet it and extend a warm welcome. They were ready at all times to go and show vacant land and lend every encouragement and of course show all the su- perior features of their locality and when they had secured the settler to their neighborhood he was at once an enthu- siast for his town as against the other. The wonderful ad- vantages of each part of the county was shown to the world at large through the state papers and in Eastern papers. Every settler was a host in the struggle for supremacy. The lands of each locality were equally rich and fertile, equally beautiful and the farmer could make no mistake as to quality of land. Seward was growing and Milford was growing. When the snow began to fall and winter began in December, 1868, Seward had seven small buildings as follows: Beaty and Davis' Store, the little Tuttle house, Beaty's resi- dence where the Windsor now stands, W. R. Davis' residence, Dr. L. Walker's residence, Wm. O. Pierce's residence and Lewis Moffitt's log cabin. The old school house was not on die town site, neither was the dugout of the Boyes family. There was not a legal road leading into or out of the town. The side- walks were of prairie sod. There was just one low water bridge north of Milford and that was about eighty rods up the river from the old iron bridge west and north of the city at the Castle farm. The water supply of the town was from a well in the center of the public square, which was dug by E. L. Ellis and paid for by subscription. Farmers helped in this matter. Some paid their part by turning the windlass, hauling up the HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 141 dirt, some furnished lumber for curbing, etc. A windlass and the "old oaken bucket" served the people for a time but after a while there appeared in our community a "farmer that was not all a farmer." This enterprising citizen was A. L. Strang, who had bought Sec. 9,"G"Town, now known as the Jones farm, and he had put up an okl fashioned Hali- day windmill at his farm and although the lirst windmill to flap its broad wings in all this mighty west, it seemed to be right at home playing with our gentle breezes. Mr. Strang was a wide-a-wake business man and ready to grasp an opportunity. So he came down to the town with a proposition to place a windmill and tank at the public well. Mr. Strang headed the list of subscibers with a liberal sum and the "thing of beauty" was soon on it pegs and proved a joy to all thirsty people. This was the beginning of a great enterprise, for the fame of that mill spread far and wide and before many years had come and gone the name of A. L. Strang, General Agent, could be seen everywhere that civil- ization extended on our vast prairies and was numbered by the thousands. While the people in all parts of the county were busy breaking prairie, building sod houses and preparing homes, the county seat problem w^as not forgotten. The spring of 1869 brought in a great host of settlers and every section of the county got a share. Quite a goodly number settled in the hill country to the eastward of both Seward and Milford. The northern tier of townships had become dotted over with new^ made farms. "M," "N" and "O" precincts got a fair share; "F" and "K" also had made a good beginning; "J" and "I" had gained many; "P" and "G" precinct had also forged to the front. The little village was steadily growing. Special features of the growth of the village will be noted in another chapter. On the 20th of September of this eventful year, 1869, the people of the county were called upon to vote on their first rail road proposition. This was a proposition of the Midland Railway company to build their road to the west bank of Blue river in Seward county provided the county would issue to them on the com- pletion of said road fifty thousand dollars in ten per cent twenty year bonds. The proposition was very indefinite 142 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA and somehow it created neither enthusiasm or opposition. However it carried by a majority of fifty-two votes. The company failed to build the road as per agreement and our railroad matters rested quietly for a time. In the Legislature session in the winter of 1869, we, that is the Seward people, tried to get a bill of relief through granting the people the right to settle the county seat con- test by a majority vote, but our Milford friends had secured a fast friend in Representative Brush that they had assisted in his hour of need. He effectually blocked our little game. This only tended to inspire the Seward fellows to a more de- termined effort. There were many interesting episodes of the period. Somethings occurred that have never been re- corded and in undertaking to relate them from memory mis- takes are liable to occur. One very strange feature we have to contend with after a most diligent search in the county clerk's office, we fail to find the most interestmg book of com- missioners' records the county ever had, the record during W. H. Reed's tenure of office. That priceless treasure seems to be lost in the shuffle. We wonder if Mr. Reed took it with him across the dark river. There were numerous lawsuits that it would be most entertaining to the reader if the whole story could be told. One little story must be told even if we can't just tell what the bone of contention was at the time. Hon. John Cadman was Probate Judge of Lancaster County and that meant a great deal. It seemed to give him jui-isdiction over all these prairies. A complaint was made by some to the Milford friends against Commissioners Parker and Imlay for some high crime and misdemeanors. Major Philot and Hon. D. C. McKillip were attorneys for the prosecution. The complaint was lodged in Judge Cadman's court and warrants were is- sued for the arrest of defendents. Sheriffs never went alone in those days in that county seat matter no more than a sher- iff now days would attempt the arrest of a gang of train rob- ber without help. Mr. Sheriff took his posse and his brace of young attorneys, Geo. Merium and many other brave Milford boys. They went to Camden first on track of Parker. Parker had smelled a rat and was not at home that dark night. They HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 143 rapped hard at the cabin door. They were informed that Mr. Parker was not there, but Major Philpot would not beheve that his bird had flown. So it was determined to search the house, and indiscreetly the major allowed his enthusiasm to get the better of him and he rushed wildly (as the story goes) into a bed-room where the hired girl (Mrs. Dan Harris) was sleeping or in bed at least, and savagely jerked the bed clothes off the bed. This was considered such an out" rage that if the Camden folks or the Seward folks had got hold of that sleek young lawyer before their blood had cooled, we would give but little for all that had remained of him. Parker had learned of what was going on and had made his way to Seward and put Imlay on his guard. It seems there was a case of some kind on the calender at Judge Maine's court away in the northeast corner of the county, and Parker and Imlay were interested in it and they w^ent over there. The sheriff and posse were hot on their trail. It is said a cowardly sneak in Seward given Parker and Imlay away. Judge Maine's court w^as in session when the mob rushed in upon them and captured their game, and started for Lincoln with them. At this juncture of the game, John D. Olney mounted a horse and came to the Seward settlement post haste. It had been a rainy day. It was now about dark when our boys rallied at Moffitt's cabin. The night was fearfully dark, but about a dozen of us resolved to go to the rescue even if we had to wade mud neck deep. The night was dark as Egypt. Some of us were on horseback, but a footman had to lead with a lantern. We went away around by the Oakgrove settlements and rallied them to our assistance. Just at the early dawn in a drizzling rain we reached Lincoln wet, weary and with blood in the eye. We were well along in the mad state when we started and the long weary tramp through rain and mud had put us in good lighting trim. We outnumbered the Milford crowd, and we had a better supply of war paint. We seemed to have the sympathy of the Lincoln folks, and we had our own way on the streets and our Milford friends raised no objections. Bye and bye Judge Cadman opened his court. Our folks employed Judge S. B. Pound, then just a 144 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA youn^- man, to defend the prisoners. He seemed to get right down to business and made a most eloquent plea against Judge Gadman's jurisdiction, but Cad, as we called him, said no, I never let game go when I have hold of it. He held to his jurisdiction. He was willing to let Imlay go Scott free, but he held Parker to bail. Now the Seward boys take a hand in. Parker plainly refused to give bail, and we with one accord said, Parker they can't take you to jail, and they did not try. Judge Cadman and all the Milford folks wanted us to go home, but we wait- ed till fully ready. That case, whatever it was, died right there and was never heard of in the courts afterwards. Sometime later the commissioners had Mr. Reed over the coals and suspended him from office for some misconduct and appointed James A. Brown to fill the place. Mr. Reed refused to give up the books, whereupon a complaint was filed with Judge J. W. Shields. Judge Shields did not rec- ognize Milford as county seat, but held his court at Seward or at his home in the extreme northern part of the county just as pleased him best. This time he held his court at Moftitt's house on Seward town site. The sheriff and usual posse had gone to arrest Reed. Somehow the word got out that a counter warrant had been issued by some court for the arrest of Brown, the complaining witness. Mr. Brown got badly scared as the time for the sheriff's appearance with Reed seemed to be greatly prolonged. Night was coming on; Brown had secured this writer's help in the prosecu- tion. Brown, in fear of what might occur, proposed to hide in the tall grass over west of the square and await de- velopments. He almost overdid the thing. Just as it had got as dark as a stack of black cats, the sheriff and his crowd came with the prisoner accompanied by D. C McKillip and a large crowd of Reed's friends. Some think Dan's red head helped light the way to Seward. Dan was terribly red-headed that night. Well, said the august judge, the pris- oner is here, where is the complaining witness? I have him hid out in the prairie, said the attorney; will go and bring him in. Now it would make a dog laugh to have seen us, strolling over all the prairie yelling like a coyote and the more we yelled the closer the ground would HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 145 Brown cling, scared within an inch of his life. We finally captured him and got liim into court, when the circus began in earnest. Friend McKillip and Uncle Billy Reed were on the one side; Jim Brown, myself and the court were on the other side, and it was a little like the later game of eight to seven. We had things about our own way. This was a Sew- ard court "you know." It has just come to mind that every one at the front in that exciting trial except the w^riter have gone to their long homes. Of all the number we alone are left to tell the tale, also nearly ail the spectators have passed away, yet looking back across the three and half decades it seems as but yesterday since that tempestuous night. Mr. Reed was bound over to court of course, but he never gave a bond and the matter just simply died, that's all. But Tames Brown lost a full year's growth by that scare. CH4lPTE:R IX. County seat question settled— Seward badlj' scared— Court house sold— Blue Valley Record— A thorn in Seward's side— State institutions— Seward's growth— Canvasses bond proposition, and hard fight— Vote by precincts— Long faces at Seward— A new proposition— Milford's mistake— Oak Groves cuts a figure -"F" and "G" precincts bled— "Stop the reapers"— Seward's triumph— 1873 prosperous— Grass- hoppers— Homesteads abandoned — Tell the whole truth— Sudden turn— Seward had been like a beehive— Like a pall of death— Lands abandoned— People of other states lend a helping hand— The vultures. In the session of the Legislature, held in the winter of 1870 and 1871, an act was passed authorizing the County Commissioners in cases where the County Seat had not been located, to submit the question to the qualified voters at the next general election. The question was submitted at the October Election of 1871. Now another serious problem faced the people of Seward. The B. & M. K. R. had not yet been located westward from Lincoln but the Lincoln Land and Town Site Company had been organized with Mr. K. O. Philips at the head. They were busy locating cities on paper in those days. They looked over Seward County to see what could be done, and seeing that the people of Seward County were in the midst of a "kill kenny cat fight" over the County Seat, they con- cluded to help settle the matter. So they secured a title to a section of land at the exact center of the county, two and a half miles south, the same west of Seward, and began to hold out baits for popular favor with the promise that the rail road would be built in the near future to the new town. This new enemy seemed to have fearful p)roportions. It looked for a time that our goose was cooked to a finisli. Our old enemy was a wiley foe. They saw an opportunity to kill Seward as they thought and if they could they were ready to die happy themselves. She would throw all her HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 147 force to the new town. The friends of Seward stood aghast at the audacity of the designs of the enemy but after a while the dark clouds rifted. The rail road folks concluded to build through Saline County and leave Seward County to settle their own affairs. The day of final battle came at last on the 10th day of October, 1§71. The contest was sharp and bitter. It was the most energetic contest in the history of the county. We believe every voter was at the polls, even if he had to come home from a distance of five hundred miles. Seward was triumphant at last, receiving twenty-two more than two-thirds of the votes cast. Milford had made a most strenuous fight and had left no stone unturned. They are fully entitled to much credit for they contested every inch of ground and died defending the last ditch as it were. Seward was now in the hey-day of its glory, however victory had not come to Sew- ard without sacrifice. The litigation had cost a mint of money and more, the town and its friends had to get down into their pockets deep, and provide twelve hundred dollars to build a court house and also furnish a block of lots on which to place it. That beautiful structure cost all told about $1400. Some of the citizens that contributed to that edifice had the pleasure of seeing it sold at auction some years ago for fifty dollars. It is now a blacksmith shop. There is an old saying (whether true or false) that "Ev- erything is fair in war." In this prolonged contest many people acted on that principle, and they were not confined to any one locality. Each and every fellow proposed to win and as the battle waxed warm, people were ready to over- come their scruples, but with all the strife and contention, with all the bitter feelings engendered, it is a pleasant mem- ory that no blood was shed and more, there was not even a fist fight in all the contest. We would meet in court and wrangle all day, but when meal time or bed time came, the enemy would be invited home and given the best the house afforded. This was almost universally the case at both ends of the string. All the better class of people were too noble in their make-up to do otherwise than treat every citizen, whether friend or foe, cordially and extend to them every courtesy. We are heartily glad that we are permitted to 148 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA make this record. We are also glad to know that the few of us that yet live, that fought each other with a desperation, are all now the warmest of friends. Comparitively few of the heroes in the strife are now among us. They have mostly gone to their long homes, a few yet remain. A new genera- tion is now here building upon the foundations laid in those troublous times. Among the honored names of those who held aloft the Milford banner we remember Judge J. L. Davison, Abram Cartwright, Judge Henry Wortendyke, Lee Smiley and Wm. his brother, Silas Atwood and Henry his brother, the invin- cible Wm. H. Reed, Father Hazlewood, L. D. Laune, Wm. J. Thompson, Hon. Thos. Healeys, Samuel Brown, Father S. G. Merrium and George his son, Hon. D. G. McKillip and Geo. B. France; then we must not forget the man at the head of the Blue Valley Record, Capt. J. H. Culver. The Record dealt many heavy blows and recieved many in return, but the Record never forgot to hold up before the world this county as the best place in all creation for the poor man to get a home, and right here we may as well say, the Record came to life December 29th, 1870, and while it lasted it made a first class record and the Editor tells us that financially it was a grand success as it started on a paid up cash capital of twenty-five cents and when it closed its use- ful career some years later the cash balance was thirty-three cents and lots of experience. With a familiarity with all the many iDublications of Seward County for thirty-four years we unhesitatingly say that the Record was never yet sur- passed in ability. The Editor was always ready to speak his sentiments on any subject. The Record steadfastly re- fused to pander to the liquor trade but was forever pouring hot shot into their camp. Some of the "Shogo" Island pic- nicers thought it cranky. It goes without saying that the Record was a thorn in Seward's side during the controversy from the day of its birth until the curtain fell in October, 1871. These men and many more worked faithfully and un- ceasingly to make Milford the city of this grand valley and if they did not fully succeed in their undertakings they acted well their part and are entitled to much credit although stern fate was against them. The County Seat was taken from HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 149 them and Milford could not accomplish what her founders desh'ed her to be, the principal city. She has accomplished much in the race. She has secured other prizes and rich ones too; she has one of the most extensive mills in the state. She has the two prom'inent state institutions, the Soldiers and Sailors' home and the Industrial home. The village is widely known as a pleasant resort, where mineral springs abound and where beautiful natural groves of timber add a cheerfulness that makes the tourist feel that he i-s right at home. Milford is located upon a commanding pla- teau on the west bank of the river overlooking a vast sketch of the valley, with a meandering stream fringed with timber, with blocks of magnificent farms in every direction with- in only a few minutes ride of the county seat and a half hour of the capital, with a good location for local trade and with a good supply of excellent business houses enjoying a good trade. She has much to rejoice over. Milford has a host of good wide-awake citizens and we trust that a bright future awaits her. For further particulars see the history of the village of Milford on another page. After the county seat matter was settled Seward began quite a rapid growth and began in the spring of 1872 to pre- sent quite the appearance of a village. Many new" buildings were erected and numerous merchantile houses were opened and the little city in embryo began to reach after other laurels. About January 1, 1872, Dr. J. W. Converse, super- intendent of the old Midland Pacific Rail Road, sent for some of the business men of Seward and vicinity to meet him at Lincoln to talk over rail road matters. This company had just recently completed their track from Nebraska City to Lincoln. One very stormy day a sled load of citizens had a sleighride down the great ridge to Lincoln where they were met by the learned Doctor of Rail Roads. The Doctor made known his plans to build his road to and through our county provided we were ready to do his bidding. It was the rule to suck all the blood there w^as in every instance. The Doctor had posted himself in regard to our assessment roll and found that under the law one hundred and fifty thousand dollars of bonds could be voted and of course it w^ould re- quire just that much to induce the company to build and 150 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA equip a road through the county. He made known to these people that he would make to the county commissioners a proposition as follows; that for one hundred and fifty thou- sand dollar, ten per cent, twenty year bonds to be delivered upon the completion of the road through the county via Seward or within one half mile of the public square in Seward, the road to be completed within a certain stipulated time. In due time the proposition was submitted and the fun com- menced; wonderful excitement prevailed. The old sectional strife was awakened anew. The people of Seward of course were almost universally in favor of the proposition and so also were most of the people of the north half of the county but in the southern half of the cownty the sentiment was de- cidedly against the proposition. There was a most thorough canvass and much bitter feeling w^as manifest. The Blue Valley Record used all its ability to down the proposition. Bond meetings were held in every part of the county and anti-bond meetings were addressed by fiery speakers and the rail roads were held up before the people as unprincipled monopolies. Speakers from other counties were imported to help our people settle the matter. Thoroughly organized committees were appointed to help defeat the bonds. On the 22nd of February the election was held and resulted as follows. The vote by precincts will show how sectional the strife was. There were at the time eight voting precincts and the total vote cast was eleven hundred and sixty-two by precincts as follows: Seward precinct — For bonds North Blue Lincoln Creek " " Oak Grove " " Milford Camden " " Walnut Creek " Beaver Creek " Total For 540 Total Against 622 According to these returns it is very plain that the prop- osition .was defeated by a large majority. Seward was greatly discomfitted, in fact the people in the town, and in the 282 Against bonds 5 136 109 9 47 60 5 147 6 138 10 130 2 135 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 151 country round about were clothed in sack cloth and ready to roll in ashes or* "any old place" while Milford rejoiced. It would be most amusing could the long faces of our promi- nent citizens be reproduced. A photo of W. H. Tuttle, J. N. Beaty, W. R. Davis, Dr. L. Walker, Jim Harris and others, perhaps it might include this writer if they had been taken that morning, would show fairly well how woe-begone our people felt. But "behind all these dark clouds were all the stars'" and the day of deliverance was near. There was a peculiar turn in affairs when the commis- sioners began to canvass the vote. The rafcarns from Cam- den precinct were not to be found. It had the appearance of some rascality. A young Seward lawyer, by the name of F. M. Elsworth, had slipped the returns from Camden from the Clerk's office. This placed the commissioners in a pecu- liar position. Of course the commission'^rs could not count the Camden vote when it was not before them. Indignation meetings were held in various parts oE the county. Blood was hot. Even in Seward a large citizens' meeting was held and strong resolutions, condemning the attempt to steal an election, were passed. An injunction suit was brought re- straining the commissioners from issuing the bonds, which was made perpetual by Judge Lake on the IBth of May and everybody was pleased. We understand it was what we might call a friendly suit to settle the matter. Early in June a new and more liberal proposition was submitted by the Company. There was a strong effort made to conciliate the people of Milford. Dr. Converse proposed to build his road up the Middle Creek on about the route now occupied by the A. & N. road and bring it via of Milford but our Milford friends had got so thoroughly impressed with the idea that it was wrong to vote bonds that they rejected the offer. The Doclor was not to be out done; he was de- termined to find voters. So he made overtures to the peo- ple in the Oak Grove settlement to come bv a northern route and make a station that would help them materially. The new proposition was more liberal with the county but was rather tough on two townships which now comprise G," "F" and Seward city precincts. It was as follows: One hun- dred thousand dollars, ten per cent, ten year county bonds 152 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA to be delivered as follows; seventy-five thousand dollars of said bonds to be delivered to the company when said road was completed to within one-half mile of the public square in the city of Seward, provided said road was completed on or before March 1, 1873, to said point; twenty- five thousand dol- lars ten per cent, ten year "P" and "G" precinct bonds, to be delivered at same date of county bonds upon completion of the road to Seward on or before March 1,1873, and twenty-five thousand dollars of county bonds to be delivered on completion of road to west line of county at anytime. July 4, 1872, the Record used flaming headlines as follows: ''Stop the Reaper and Protect Yourselves," or in other words go and vote down the hateful bonds. However the bonds were voted this time by a decisive majority of one hundred and twenty-three. In the interim Seward had grown and cast eighty -one more votes than at the former election. In looking backward we may see things that could not be so easily seen when looking ahead. It now looks as if the good people of Milford made a great mistake and by clinging so tenaciously to principle they lost a great oppor- tunity, for if she had accepted the olive branch when it was offered and helped secure a railroad, she would from that glad day have been on an even footing with Seward, and would have from that day taken a forward bound and re- mained a close rival. They had learned of their fatal mis- take by the time the A. & N. people made a proposition to the county. Seward was full of joy now and from this time forward for years her streets were full of people. New buildings by the score sprang up, and the little town began to put on metropolitan airs. Lots that would hardly have brought six bits per dozen the morning after the first bond election, now came into great value. It is safe to say that the value added to the town lots within the period of build- ing the road would exceed the value of all the bonds voted. Lands also advanced rapidly in value. New people came by the hundreds. Everything was on the boom. On the first day of March, 1873, as per contract the cars rolled into Seward and it was a glad gala day. The summer of 1873 was a very prosperous one with the farmers. Spring wheat was the principal crop on the new HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 153 land and it yielded abundantly and the grain was of the best quality. Much of it graded No. 1 in Chicago and scarcely none fell below No. 2. It brought high prices, ranging at about seventy cents just after the great panic in September, and gradually rose until it reached a dollar in January 1874. Money was plenty and business men reaped a rich harvest. This being the end of the railroad, farmers hauled their grain from Butler, York, Polk and Hamilton counties and from all parts of Seward county. The town was alive with grain dealers. There were yet no elevators. Shovel houses were all the go. Seward county took an advanced step that eventful year. Hundreds of sod houses were replaced with comfortable frame dwellings; the building of county bridges began in earnest. New roads were located on nearly all section lines. Scores of neat schoolhouses sprang up in all parts of the county. Every man, woman, and child was on the jump try- ing to accomplish something. Every train brought in new people. New brick structures began to rise in the young- city. We went into winter quarters Jan. 1, 1874, a prosper- ous, progressive and happy people. ALL ROADS HAVE A TURN The remarkable prosperity that blessed the people of our county and state during 1873 met with a very sudden change in the summer of 1874. Great energy was displayed that spring in putting in a larger acreage of crops, and as such wonderful success had crowned their efforts the previous year they were not afraid to run in debt. Business men and farmers all alike were ready to branch out. Very large stocks of goods were bought on time and sold on time, and scattered over the prairies promiscuously, reaching to the banks of the Platte river north and west. Seward was like a bee hive during the spring and early summer. July was dry and exceeding- ly hot after a wet June. This injured the wheat materially. This was serious, really a calamity, and as calamities usually 154 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA do not come singly, this was no exception. "For in the hour when we thought not, a new scourge fell upon us. " Lo, the heavens were darkened by a cloud of grasshop- pers that fell upon us. They came from the northwest like a vast tidal wave. As far as the eye could penetrate the sky it was a living sea of insects. It is safe to say that millions of tons of them lighted on the fields of Seward county alone, and it was the same over the whole trans- Missouri country where there were settlements. It was like a pall of death to all our interests. They had come a very long disiance and were exceedingly hungry, and like all hungry tramps, they preferred to dine with us. Of coui'se they were unwelcome guests, but little did they care. They came for our corn and vegetables and they were not long in cleaning the platter. They ate the corn and made desert of our garden truck. Onions were a great favorite; first they ate the tops, and then weni right into the ground and left nothing but the dry onion skin and tibrous roots. Cabbage and tui'ni])s were also great favorites Then they went for the green tobacco. Oh! what inveterate tobacco chewers! Each took a good big chew% provided the tobacco patches furnished so much. It was quite noticeable that they all spit tobacco juice, or something very like it. Of this we are sure they were the most inveterate chewers of the weed that we have ever met. Those who have never seen a swarm of these pests can form no proper idea of the immensity of their numbers. When they w^ould settle down for the night, trees of pretty fair size would lap over to the ground under the weight. It has been said that trains on the U. P. road were frequently stalled by their massing on the tracks. It was thought by some that all the cattle we can produce in fifty years would not equal in weight the hoppers that foraged on our fields in that memorable August of 1H74. Most of the people were very poor; losing their crop was virtually losing their all. A very large proportion were homesteaders who came to the country with scanty means. Others came with just a little money, bought railroad land, and paid just a littls payment. They had begun improve ments and had used up their last dollar, had run in debt for HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 155 supplies, perhaps lumber and much machinery, and when they were brought face to face with utter destitution, there seemed nothing else to do but "get up and get" back to their wife's relation. Hundreds of people just loaded up the wife and children and what little they could carry and took their departure. Some just abandoned their lands and said goodbye to Nebraska. Some few managed to get a trifle ftDr their places; some sold farms for three to four hundred dollars that would now readily bring ten thousand dollars. If these, people happened to owe for a plow, harvester or any other farm implement, they just went off and left it. Implement men and attorneys were busy people then, ran- sacking the prairies and looking up abandoned machinery. Oh, I don't want to tell half our experience in that field of enterprise. All classes of personal property became a drug on the market. The best of pigs would hardly sell at $1.50 per hundred pounds. The people who had the nerve to remain, or who were forced to stay faced destitution. Want and hunger stared the people in the face like a horrid specter. Had it not been for thousands of noble men and women in the old states who came to the rescue, the suffering would have been too fearful to contemplate. Vast amounts of food, clothing, and fuel were sent from Iowa, Illinois, and other states. Right here it is proper to acknowledge the honor- able part the railroad companies had in the relief work. They hauled thousands of tons of freight free of charge to the very doors of these people. In this they earned the lasting gratitude of all concerned, as they labored unceasing- ly without money and without price to relieve want and suffering. Is it not right to tell the whole truth in historyV Then we must say that among the well-to-do people of our county we found in those dark days two distinct classes of people. One class, and the larger class, were untiring in their efforts to assist their less favored neighbors in every way possible to bridge over this disaster, and in thousands of instances they denied themselves of ease and luxury that they might divide with the needy. They organized relief societies and 156 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA hunted up the destitute, o^athered up means and diil all in their power, in every way using their own money, clothing- and food, and more, they used their influence with their eastern friends and secured vast stores of goods. We are glad there are so many whole souled people. But there was another class that shall not escape our notice. They are fully entitled to remembrance, and they shall have it. They were the vultures, the cormorants that w^ere not only blessed with plenty and should have gladly given of their bountiful store; but instead of that they were on the alert to steal from hungry children and helpless wid- ows what better people were sending them. We write what we know to be true . It was our fortune, or misfortune, to be brought into close contact with the people in those trying times in distributing relief to thousands of them. We well remember what a struggle we had to keep these vultures at bay. There were scores of them who richly deserve to have their names published that they might enjoy the just execra- tion of mankind. Their names should be covered with ever- lasting shame. CHAPTER X At a standstill— "In a quandary "—Homes abandoned— A critical period —Brighter days— Railroad extended to York— New recruits— Im- provements in 1876— Planting fruit trees—Great celebration— First murder— Trial an exciting one— Clough convicted— Sentence of - death commuted— Changes in 1877— Utica founded— First settlers of "E"precinct — Went to market with eggs— Hawk pie — Improvements — First birth in the new town— Cattle stampede— Close call for the author In 1875 things in country and city were at a stand still. Business men and farmers were in what the Irishman calls a "quandary," things looked blue. The railroad lands were mostly abandoned, and hundreds of homesteads had been shifted off at "any old price." Hundreds ot fields bore an ex- cellent crop of weeds, and a general feeling of despondency was brooding over our fair land. A mortal dread of the re- turn of our implacable enemies was thoroughly imbedded in the minds of the people. Many of them were cogitating in their minds as to whether they had not made a fatal mistake in coming to Nebraska. Some brave souls were able to look through and beyond the gloom to brighter days when Ne- braska should be redeemed. Such did all they could to en- courage people to hold their lands. During this critical period, fair crops blessed the efforts of the faithful husband- man and hope revived and in the blessed spring of 1876 things began to move again as in other years. New people began to come forward and occupy the vacant places. Much valuable improvement was added to county and city during the summer and fall. Walker's opera house with a few other substantial business structures were built, which gave evidence of new life to the city. The Midland Pacific extended their grade to York during the summer- of 1875, but it was only used as a wagon road for two years. During the fall of 1876 the grasshoppers put in their appearance again in great numbers and did much damage, but fortu- 158 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA nately they were late in their arrival and were not able to devastate the county, as they did in 1h74. They left us a sufficient amount of corn to tide us over. The small grain was fairly good that year and it was secured. Vegetables were good and about all out of reach of the hungry tramps. So the people had enough to get through the winter without suffering or assistance. The centiennial year brought great numbers of people from other states that were attracted by our cheap lands and as a rule those immigrants were men of more means than those of former years, and this told favorably on the class of improvements. They built better houses; begun to erect barns. They began to fence pastures and many began ex- perimenting with tame grasses. They brought in many herds of improved cattle and great numbers of a better grade of horses. This improvement extended to hogs, poultry, etc. Great efforts were put forth in planting fruit and forest trees and the county began to look more like a home. The soddies wei-e rapidly disappearing. Bridge building began again in earnest and the roads were much improved. This glad centennial year the people of the county held at Sew- ard the most notable gathering in the history of the county up to that date on the fourth of July, when more than five thousand people assembled to do honor to the occasion. The reader is referred to another page for a general description of til at celebration. Now it becomes a painful duty to record the most sor- rowful and tragic event in all our forty years history. Up to this time, May 1874, no murder had been committed, so far as was positively known and no serious event had occurred to mar our p^ace. Our people had thus far been noted for sobriety, industry and general good behavior although we had been drawn together from so many localities in our ov.il country and from foreign lands. With all our diversified peculiarities and antagonistic interests, no human blood had been shed in all our borders until the sad event of which we now write. One beautiful morning in the month of May when all nature was smiling with gladness and our little city was basking in the lovely sunshine, enjoying the fragrance of HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 159 the opening buds of spring, there breaks upon the ears of our good people the astounding news that a man (a neighbor) had been murdered. A chill of horror seized upon the peo- ple as the news rapidly spread that Nathan Clough was the victim and that he was found lying in the hay loft of the Blue valley house barn wrapped in the bloody mantle of death. Excitement ran high, a coroner's jury was hurried impaneled. Suspicion rested on several characters that harbored around the hotel and a close surveillance was kept and no one was permitted to leave the town while the jury was trying to solve the mystery. The air was filled with all sorts of wild I'umors. The excitement spread as days rolled on while the jury was in session. It reached from city to country and to every part of the state and even into other states. It was the absorbing theme of conversation and discussion every- where. The newspapers were full of it. The pleasant sun- shine of that spring time was turned into a dark cloud that hung like a pall over the city. There was apparently a suspicion among the people near and far that Warren Clough, brother of the murdered man was guilty of the deed. It seemed to float in the air without the use of a telephone. The business men of the city were wisely cautious of their words, but the women and children would indiscreetly say on the spur of the moment "its nobody, but Warren Clough that did it." Farmers coming into town would whisper their to friends, "I believe Warren did it. " Traveling men on the trains would give vent to their opinion that he. was the guilty wretch. Even a correspond- ent of the Omaha Bee confidingly told his readers that Clough was most likely killed by his brother Warren. Thus suspic- ion grew till it became imbedded in the minds and hearts of the people everywhere without evidence or in advance of evidence that Warren had killed his brother. We are free to confess that this impression darted through our mind the moment our eyes caught sight of Warren, unbidden arnd en- tirely without evidence and fastened itself so firmly upon us that we have never been able to shake it off to this day. Why it was so is impossible to explain only in this unsatis- factory way that Warren Clough was a rough character. The jury was in session nine days and finally placed the crime 160 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA where the people had placed it without evidence after trail- ing every shadow to its substance or till it had become lost m the mist. Jusl what evidence came before that jury of intelligent and honorable men the world can never know, but this much leaked out that Warren was his own worst witness by his own contradictions and evasions and guilty actions. In the preliminary hearing at Seward enough evidence or ]jublic impressions were adduced to hold him to the dis- trict court, and after a long and tedious trial with Hon. Geo. W. Lowley as chief prosecutor and Norval Bros., ably as- sisted by Hon. O. P. Masan, a former chief justice of su- preme court of Nebraska, the jury returned a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree, and and the death sen- tence was pronounced upon him at York, Nebraska, where the trial was held on account of the prejudice of the people of Seward County. In due time all preparation was made for the execution, all motions for a new trial being overruled, but on the even- ing before the execution was to take place, Governor Garber commuted the sentence and Clough was given a life sentence in the penitentiary at hard labor. Clough served fourteen years of his sentence and had behaved himself well. Many efforts had been made through the years to secure his pardon, but to no avail. Public opinion was too strong against him, but finally a last effort in the early winter of 1892 was suc- cessfully made and good old Governor J. M. Thayer made him a New Year's present of his freedom. Many people found fault with the govennor, but considering the fact that the prisoner had been convicted on purely circumstantial evidence with unbounded prejudice aiding the prosecution, and it being hard to tell just what weighed most with the jury the evidence or general prejudice, we deem the pardon highly proper in as much as the defendant had sufl'erd four- teen years of prison life, it seemed to be the proper thing to do, to give the old man his freedom for the few remaining days or years of his life. Any one objecting to this pardon is kindly referred to that grand sentiment so beautiful expressed in "Pope's Universal Prayer:" "That mercy I to others show that mercy show to me." The year 1877 brought many important changes and HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 161 marked a new era in the development of the county. This year the Midland Pacific railroad company passed into the hands of the B. & M. company and the rails were laid to York, and the town of Utica was founded. Among the very earliest settlers on that great prairie was the Hon. Geo. A. Derby who homesteaded land to the north and west of where Utica now stands, in 1872. Mr. Derby made some very creditable improvements for that early day, and his house was the genial home of many a weary traveler, as it was the only stopping place between Seward and the new town of York. He was a wide-awake man, and as soon as the building of the projected railroad was assured, he made haste to lay out the town of Utica. He saw at a glance that the broad acres of rich farming land surrounding the place must of necessity have a trading place, and he went to work w^th that energy and determi- nation wdiich usually bring success, and the present flourish- ing, bustling, business tow^i of Utica is the result. Mr. Derby was a most useful citizen in his day. We always found him at the front in every enterprise that would tend to advance the interests of that part of the county. He spent the best energies of his life for the development and advancement of his locality. Utica has grown and prospered with the years. What was then an uncultivated expanse of wild prairie is now a perfect checkerboard of beautiful farms with residences that will compare favorably with any of the older portions of the state; and when w^e say that, it means any part of the farm- ing country of the great Republic. Utica is at this writing the third town in the county in point of business and population. Of its business interests we will speak fully in another chapter. Howard M. Coleman was one of the first homesteaders who broke sod on that wild prairie. The date of his settle- ment was May, 1871. Mr. Coleman had much to do with the imiDrovements and progress of Utica, We well remember when he had to haul wood from the Blue river to keep the family from freezing in the old pioneer days. But things changed and in his later years he did not have to haul wood fifteen miles. 162 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Geo. Liggett, who took up a homestead on Lincoln creek in 1869, commenced the grain trade in the new town when the station was first established. Mr. Liggett only enjoyed the pleasures of a farmer's life one year, when he moved to Seward where he tried his hand at harness making for a time when he thought he saw glory or wealth in Antelope county and removed to that locality. He soon secured all the glory he needed and gave up the idea of wealth, and like a sensible man he returned to Seward and here he studied the art of buying grain. After graduating among the grain men of Seward, he went to Utica and there com- menced the practice of his profession with remarkable suc- cess as his ample possessions demonstrate. Oscar Ragan, one of the very first men to embark in business in the new town and has made quite a succes was a Lincoln creek pioneer who had quite a rough and tumble ex- perience in the early days. He homesteaded in 1867. He had a pretty hard time for a while to keep the wolves from his chicken coop as well as to keep them from the door. It was no uncommon thing for the settlers to become desperate- ly hard up, but Oscar had experiences that take the rag off the bush. He had one faithful old hen and for a time she was the main dependence of the family. Oscar lived only sixteen miles from Seward, and one day he concluded to go to town for some groceries. Of course like all thrifty farm- ers he gathered up the produce to take along to pay the bills. By using a little extra exertion in chasing the old hen she was induced to lay that morning before Oscar start- ed. So when an invoice of stock was taken it was found that there were five eggs all fresh and in the best condition for the market. Oscar did not have a spring carriage to carry his eggs to market. When he got to Seward he walked into Beatty & Davis' store proud of his hoard of fresh eggs think- ing of the good things he would buy. He handed his bucket of eggs to Pap Davis to count; but when the bucket was opened, behold the consternation! Three of the eggs had broken, and so was Oscar's heart. Just imagine how Oscar and Pap Davis looked just then. Well, Oscar's trip was not entirely lost, as he got one cent's worth of salt and one cent's worth of matches. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 163 Oscar had a bit of experience one time in Seward trying to borrow some money. He approached a money man and asked to borrow a hundred dollars. "Oh, yes! all right, Mr. Ragan, you can have it. Please how long do you want it, one or three years?" remarked the cash man. "Oh, I guess I might just as well take it for three years," says Os- car, thinking he had "struck it rich." "Well," says the gentleman, "it is our rule to collect the interest in advance." "All right," says Oscar, "how much will it be?" "Interest is three per cent, per month and three times thirty-six is $108. Please sign this note of $100 and give me $8 and we are even and no harm done." Oscar has a little more experience that is worth telling. Meat was a scarce article among the pioneer settlers, and frequently they went hunting to get some game to help out, and Oscar concluded to try his hand. So he took the old rifle down and cleaned it up and went in pursuit of game. The buffalo and elk had all disappeared. The antelope were shy. Oscar tramped all day long and the only living thing he saw to shoot was a chicken-hawk. He downed it. He looked at it, turned it over and said to himself, "Wonder if it's good to eat?" He had oft times heard of politicians eat- ing crow and had heard no complaint. "Guess it will do." So he takes it home and tells the good wife that on the mor- row they will have a feast. The wife made all things ready and a nice hawk pie was prepared. Oscar being a generous soul invited some of his neighbors to help enjoy the feast. The guests were all seated with Oscar in his proper place at the head of the table; all being served with a portion of the dainty dish they all commenced eating at the proper mo- ment. One mouthful was partly swallowed when Oscar with a heaving breast found it necessary to find his way to the door. The hawk showed signs of great discontent at going into Oscar's stomach. Oscar was quickly followed by his guests — but they did not go to see what was the matter with Oscar. They each had serious business of their own to look after. Since that eventful day and dinner experience he has wondered how it can be that politicians can eat crow without wincing as so many do. He certainly has never since had a hankering after hawk pie. 164 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Thomas Standard and Joseph Jones have the honor of erecting the first building on the town site and opened the first stock of merchandise in the month of August, 1877. These enterprising gentlemen were homesteaders and settled on lands in close proximity in 1870. We remember Mr. Standard at an early date as a standard thresherman of the county. These wide-awake men did their full share in help- ing on improvements in the new town, and are certainly en- titled to kind remembrance by those who got credit at their store when hard pressed for something to eat. George Goodbrod erected a small hotel also in August, and the weary traveler could then find a place of rest. Fritz Beckard started a lumber yard the same month. In September Fred Goehner and Wilkins opened the second store, and C. C. Turner built a blacksmith shop and com- menced pounding iron. Wm. Alexander opened a grain house in the fall, and there were other improvements in- augurated which gave the village quite an appearance as a business center. From the start Utica enjoyed a large grain and stock trade, and what is rather peculiar, these dealers were in a marked degree successful. Rev. C. E Phinney was the first minsiter to invade this wilderness. He located on a homestead in 1874 and im- mediately set to work and organized a protestant Methodist church. However, a class of the M. E. church had been or- ganized at the Kinkaid schoolhouse as early as 1872. This was three miles east of the present town. It was organized by the Rev. A. J. Folden. This class was later re- organized by Rev. G. M. Couffer of Milford, and in 1878 it was perma- nently established at Utica. The little class grew and pros- pered and in 1881 they built a creditable frame church edifice. They had previously built a parsonage. A United Brethren church was organized at the Oliver schoolhouse, in 1873 by Rev. E. W. Johnson, a young minis- ter that came from Fulton county, Illinois, and found a home three miles west of Seward. Later he became an honored presiding elder of his chuich. In 1880 Rev. Father C. J. Quinn established a Catholic mission and later built a neat house of worship. So it will be seen that Utica was not neglected by those HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 165 laboring in the Master's vineyard. The church and the schoolhouse, the two great civil izers of men, were built side by side in tliis new land. Miss Clara Derby taught the first school in that vicinity in the spring and summer of 1873. The schools of Utica have kept pace with the other interests, and they now have a fine building with a well equipped graded school. At the head of the great train of children born at Utica, Miss Clara Goodbrod came first to cheer the hearts of her parents. She was born Oct. 16, 1877. She is now the wife of a Seward county boy. Homer J. Stolz. For many years Utica commanded the trade of a large area of excellent territory, it being the most accessible railroad point for the north half of "M" precinct, all of "L" and "E," the northwest part of "N" and part of "K," and from the north it took in a part of "C" and about all of '"D" and also it took trade from the east row of townships of York county. The rich valley of Lincoln creek, settled by a thrifty class of Germans, poured their wealth into the little village lavishly. Business was brisk for the first ten years of its existence, or until the F. E. & M. V. road was built in 1887. The lands were soon all occupied in all the western por- tion of the county, the amount of grain and stock marketed was immense, and many of the dealers accumulated handsome fortunes in those palmy days. Will the reader kindly bear with the author while he tells of his first visit to this great prairie v ilderness when there was not a sign of human habitation between the Blue river and the Platte river north of the overland freight road running through the neighborhood of old Camden and west- ward through the southern portion of this and York counties and on to Fort Kearney. In the early part of the summer of 1864, while we were yet a resident of Lancaster county, although much interested in Seward county, a project was set on foot by Jacob Dawson of Lancaster (now Lincoln) to open a great freight road from the Missouri river through Lancaster and prospective Seward, and westward to a point on the old overland road somewhere west. Uncle Jake, a man of nerve and unbounded energy, went 166 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA down to Wyoming, about six miles north of Nebrasli;a City, and held a conference with the Mormon leaders. That little place was the Mormon outfitting point for the great journey to Salt Lake. An agreement was made and Mr. Dawson was to lead a great freight train across the wilds to break a road. When the train reached the Salt Basin, Mr. Dawson secured our services as a guide through the wilderness. We followed up the great divide leading to the plain at the future Germantown, thence to Plum Creek and down the valley to its mouth. By the time the train had reached this point, all the neighborhood along this part of the Blue val- ley was aroused. There were only three families, viz: R. T. Gale, Grandfather Imlay, and William Imlay, also two young men, David P. and Joseph Imlay. Now an earnest search began to find an easy place to ford the river. None could be found. The next thing to do was to bridge the river. We gathered all the axes in the train and in the community and downed a hundred or more trees and snaked them together with the oxen, and before night we had a substantial bridge, the first ever buili. on the upper Blue. In this undertaking we had the help of sixteen young stalwart Mormons and with words of encouragement of Grandpa Imlay, a good job was done and the great train of merchandise with ninety-six great oxen landed, safely on the west bank of the river. Now all was wilderness before us. Our only guide were the surveyors' stakes. We mounted the highlands just south of where the Burlington track was laid in after years, and when night overtook us we were in "L" Precinct, town 10, range one east of the sixth P.M., just a little to the east and some miles south of the present Utica. There was a boundless field of splendid grass. The day had been excessively hot, and we welcomed the shades of even ing. A corral was form-^d by placing the wagons in a circle, and the cattle turned out to graze. Supper was prepared over the huge camp fire. While we were eating there were sure omens of a storm. Dark clouds were looming up in the northwest. Deep thunder tones were heard in the distance. Supper was eaten hurriedly that we might have all things in readiness for what might come. It fell to our lot to take HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 167 a place as one of the outer pickets to guard the cattle; we went out to duty in our shirt sleeves. As dark came on a pace the heavens began to look frightful. There was peal on peal of dreadful thunder which came nearer and nearer every moment. The night was wild and drear on that lone- ly prairie. The darkness of Egypt was not a patchin to it. We were on our lonely beat perhaps from three to five hun- dred feet from the herd, when a terrific crash of thunder that was enough to scare a dead man, frightened the herd and every mother's son of them were scared at the same instant, and a stampede was on hand, and the ninety-six struck in a bee line for me. They came with all the force of a full grown cyclone. Few and short were the prayers we said and we thought not of writing these reminiscenses. We were ready to say goodbye to this old world. When fortun- ately for these reminiscenses a vivid flash of lightning came to our rescue, but oh! the ghastly sight of the demons com- ing with a thundering tread right upon us to trample us into the earth so that we would need no burial. We have always given credit to that flash of lightning and that w^hite shirt. Possibly I ought to credit the oxen for their kind considera- tion. The oxen divided just at the right time and the ranks left me was so narrow that they almost brushed my shirt sleeves on either side. Need we tell the reader that fright effectually stopped our growth and our diminutive stature may be attributed to that night's experience. It only took two days to get those cattle back to camp. The next morning the great level prairie was a sea of water. It was convincing proof that it did sometimes rain west of Salt creek. The cattle were found near the present city of Milford, evidently they did not go that far in search of water that night. When they were finally gotten together again we led the train to the ranch of John E. Fouse at the crossing of the Beaver at the old road and there we bade our Mormon friends adieu and turned our faces homeward. When Uncle Jake, Mr. Imlay and I got through with that Mormon train we were fully satisfied with our experience in leading trains through the wilderness and we tried it no more. CHAPTER XI Greneral advance in 1878 — Improvement in city and country — Contention between U. P. and A. & N. railroads — Great mass meeting held — Election followed by an injunction —Wild excitement — Crooked work — County seal spirited away — Bonds taken out of state — In- junction made perpetual — A. & N. road swallowed up by the B. & M. — 1879 a year of prosperity — Milford bounds to the front — Staple- hurst founded — Seward is greatly stimulated — Pleasant Dale founded — Uust storms of 1880 — Seward is sick — Bates murder — A tragedy- Murder at Grover^ — Smallpox or itch, which? — smallpox in "H" precinct — Patrick murder — Stormy winter — Snow blocade — Brighter skies in 1882 — Boom in 1884 — The western desert vanishes — Feeding stock- -New railroad project — Jonah can't swallow the whale^ — Three new towns founded — Beaver Crossing comes to life— Flowing wells — Great potato field — A rustling village. A. & N. RAIL ROAD Eighteen hundred and seventy-eight was a year of gen- eral advancement, in a quiet sort of a way, in both country and city. Many new farms were opened in all parts of the county and several new business blocks were added to the city. Norval block and also the Goehner block were erected. Crops were fairly good and people were generally prosperous. At this time the people began to feel the need of another rail road in the county. There were two pro- jects on foot and each seemed plausable to many people. One of these projects was to hold out the proper induce- ment to the Union Pacific company to build a branch from Brainard to the Republican Valley line, now occupied by the Northwestern, to Seward and the south or southwest. This problem was championed by Claudius Jones of Seward, and was urged with much energy, and it had much to recom- mend it as it would bring the great U. P. road in direct com- petition with the Burlington system. In Seward it had many friends but in the county it did not find much favor. Negotiations were opened with the managers of the At- HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 169 chison and Nebraska people, who proposed to build a line connecting with their road from Atchison, Kansas, to Lin- coln and Columbus, Nebraska, via. Middle Creek, Milford, Seward, Ulysses and David City to Columbus. The Milford people had been suddenly converted from their old notion of repudiating all bond propositions from "principle" and like most new converts they were most decidedly enthusias- tic. The adherents of each proposition in the city of Se- ward was most determined. It was a subject of warm discus- sion as to which proposition should be accepted. A great mass meeting was called in the si:)ring of 1H79 to determine which of the two schemes the people would most heartily endorse. The public square of Seward was tilled with people. Hon. S. B. Galey, of Lincoln, assisted by Judge O. P. Mason, represented the A. & N. road, and Claudius Jones, of Seward, the U. P. Excitement ran high that day and there were some scenes enacted that were not very creditable to our people. Unfortunately the person representing the U. P. inter- ests did not enjoy the full confidence of the people, and they looked at the rail road through the man, and unwisely re- fused to listen to his proposition, but hooted him down and caricatured him most scandalously, even carrying the joke so far as to bring the matter up in the Fourth of July cele- bration and representing him in a hoodlum procession as a mammoth hog. The pressure was so very great that commissioners and all were swept along without let or hindrance, and the prop- osition in favor of the A. & N. Co. was submitted under the corporate name of Lincoln and Northwestern. The amount of bonds asked for was seventy-five thousand dollars in county and precinct bonds, divided up in a satisfactory manner between the county and C, G, J, O, P, and I pr<^- cincts. The propositions were carried in the county and all the six precincts by good majorities. The rail road was speedily constructed and the cars rolled up the beautiful valley to Seward early in October, when there was general rejoicing all along the line. Milford was now happy, as she was connected with the outside world in general, and with the county-seat in particular, by rail. There were enemies 170 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA of the road steadily and persistently at work, however. We will not attempt to divine their motives. It may have been the dear people that they were interested in, or it may have been spite work. Be that as it was, an injunction suit was commenced aprainst the issuing and delivering the county bonds, and also those of C, G, J, and O precincts, leaving I to look out for itself. It was the undoubted right of a citizen and tax payer in the county, or any precinct thereof, to commence an in- junction suit, and have all matters thoroughly sifted in the courts as to the legality of the proposition, and also the legality of election and the returns, and it was without ques- tion the duty of all officers, having the custody of the bonds, to obey the order of the courts, and let consequences take care of themselves; but in this case there was some trickery that will hardly bear the light of day. It seems that the county clerk, Thomas Graham, was away from home, and the business of the office was left in the hands of his deputy. Perhaps it is not expedient to state all we know, yet it seems clearly proper that these historical sketches should be true, and we can hardly pass over this important matter without relating the whole truth so far as we know it. It seems that there was an inordinate desire on the part of the deputy clerk (Ed O'Keefe) and the board of county commissioners to evade the injunction, and in the night- time these persons took the seal of the county, and slipped away to David City in Butler county, and signed and placed the seal of the county upon the bonds there, and then re- turned to Seward and made their record of their proceedings as if all had been regular. What motives prompted these gentlemen to perform the important duty of their office in Butler county, the reader may judge for himself. It is suf- ficient to say that they left the way open for censure, and accomplished nothing but a long lawsuit, in which the in- junction was made perpetual. There was talk that bribes had been used with certain parties, and that attempts were made to induce other prominent men to help along' this bond scheme by large bribes. In fact, some individuals have told us that they had been approached by offers of large amounts HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 171 if they would assist in carrying the scheme through to a suc- cessful termination . As time rolled on, it developed that the people had been victimized, and that they had given seventy-five thousand dollars, or at least they had agreed by their votes to give that amount to another B. & M. R. R. For a few months only did the A. & N. maintain control of the road when it had passed in its checks, and we awoke to find ourselves sold, and with two B. & M. roads on our hands. The competition given our people during the fall and winter of 1879-80 was noticeable, and a great benefit to the farmers. The markets of Seward county that winter were about the best in the state. This had the effect of stimulat- ing the business of the city, and a rapid growth was the im- mediate result. Scores of new buildings went up and all went merry as a marriage bell in the spring of 1880. But when it became known that the B. & M. had swallowed its competitor, we all heard something drop, and it hurt most fearfully. One noticeable effect was that it reduced sudden- ly the number of grain dealers from about a full dozen to two, and the competition in the grain trade of Seward be- came a thing of the past. Seward became deathly sick, nigh unto death. This change fell like a dead weight on all interests. Unfortun- ately just at the critical moment, when level heads were much needed, the bond injunction case was inaugurated by Claudius Jones. The county clerk, Thos. Graham, was sud- denly called to his old home in the East on account of sick- ness in the family. Ed O'Keefe was his deputy left in charge. This gentleman was in close sympathy with railroad people, and so were the county commissioners, Messrs. Hul- burt, McKay and Bates. The strong current had swept sheriff Sullivan off his feet. Popular sentiment was so very strong in favor of the company that it was exceedingly hard to withstand the pressure, and people that were favorable to the injunction proceedings were looked upon as public enemies. It was urged that the people had, by overwhelm- ing majorities, voted the bonds, and that the effort to de- feat their getting them, now that the road was built, was 172 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA considered an insult to tlie good people of the county as well as a great wrong to the company. Jones, through his attorneys, was doing his best to thwart the commissioners in their determination to sign and deliver the bonds. They were equally determined to carry out, so far as they could, the will of the people. Find- ing their every movement was closely watched by spies, (there were little games played on the part of both parties that they would hardly care to see paraded in print.) The commissioners, fearing every moment that the injunction papers would be served, authentic report has it that the de- puty clerk took the county seal one dark night and met the commissioners at David City where the bonds were signed with the intention of delivering them over to the attorneys of the company. In the meantime the injunction papers were secured and the sheriff was requested to serve the no- tice upon the Board, which he refused to do. when Hon. R. S. Nerval, one of the attorneys for plaintiff, read the notice to them and warned them of the danger in store for them if they disobeyed its mandates. The commissioners were somewhat scared just then and concluded not to pass the bonds into the hands of the company, but under the advice of Attorney S. B. Galey, they determined to get the bonds far out of reach and beyond the jurisdiction of the court. So the chairman, Mr. G. P. Hulburt, jumped on a locomo- tive with the bonds and hurried to Kansas City, Missouri, and deposited them in a bank for safe keeping. When the case came up for a hearing, the learned Judge considered this next a kin to contempt, and the commissioners and the at- torneys of the rail-road here ordered to immediately place those bonds within the court's jurisdiction before they could have any chance to plead to the complaint. The bonds were brought from Kansas City and placed in a bank vault at York, Nebraska, pending the trial. The grounds upon which the plaintiff claimed the injunc- tion was that the bond prospositions were for the Lincoln and Northwestern Rail Road Company or the Blue valley and Northwestern railroad company. The proposition in this form was submitted to the county also to C, G, J, O, and P precincts. It was yet uncertain whether the road would come HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 173 up the valley from Crete or up middle creek from Lincoln. So they innocently got Blue valley in the proposition to catch P precinct, but in the proposition submitted to I precinct it was simply the Lincoln and Northwestern company. The court held that double-headers would not do, but that so far as I precinct was concerned that the proposition was proper and legal and that they were fully entitled to the privilege of paying their little three thousand dollars and they have en- joyed the privilege of taxing themselves through the years to pay the interest and principal. The case was appealed, but the supreme court affirmed the judgment of the court below, but inasmuch as there were seven distinct propositions, one for the county and one for each of six precincts and that the bonds were held good as against one precinct, one sev- enth part of all the costs were charged up to the Plaintiff, Claudius Jones, viz: $45.07, the whole costs in the case being 1315.49. It is proper to say that Mr. Hulburt denies that the seal was taken to Butler county or that the commissioners met there and signed the bonds, but somehow evidence was pretty plain as other people understood it that they did "all the same.'' Mr. Hulburt also claims that he personally saved the bonds from falling into the railroad company's hands. We don't just understand how he could dare do otherwise af- ter the injunction was served. Mr. Hulburt does not ex- plain what motives he had in riding a locomotive all the way to Kansas City with the bonds, and leaving them there out of the jurisdiction of the Nebraska courts. It seems that the injunction was sustained by a legal technicality, but in view of the fact that it proved to be built in the interest of the B.& M. company, there were few tears shed by our people that the matter turned as it did. How- ever the railroad was a good thing for those sections of the county that had no outlet. While "I" precinct paid for "the whistle yet it was worth to its people many times its cost. It has proved a blessing to Milford and the Blue valley out- side the immediate vicinity of Seward. It is questionable as to whether it was a blessing or a detriment to Seward. One thing is certain it gave us about thirty miles of road to tax. It gives many people facilities for travel and transportation 174 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA of freight that they could not have without it. It gave Sew- ard people a double track to Lincoln and extra facilities to get there and back again and it also brings us into much closer relations with the people both north and south. It has helped to develop Seward county and that is a most important point, even if it does not afford any competition in business. It caused the building two neat little towns, viz: Pleasant Dale and Sfcaplehurst and gives a shipping station at Ruby and it infused such new life into Milford that it is one of the best towns of its size in the state. It seems a little rough on "I" precinct that she is called upon to pay all the bonds for the thirty miles of road that benefits so many other localities equally with herself. The year 1879 was a prosperous one. The building of thirty miles of new railroad gave an impetus to business and in city and county things moved. The corn crop was excel- lent, and brought a fair price. Farmers were prosperous, and made valuable improvements. The city improved under, the stimulus of a new road and the promise of better freight rates. Milford sprang forward with a bound, being awakened from her stupor by the sound of the locomotive whistle The new town of Staplehurst was founded and also Pleasant Dale, and all was going merry as a marriage bell until the spring of 1880, when calamities came thick and fast upon us. The winter had been a dry one and the earth had be- come a bed of dust. The freezing and thawing of the fields without any moisture had made it into a vast bed of loose dust, and as the wind sometimes blows in the spring time in Nebraska this proved a favorable time to make a reputation. Most of the spring wheat had been sown (up to this time spring wheat was our most staple production) when the wind began to blow a gale from the north and it kept the atmosphere black with fine dust for some days. It became so terrific that man or beast could hardly withstand it. We were reminded of the stories of the sand storms of the desert. The fine dust found a way into the best of the houses, so that they became almost untenable and would have been de- serted if the poor distracted inmates had known where to go, but they just had to grin and bear it. There was no escape. The dust as fine as powder was piled up along hedge rows HISTORY OP SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 175 and other obstructions like great snow drifts. Some places it was from three to four feet high, (some say drifts were five feet high). Thousands of bushels of sown wheat went south, the Lord only knows how far, without bills of lading attached. Many places the fields that had been plowed were stripped of the soil as deep as it had been plowed. This condition did not augur well for the wheat crop. The spring and summer was dry, and all crops were short. Just now while our j^eople were laboring under the fearful forebodings of drouth the news came to us that the Lincoln and Northwestern railroad had thrown up the sponge and had passed into the hands of the B. & M. Company. This made Seward sick. She had so much doted on competition in freights. Now her hopes were blasted and she was clothed in sackcloth and rolling in the dust. The Windsor house had been commenced before the depression had fairly set in and was finished during the year, but stood idle a solid year before parties could be in- duced to open it. All business languished, farm lands were a drug in the market and the only sales were made by the sheriff. Mechanics and labors deserted the city and there were more idle houses than in any time of her history. Under the stimulus of a railroad for which the people in the north and south parts of the county that had waited so long kept up their courage pretty well and did not suffer as did Seward. Poor Seward had hoped for so much and had got let down so hard that for a time she was dazed and almost ready to give up the ghost. During these financial troubles we were doomed to other serious experience. For the third time our community was startled by the news of a murder. This time it was of the nature of a bloody tragedy. It is not a pleasant duty for a historian to relate such outrageous horrors yet it appears to be his duty. About six miles north and east of Seward at what was known as the Bates school house there was a protracted meeting being held, and at this meeting was the scene of one of the most desperate tragedies that has blackened the pages of Nebraska history. In the month of March 1880, in "B" precinct just south of the present village of Bee a congregation of the citizens was gathered for the 176 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY. NEBRASKA purpose of. woi'ship. There were a number of young men in the neighborhood that had not received the proper training, else they had forgotten that one of the chief corner stones of our government is that every individual shall have the right to worship God according to the dictates of his own con- science and that no man may molest or make them afraid or in any way interfere with these sacred rights. These young- sters had on several occasions molested these meetings and seemed incorrigible in their efforts to break up the meetings and, as the sequel proves, they were not met by the church people in that Christian spirit, so ably. set forth by the great apostle where he warned his people that the better way was to "overcome evil with good" If this mandate had been fol- lowed to the letter on that dreadful night instead of the hor- rid tragedy some good might have been accomplished. The row had been fully contempted by both the roughs and the church people. The rowdies went fully armed and intent on mischief. It was fully expected that there would be trouble, and the church people prepared themselves in the wrong way to defend their rights, they provided themselves clubs and one at least Wm. Bates, a most worthy and re- spectable citizen, so far forgot himself as to carry a revolver. There was little doubt, but the church people had endured much by the wreckless fellows coming there and disturbing the meetings, but they greatly erred in judgment in trying to take the law into their own hands. There was no proper excuse for carrying clubs or revolvers into church at that late day in our land of law. The roughs came as was ex- pected, and were ready and anxious to get into trouble and when people are looking for trouble they can usually find it. The belligerent feelings soon found vent in hot words which were quickly followed by blows. It is not definitely known who or which party struck the first blow. Soon revolvers were brought into play and carnage began in earnest. The scene was revolting in the extreme resulting in the killing outright of William Bates that had always been considered a most excellent citizen. Hillard Thomas was so severely wounded that he died of his injuries. James Thomas re- ceived a serious tlesh wound in the hip. Israel Bates had a flesh wound on the thigh and Luther Bates got a severe HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 177 cut on the head with a spade or shovel. It seems that the Bates family and the Thomas family had had personal trouble for some time previous, but it is not known who may have been most to blame, but in this horrible tragedy it is evident that both parties were in a degree to blame. As before stated the Bates were people of good repute, one of them had been a County Commissioner. They were zealous church members, but they had the one weakness of letting rash tempers get the better of them and were quick to resent an insult or injury; rather too much so for followers of Him who taught us to do good to those who despitefully use us. They did wrong in carrying clubs or revolvers into a religious meeting in our land of law and order. They had no right to do it. It was unlawful, un-Christian and unneces- sary. If the unruly persons had shown themselves incorig- able so that kind words and Christian courtesy could not reach theii* case it would have been easy to obtain the help of peace officers. Of the Thomas family we know personal- ly, but little, but we can make no possible excuse for any party that will go into a religious meeting for the purpose of disturbing it. Personal enmity of certain members of the congregation is no valid excuse for such outlawry and how- ever much the Bates family may have erred in their rash- ness, still it must be the just judgment of an unprejudiced world that the Thomas family and their abettors were the cause of this fearful catastrophy. There was something very curious about the terrible crime that passes our understanding. It was never investi- gated by the courts. It seems very curious such a scene of lawless butchery with such far reaching consequences should not have been thoroughly sifted by the courts and the re- sponsibility placed where it belongs. The grand jury tried to investigate the matter, but somehow they did not seem com- petent to place the blame and the matter was dropped. In these bloody pages must also be recorded another wretched murder at "Grover," then known as East Milford. Samuel Bowker and Milton and John Granger (two brothers) were the chief actors. The trouble grew out of the marriage of one of Old Mr. Granger's daughters. The old man Granger and Bowker got into a quarrel about the matter and Bowker 178 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA was somewhat of a pugilist and ready to fight "at the drop of the hat." He knocked Mr. Granger down. This incident led up to the murder. Some days later Mr. Bowker was passing the store of the Granger boys and was invited to alight from his wagon which invitation he promptly accept- ed, and pulled his coat and announced himself ready for the Granger brothers. Some hot words passed and quickly fol- lowed with blows, when Milton Granger drew a revolver and tired twice at Bowker when his antagonist knocked the gun from his hands. When John Granger opened fire and sent five or six shots at Bowker, two of which took efi'ect, one striking near the shoulder blade and passing down the spine and caused his death. Grangers were put on trial and pleaded guilty of manslaughter. The plea was accepted and they were sentenced to the State prison for ten years, which term they served. With all these troubles on our hands Seward had a genu- ine small pox scare which worked mischief. In the south- eastern part of town a family were reported to be stricken with the dread malady. Physicians want and made a thor- ough diagnosis of the case and pronounced it genuine small- pox. Unfortunately the place was located near our high school and it resulted in closing the school, and created such a panic that it nearly paralyzed business for a time. It would be most unreasonable to discredit the finding of skilled phy- sicians in such matter, but their views were brought into dis- credit and scores of peojile believe to this day (and with pret- ty good reason) that it was a genuine case of itch in its worst form, and that the poor victim was just rotting with it. It was currently reported that the patient broke away from the guards and left the city in hot haste. He was careful to take the malady, small pox, or itch all along with him as there were no traces of it left behind. This panic worked a serious hardship to the first graduating class, who had earned their degree. The examinations were in progress when the school was broken up. We have always thought that some means should have been devised to have furnished this bright class of young people the diplomas which they had so full earned. A small pox scare that was more than a scare: In "H" precinct, in the winter and spring of 1882, small- HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 179 pox did break out for certain and worked ruin to a large set- tlement. Many people died and many more were stricken, but by good nursing were saved from death. The county authorities furnished medical and pecuniary assi-stance, and kept a close surveillance, and it was confined to the one set- tlement. Drs. Hastings and Monteith were given charge of the patients, with proper police powers. This terrible scourge nearly ruined the settlement for a time. There were reported by Dr. Hastings sixty-two cases and seven deaths in all. In June, 1882, a peculiar accident occurred near Marys- ville. A young man by the name of Mentz was plowing corn near the river bank. His team became frightened and by some means dragged the young man into the mill-pond, where man and team were drowned. Scarcely had the excitement attending the horrible Bates tragedy died away when, in the spring of 1882, the same locality was called to witness another scene of horror and bloodshed. It was a most unfortunate occurrence that one neighborhood should be the scene of two such terrible catas- trophies within two short years, but in justice to the people we can truthfully say that the masses of B and A precincts are just as worthy and law-abiding citizens as are to be found anywhere. This last trouble grew out of a family wrangle, in which the father, mother, and children were at variance. Just who were most to blame for the beginning of the trouble no- body knows. Mr. Patrick and wife and some other members of the family were returning from Seward and a quarrel arose on the way home, which resulted in the old lady being shot to death. It seems that several members of the family were mixed into the affair. Many shots were fired at the old man by the boys, and he fired several shots, one of which killed his wife and the mother of his children. There being some discrepancy in the evidence in regard to the condition of af- fairs, and the embroglio that led to the shooting, etc., the old man's life was spared, and he was given a sentence in the state's prison for life. The murder occurred in the first days of April, 1882. The old man served a number of years of his sentence when the governor pardoned him. 180 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA One of the stormy winters: In the month of February, 1881, this western country ex- perienced a series of terrible storms of drifting snow. The wagon roads were all blocked, railroad traffic was abandoned. Seward was eight days without mail. The loss of mail was a serious inconvenience, but w^as nothing compared to the want of fuel. In city and country the people were put to straits for fuel, and had no relief reached us just as it did, very much suffering would have occurred. The year 1881 was rather dull and monotonous, but fair crops and a gradual advance in price once again revived the drooping spirits of the people, and as 1882 was ushered in there were brighter skies and cheering promises of better days, which put a new phase on all interests. New people flocked in, property began to change hands freely, and soon prices advanced, slowly at first, but later, as the demand increased, prices ran up in many cases over a hundred per cent. Good crops in 1882 set things fairly boom- ing, which continued to the fall of 1884. Much valuable improvement was accomplished in both town and country. Prices of property reached the maximum in the winter and spring of 1884. After the presidential elec- tion in the fall of 18H4, all property matters were at a stand- still. But few immigrants came among us, and great num- bers of our people were violently attacked with western fever, and in the spring of 1885 multitudes pushed for the frontier. "While this seemed to work to our disadvantage for a time, it will prove a great blessing to us. It has now been demonstrated in a measure the value of western lands for agricultural purposes, and thus practically expunged from the map the last vestige of the great Ameri can desert, which was such a bugaboo to us during all our younger years. It has helped to plant farms all the way to the foot of the Rockies, and scores and even hundreds of bright towns and cities to-day dot the great plains, where the credulous thought a few years ago that white men would never attempt to make homes. This all adds stability and value to this region. Any and every improvement in the West can but add value to our homes and lands. Since 1880 many individuals have turned their attention HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 181 to feeding cattle and hogs, also to the production of the tame grasses. Feeding is carried on quite extensively now, there being many herds fed in various parts of the county, and this in- dustry adds largely to the value of our staple, the corn crop. Timothy and clover are rapidly taking the place of the wild meadows, and blue grass that of the wild pastures. The soils and climate are especially well adapted to the produc- tion of grasses. Within a few years, also, the honey bee is receiving at- tention, and honey is produced profitably on many farms, and the industrious little servants find our luxuriant mead- ows and cornfields just the place for them to thrive. In the fall election of 1886, by popular vote the people determined to try towmship organization, and during 1887 we had a board of supervisors, consisting of one member from each of the sixteen towns and two member from the city. For some years our people had been looking anxiously for an opportunity to secure to the county a competing line of railroad. We had parleyed with the U. P. folks, but could get no definite answer from them, but finally when the Northwestern company were building their Lincoln branch, fortunately, Mr. Goehner, being a senator, w^liile at Lincoln formed the acquaintance of some of the officials, and secured a hearing, wdiich resulted in further negotiations, and finally a proposition was submitted to build during 1887 the F. E. & M. V. branch through our county; provided sixty thous- and dollars in twenty year, six per cent bonds were voted to the company, The propositions were submitted to the city and B, G, K, and M towns, as follows: City, $15,000; B, G, K, and M, $10,000 each, and L, $5,000. The propositions were voted by large majorities in each township, and the road was completed in the fall of 1887 and regular trains run- ning in connection with the great system in the East and North. We are happy to say that the road is well built in every particular, and we believe the people have made a good bargain in securing it. Since it was opened for business there has been a marked change in the freight tariffs for the better. We are all satisfied that we row have a road that the B. & M. 182 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA cannot swallow, for it would be like Jonah attempting to swallow the whale. Now we have three railroads, because while two are under one management they give us additional outlets, and the new line will hold prices down just as well as if both its com- petitors were in different hands. The new road adds directly a large amount of taxable property to the county, opens up a vast new tield for enterprise, and gives a new impetus to all classes of business. On the completion of this new rail road there were three new towns located via. Bee in "B" precinct, Goehner in "K" precinct and Cordovia in the .southwestern portion of "M" precinct which are all bright villages with good shipping facilities. Beaver Crossing had been a little cross-road trading point for many years. It had a very creditable flour mill and a rich agricultural country surrounding it but it never had a chance to make much of a show in competition with rail road towns. Now after a long Rip Van Winkle sleep, Beaver Crossing arouses herself, brushes the cobwebs off that had accumulated during the years and concluded to take her proper place with our other business towns. The village is situated in the valley of the South Blue in one of the favored spots of all our western country. It is strange what a revolution the shrill whistle of the locomotive can accomplish in a community. All the good people of the community had been cons- cientiously opposed to voting railroad bonds up to 1887, and many times they with one accord cast their votes against the hateful propositions. But when they heard the glad news that a locomotive was headed their way of course there came a sudden change over the spirit of their dreams and they received a change of heart and it did them good "you know." Like most new converts they rolled up their sleeves and went to work with a "will," not only to get the road, but to make the best of an opportunity. It has resulted in the building of a most beautiful vil- lage with large and flourishing business interests. The village had not long been awake while stirring around try- ing to turn something up as all live towns do, when she HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 183 made a most wonderful discovery of value beyond compre- hension. She learned that underneath this ^rand valley there flows a great subterraneous river that is ready and anx- ious to leap to the surface whereever it is invited and ready to give an abundance of pure life-giving water to ir- rigate the thirsty fields. At this writing there are in active operation over four hundred flowing wells yeilding an ample supply for man and beast in town and country for many miles up and down this broad valley. The supply is suffi- cient to irrigate all the valley land for ten miles up and down the river. The water is uniformly of excellent quality. Beaver Crossing has an ample water supply without great expense, but the greatest value is to the field and garden which are independent of rainfall. The flowing wells have added immensely to the value of the lands that can be irrigated. That tract of land has now become one of the best potato fields in the Northwest. They never fail to have a potato crop at Beaver Crossing. During the season of 1904 there was shipped from their station ninety- six car-loads of five hundred bushels each to the different markets. Every class of vegetables and the grasses can also be brought to the greatest degree of perfection. Beav- er Crossing has a bonanza in her flowing wells. The water is struck at the depth of a hundred and twenty feet in the valley and rises accordingly to the altitude of the land. Some places it just rises to the surface and in others it rises to a height of twenty feet. The village has grown and is now growing quite rapid- ly. It contains the largest store in the county and we be- lieve in the state outside the large cities. All business in- terests are fairly represented. There are a goodly number of merchantile establishments, such as dry goods, groceries, hardware, furniture and many other shops. A good sub- stantial bank that has just found a new home in a beautiful brick structure, a very neat hotel, two livery barns, two graiii elevators, a large lumber yard and scores of beautiful new cottages. The printing office and the Pride. Beaver Crossing "Pride'' must not be forgotten, neither their splen- did schools and the numerous churches. A splendid village of prosperous and happy people counting 500 souls. CH4.PTER XII Double Murder 1890-1892— Conditions— Panic of 1893— Political changes — Sheriff the i^rincipal salesman^Brighter days — Property advances — Improvements— Farmers prosper — Bank deposits — General pros- perity has become a resident — Good health— Happy homes— Great things in store. DOUBLE MURDER AND SUICIDE The year 1889 brought another horrible tragedy. This time it was in the northwestern part of the county. In the southern part of "D" precinct there lived a family by the name of Leavitt. They were old residents, but unfortunate- ly they were not popular with their neighbors. There had been much trouble and contention about their stock and various matters. Mr. Leavitt was a man in general bad re- pute, and it made against him in this terribly trying hour. As appeared in the evidence before the grand jury, of which the author was a member, Mr. and Mrs. Leavitt had an er- rand one evening at Gresham, about five or six miles dis- tant, leaving their two young daughters in charge of the house. Upon their return late in the evening, they found the two little girls (one about eleven and the other thirteen years old) lying in the yard with their throats cut. Suspicions were aroused against different parties. A grand jury was speedily summoned and a vast number of witnesses were summoned. The jury was in session for ten days and every avenue was searched diligently. It developed that there was a deadly enmity exisiting against the Leavitts in the community, and some were ready to believe that the old couple had murdered their own children; but there was no evidence to ju.stify such a suspicion, only that their gen- eral reputation as citizens was not of a high order. There was no evidence of any possible motive to commit such a deed. Some of the neighbors seemed very little concerned HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 185 in the matter, according- to their own testimony. We will give a few questions and the answers. Ques. "Mr. , where were you when you heard of the murder?" Ans. "Attending to my own business." Ques. "How did it affect you?" Ans. "I didn't care, it was none of my business." Ques. "Did you go down there?" Ans. "No." Ques. "How far do you live from the Leavitt's?" Ans. "About three-quarters of a mile." Ques. "Why did you not go down and see the murdered children?" Ans. "I did not care, and I was busy at my work." This is the way the evidence ran with one neighbor, and yet scarcely no suspicion was placed at his door, only a sus- picion that he was brutal. On an adjoining farm was a man by the name of Gerd Stienblack who had had much trouble with Leavitt about unruly stock, and there was much bad blood existing When he was told of the murder, he did not care enough to go and see, although less than half a mile distant. However he seemed agitated, but gave vent to the idea that it was no concern of his. Stienblack was summoned before the jury, and when closely and sharply cross questioned, he became much excited, and as the old saying is, "He danced like a chicken on a hot griddle." He was on the witness stand a half day, and became so frightened or maddened that he went home and hanged himself in his own barn. There was a widespread suspicion in the jury room and among the people that he knew all about the murder, but the jury was not able to agree or to fix the awful crime at the door of any person, and with many it remains a mystery to this day. But now after the long years have passed, we are free to say that we have never had occasion to change our mind that at least one of the guilty parties met his God before that jury closed its session. Below we give a letter left by Mr. Stienblack, in German, but translated by Rev. Father Gruber. The original translation is now in the hands of R. P. Anderson, who was prosecuting attorney at the time 186 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA of the tragedy and suicide. The letter is without date, and reads as follows: "I do not w" ant to have spread my name town. There- fore, greeting once more. I am not guilty of the deed. This my wife and daughter know as well as I, for I dared to tell the truth. But it is too late now. And so has the deed been attributed also to me, of which nevertheless I am quite innocent. My beloved wife and daughter, God will give that w^e see each other in eternity again. Gerd Stienblack. " The years 1890-92 were uneventful. Everthing went smoothly. The people were in a fairly prosperous condition. There w^as but little property changing hands, but prices of lands were steadily increasing in value. There were some \ good improvements made both in country and city as well as in the villages. Things looked fairly bright up to the fall election of 1892. The change in political matters may or may not have been the cause for the change in financial affairs. Be that as it may, a change came in 1893 that was most disastrous to all interests. There came a general stagnation of business and prices fell rapidly. About all the property sales were by the sheriff. Improvements were discontinued. Lands did not decrease much in value, but there was no demand, and holders were forced to hang on until brighter days should come. Crops were very slim all through the panic years, and prices were not satisfactory. Wheat was often quoted from 35 to 45 cts., corn from 9 to 15 cts,, w^hile hogs and all kinds of stock were low. Horses seemed to have lost their value, and in some instances were killed to get them out of the way. There was no change for the better until 1896, when things began to brighten up. Land buyers began to look around and make inquiries. In 1897, prices of all kinds of property began to advance and become salable. From that tiin3 to the present, landed property has steadily advanced in value until it has about doubled in price in all parts of the county. Improvements have kept pace with the general prosperity. Th.; tow^ns have improved greatly, and hun- dreds of good houses and barns have been erected. The bank deposits have steadily increased until they now contain near HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 187 $2,000,000. The whole face of the county has chanf^ed for the better. Our farmers are nearly all very prosperous, and so are the business people of the towns and city. Labor has been in great demand at good prices. Mechanics are overcrowded with work. The business of the railroads has been very satisfactory. (See papers on freight in and out of Seward.) Certainly "Gen. Prosperity" has sojourned with our people for the past seven years, and we hope he may make this his permanent abiding place. There has no great ca- lamity befallen our people for a number of years. We have been free from pestilential diseases. No violent storms ex- cept a few streaks of hail have laid waste our county. Our crops have not always been full, but enough has blessed the people so that want has been a stranger to us. Our varied products have averaged quite satisfactory so that every pru- dent and industrious farmer has made headway. One year, 1901, the egg crop was destroyed by the extreme heat of the summer, which precluded the shipment to market. The egg and poultry interests have grown to immense proportions. The reader may be astonished at the figures, but the egg product reached $200,000 for the last year, and the poultry nearly as much. For two years wheat has been exceedingly high, ranging from 90 cts. to $1.00. Corn has also bourne a high price, ranging from 30 to 45 cts. Hogs have ranged from $4.50 to $5.50 per cwt. , and other products in proportion. Common labor in the city has been in great demand at from $1.75 to $2.00 per day, and mechanics have plenty of calls at from $3.00 to $5.00 per day. Good farm hands command $25 per month with excellent board and washing. There seems to be no valid reason why these prosperous times should not continue. Everything looks favorable. Vast improvements are projected and the de- mands for labor and labor's products are steadily increasing. Seward county, the home of our choice, chosen when we were in the prime of our manhood's strength, the home where the most of our children were born, the home of pleas- ant memories, and where peace and plenty have generally rewarded our efforts, but where at times we have been over- 188 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA shadowed with dark clouds of want and sorrow; when tirst we set foot on thy soil we loved thee, and now when long years have passed and we are on the shadowy side of the hill of life, we love thee still. God bless Seward county and all her people, is our humble prayer. CHAPTER Xm HISTORIC LETTERS As a part and a most valuable one of our history, we are glad to be able to give the reader the benefit of the following interesting and in- structive letters. Several of them were contributed to the first edition of m}' work, but they are of such value that we deem it the proper thing to give them a place in these pages. Some of the writers have gone to their long homes "but their works do follow them." They acted well their part and we cherish their memory. Many of these contributions are from our >oung people that have grown up among us. They are worthy of careful reading and as the years come and go, they will grow in public favor. In them will be found many landmarks of history and they will be quoted by the com- ing historians through all time. "My Wilderness Home in Childhood" — Mrs. Nettie M. Cox Pingree. "From Memories Walls" — Prof. Margaret E. Thompson. "Indian Scares" — Mrs. Sarah F. Imlay Anderson. "KecoUections of Frontier Life in Boyhood." — Prof. A. E. Sheldon. "Our old dog Mike Stole the Meat. "- -H. A. Brisbin. "Snakes in the Kitchen." — Mrs. M. Frink. " Village of Bee. "—E. H. Noxan. "Ugly Bachelor Jumped our Claim." — Mr. and Mrs. M. S. McCallister. "Democratic Newspapers. " — W. H. Smith. "Orchards and Tree Planting," — Elisha Kinney. "Groves and Orchards. " — Samuel J. Welch. "My Success With Fruit. "—J. B. Courtright. "Pioneering in Childhood." — Miss Lj-dia Dillenbeck. "Milford Schools. "—Mrs. A. C. Rawls. "Hardships and Privations of Pioneers. " — Miss Inez Frink. "Oak Grove Settlement. "—E. W. Olney. "Camden Settlement." — Mrs. H. W. Parker. "West Mills Settlement. "—I. M. K. Johnson. "B" Precinct Settlement. "—F. M. Timbiln. "G" Precinct Settlement." — James A. Brown. "Grasses." — Hon. Calvin J. Wright. "Schools of the County. "—Superintendent E. Koch. 190 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA THE WILDERNESS HOME OF MY CHILDHOOD NETTIE M, COX PINGREE "The hills are deai'e.st which our childish feet Have climbed the earliest; and the streams most sweet Are ever those at wbich our young- lips drank. Stooped to their waters o'er the mossy bank. "— Whittier, Though years have passed since our last visit to the old homestead, visions come to us of the woods and valleys by the sparkling waters of the beautiful Blue. The river winds its crooked way through the valley with many a curve, forming broad acres of woodland which were a perfect paradise to us during the w^hole year. There in the spring- time, the green grass and violets formed a beautiful carpet for our feet, while around us the alder and wild plum blossoms made fragrant the air with their sweet scented odor. Down the garden path bordered with moss roses and morning glories, we would speed away to the river, bait our hooks for tish, and cross the foot log and follow the path through the woods to the schoolhouse. That little rough board shanty, sodded all around, and the home-made, knife- marked desks have given place to new" and better ones. The children upon the playground are strange to us, but the same games of "blind man's buff," and "drop the handker- chief" are played by them as we played them long years since. The grape-vine swing must not be forgotten, for there, with choicest flowers, was crowned the queen of May, and also, in childish sport, were wedded two schoolmates, just twenty years ago. Under the welcome shade of the old walnut tree by the ford, we studied our Sunday-school lessons, and were often lulled to sleep by the merry song of the wild birds. During the long summer days, wading around the sand- bars and gathering shells afforded us a delightful pastime, and as the sun was seeking the western horizon, we would mount old Ned, the family horse, ford the river, and go to the farther pasture after the cows. Each land hath its shadows, and each home hath its HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 191 ghosts, and ours was not an exception. The "Bisr grove" was the most beautiful of all the "bends," on account of the heavy timber and dense foliage. There the sugar maple trees abounded, and there grew the most berries, the latter being very important, for many a new dress and coat were bought with the profits realized from their sale. One evening at dusk something large and white, resem- bling a great bear, was seen to come out of these woods, and although we afterward learned that it was only a neighbor boy with a bed-tick over his head, we never ventured again into that grove without company. When the autumn sun changed the foliage and ripened the fruits, then was our harvest. It would be difficult to de- cide who worked the harder to store away the winter's sup- ply of walnuts and acorns, we children or the squirrels. Perhaps we tired of the labor more quickly than our little forest friends, for frequently the restful shade of the great oaks would be too tempting, and we seated ourselves by their roots and wove wreathes of the brilliant-hued leaves, while the autumn winds sighed and rustled the branches overhead, making a beautiful accompaniment to our fancies. But when winter came with its hoary frosts and covered the earth with its blanket of snow, and the cold winds whistled through the barren timber, Lhen, like all the children of the woods, the most comfortable place for us was home. That little log cabin, with its great fireplace -and clay-chinked walls, is the most cherished of all places. The dove-cote upon its roof, the cave behind it, the box-alder and cotton- wood trees, and the old fashioned well will always be re- membered. It seems but yesterday that father brought in the huge back-log and built a brilliant fire in front of it, then popped the corn for our first Christmas eve in our new home. He took us children on his knee and told us of Santa Claus, and liow he would come down the huge chimney and fill our stockings, if we would hurry off to bed. Mother tucked the covers carefully about us and resumed her knitting, while father read aloud, by the light of the blazing brushwood, the latest news of the rebellion, which was then raging with all its horrors. 192 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA We watched the shadows cast by the flickering light of the burning embers upon the hearth until we fell asleep, dreaming, as all children do, of Kris Kringle and his won- derful sleigh full of toys. In the morning, when the sun's first rays peeped through the curtains of the one window in the cabin, with a bright Christmas greeting, we hastened to our stockings, to find them overflowing with popcorn and doughnuts. Away down in the toe we found a stick of can- dy, and a pair of lovely red mittens with little snowflakes all over them. We were a happy little band, and although many Christmases have come and gone, and Santa Claus has filled our stocking with a far more lavish hand, yet none will have the same place in our memory as the one of '64. But now, far removed from those loved scenes of child- hood, and looking out upon the broad expanse of prairie and corn land, our minds will naturally wander back to the old homestead, and decide that, though home is home where'er it may be, yet that halo cannot be taken away from our father's hearthstone. The author of the above beautiful pen picture was born at Nebraska City, August 6, 1861. and with her parents she had all the experiences of a child life in the wilderness. She was but three years old when her parents made settlement on the homestead. She had her first lessons at the home hearthstone, where she learned to read before she was four years old. At six she commenced her school days in the old log schoolhouse. She commenced her career as teacher in the spring before she was fifteen, and completed her first term in what was known as the Anderson district before she was fifteen. She earned her diploma in the Seward high school in IHHO, but never received it on account of the small pox scare which broke out in the school. She had a very honorable career as teacher in various parts of the county and in the city schools. She took a great interest in Chautauqua work, and although she was never permitted to meet with a circle, she was graduated from the course and received the white seal for proficiency in the work. She was a great reader and a most careful student. She married Frank P. Pingree. The family removed to Kansas and set- HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 193 tied at Colby in Thomas county, and helped develop that wild regjion. One son was born to them, Logan W. In 1891 they removed to Washington, D. C, where Mrs. Pingree died January, 1892. She was the second daughter of the author. FROM MEMORY'S WALLS MARGARET E, THOMPSON Our good friend, the author, with no uncertain tone and mien, bids me write something for the pages of his volume. Remembering the awe which he inspired in barefooted child- hood, the respect which supplanted it as the milestones could no longer be written in a single digit, and the "cup 'o kind- ness" so of ten poured around the family hearthstones, I com- ply . And yet, not for these memories alone or primarily do I write, but because of the memory of a sunnyhaired, sunny- faced, sunnyhearted childhood's friend of mine,* whose com- radeship made glad the years even to the time when she left her Kansas home to dwell in that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Were she with us her pen would sketch pictures of childhood's happy hours,- -and could she speak to us from behind the veil, how deaf would be all ears to every page but hers. But she, like David's child, can- not come back, and the memories of the days that are no more, grow richer and sweeter with the years that lie be- tween. Memories of childhood! How haloed do they become! How impossible — undesirable — to separate between fact and fancy in regard to them! My earliest memories have to do with life in and about the Walnut Creek ranch, and a veritable wonderland has it long since become. I could not now find its equal though I searched from coast to coast. The long gently rising hill in front of the ranch over which the sun rose so tardily in win- ter, and the shorter, steeper one in the rear, behind which he disappeared all too soon on any day; the valley widening southward; the creek, sometimes a mere thread of water, Mrs. Nettie M. Cox Pingree. — Author. 194 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA again a rushing torrent crossed with difficulty in the wagon- bed ferry, and yet again a swelling flood rising higher and higher until it entered, unwelcomed but not unannounced, the ranch house itself, driving the family into what, by courtesy, was called "up stairs;" the trees skirting the creek, one of which gained a deep pathos because in its shadows was laid to rest the body of our little sister — thus Sorrow, life's great teacher, gave us our first lesson, emphasizing it with what no child forgets, the first memory of his mother's tears. All these things rise before my mind at the mention of the Walnut Creek ranch. Then the freight trains, some- times long enough, with their big wagons and many mules or oxen, to reach from hilltop to hilltop and cut us ofl" for many anxious minutes from the house if perchance we were playing in the barnyard across the road. The times when the freighters camped at the ranch, and, if the night was cold, filled the big "Pilgrim Room" full to overflowing as they warmed and smoked and told the stories of the plains before the roaring fireplace, on which occasion we children were not even expected "to be seen but not heard." How well I remember the early night hours made un- forgettable by the calling and answering down the valley and over, the hills of the deep-chested gray wolves and the sharp-voiced coyotes as they sat upon the section corner mounds and howled gloriously. I do not know how this music may have impressed our elders, but to us children it was entrancing and even now the howls of the wolves in Lincoln and Central Parks cast over me a stronger spell than strains from Inness Band or the Chicago Orchestra, for with them rise again compellingly the awe, the wonder, the charm and the magic of the universe in the days when the heart and the mind were young. And the later liours of the night when, from time to time we were awakened by the ominous bawling of the cattle and we heard father and the men hurrying out with their guns to kill, if possible, the wolf or wolves that had attacked an animal, usually a well grown calf, and thus terrorized the enringed and inefl'ectually bawling herd. How distinct in memory is one sunset hour when our favor- ite cow and calf did not return with the other cattle and we HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 195 with mother went up the long hill but got no trace of them until when near its top we began to hear the pained, contin- uous bawling of the calf and the hoarse, enraged, . feverish bawling of the cow. When we reached the hilltop we could see further on in the dying light the calf raised on its fore feet in agonized effort to escape, the while a big gray wolf, having cut its hamstrings, was feasting on its hindquarters while the companion wolf was holding the maddened cow at bay as she circled round and round in vain attempt to de- fend her offspring. My mother called pitying words to the cow and calf but dai'ed not go near them and finally before the end of the tragedy she led us away down the hill in the fal- ling twilight trying in vain to sooth our sobs with the assur- ance that father would give us another calf in the morning. How^ free the life of the frontier child! When the near- est neighbor lives seven miles away and the next to the nearest fifteen, one's liberties are not seriously circum- scribed. Out in all weathers and usually from morning un- til night with only occasional returns to the house in bread and butter interests, for denim dresses seldom tore and na- ture's shoestrings never became untied, it is not strange that a doctor was to us almost an unknown quantity. Our chief delight centered in our horses (mine wa^s always a pony) and we spent most of our waking hours on their backs. My sister attained more than local fame for being a fine, fearless rider and there were few horses on the ranch which she could not control. I seldom now see the comparatively hedged-about life of children even in our smaller towns with- out being devoutly grateful that our childhood was spent out under the open sky as free as were the winds (and we had winds and winds in those days,) and the birds (how few they were,) and the squirrels. Life under these conditions is quite another story for grown people, especially women, with its social and relig- ious privations and its hard work, but for children it is a long dream of unmixed bliss. How to secure for children this desirable and unrestricted firsthand contact with nature dur- ing their plastic years and to spare their parents the severe and often vital separation from the influences which feed both the mind and soul is, and always has been, the problem of 196 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA the frontier. The present generation' httle realizes even here in our own county at wliat a cost to many men and women the splendid prairies have been transformed into what are recognized as some of the richest and most desir- able farms in this proverbially rich-soiled state. Perhaps one of the best results of this volume shall be to cause us to think upon and comprehend more adequately these things. What an entrancing spectacle to the child was the bounding, roaring, racing prairie fire of pioneer days and how, even when he was carried out in the night with other household goods for safety and deposited in the middle of a plowed field, he felt only the joy of a new sensation — the magic spell of the beauty and grand uer of one of nature's most magnificent and now almost impossible spectacles. Little need has the child of the frontier for fairy stories, for "Alice in Wonderlands," — for life to him is one continu- ous book of the fairies and his land is a more wondrous land than all the imaginings of Lewis Carroll's fertile brain could portray. The word "Indian" held no terrors for us children for were not some of our happiest hours spent in and about the wigwams of the Pawnees during their regular winter camp, but a short distance up the Creek, and were not our most frequent and most valued playmates from among the chil- dren of their chiefs? We were not given the calm joy of wheeling our neighbors' babies in ornate parasolled baby bug- gies along asphalted streets — but perhaps that was compen- sated for by the thrill of a dash about the ranch and across the creek with a chubby cheeked, searching-eyed papoose strapped to a board and bumping against our backs, the squaw mother pursuing us in the meantime in finely suppres- sed glee. Here, too, my sister was an expert and the squaws had an eye to her. It was only when the word Sioux w^as used in connection with the word Indian that we realized from the apprehensive faces of our elders that there were some- thing to be feared. One occasion when the word Sioux loomed large is written ineifaceably among my early memo- ries. One afternoon a ranchman from the further west came dashing into the yard with the message the Sioux were com- ing down upon us and that we must tiy at once. In the dusk HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 197 of the evening two covered wagons drove out of the ranch- yard containing the family and ranchmen with guns, ammu- nition and provisions, and other easily portable possessions, leaving the cattle, house and crop to the mercy of the red- men. All I remember further is the child sobbing herself to sleep with her head in her mother's lap, the continuous rain, rain, rain, which fell as we journeyed farther and farther from home, and the return to the ranch after a few days, find- ing everything much as it had been left, the Sioux that time having committed their depredations along the Little rather than the West Blue. Some rain-stained books in the family bookcase call up even yet the gruesomeness of that experi- ence — our first little journey into a world greater than our Walnut Creek world. Sunday at the ranch was always a longed-for day from the child's standpoint, not because it was our dress up occa- sion — that we submitted to under protest — but from the fact that it was different from other days and hence satisfied to a degree the child's craving for variety. Naturally much work had to be done on Sunday — for not even in these later days have our friends who profess to ignore the material, been able to demonstrate the possibility of evolving cows that do not have to be milked and humans and cattle that do not have to be fed upon the tir.st as upon other days — but with us as little was done as was possible. We children felt much circum- scribed in our liberties by our clean clothes and shoes and from the fact that we were not allowed to sing secular songs, and whistling, horseback riding and tree climbing were ta- booed utterly — but all this was compensated for by the exti-a time that mother Avas able to give us, usually spent in study- ing and repeating from memory Bible verses, singing and telling stories — Bible stories, or in strolling out under the skies and talking of the marvels of creation — mother usually repeating some favorite Psalm on these occasions. If by chance we had opportunity to attend a church service held either in our own or some neighbor's house by some travel- ing missionary, it w^as an event to reckon time from for weeks and weeks. We all recall vividly the first Sunday School, held on what is now our home place, to which we drove in great state in a hayrack — strawrides are not the joy 198 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA of recent years alone — calling for some of our neighbors who lived along the intervening miles. Later when a church was organized with a well attended Sunday School in con- nection we felt indeed metropolitan. The school, as well as the church, problem on the fron- tier is always a serious one especially when, as with us, there are too few settlers within a given area to warrant the form- ing of a public school. This my parents met by having a most excellent young woman, Miss Agnes Henderson, whose family had recently moved to Nebraska from Wisconsin, come into the home as teacher and companion. This arrangement jDroved a great joy to both children and parents and we have always since counted among the friends who belong to that inner circle our honored and beloved tirst teacher . My only woes of those school days, as I recall them, were my in- ability to remember the letter ■'H,"and my grief because I failed to win the prize offered to the one who should make the greatest progress' in studies. How soon, alas! one learns to regard with philosophic calmness his ability to learn greater lessons than that of remembei-ing the letter "H," and how early in life he appreciates the difficulty of realiz- ing Paul's injunction "So run that ye may obtain." Later when the vicinity became sufficiently settled to warrant the organization of a public school. Miss Henderson was chosen as its teacher and my sister and brother and I walked three and one-half miles, and some other children even further, to attend it. It was thought by our parents wise for us to be accompanied by a big dog in order to protect us from the ever possible but never realized attack of the gray wolves. Thus passed those faraway school days, rude and crude in many ways no doubt, limited and circumscribed as com- pared with the schools today attended by the children who live and thrive on those same broad acres, but for all that, rich in very much of good and very much of joy. James A. Gar- field's concei^tion of an ideal college was to have President Mark Hopkins on one end of a log and himself on the other. There were no James A. Garfields and no Mark Hopkinses in our district school in those years, but the difference may have been not so much in kind as in degree. True it is that equipments and appliances, desirable as they are, cannot HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 199 make a good school unless there be a teacher who can teach, and boys and girls ol" healthy body and mind with the earn- est desire to learn, and if these latter be present the absence of the former cannot preclude the inevitableness of a good school. The transition from school girl to teacher, even in these days when the teacher of less than a score of years is excep- tionally young, is speedy. Informer years when teachers were fewer than they are now it was no unfamiliar sight to see the girl-teacher of fifteen wending her way along country roads to and from her — usually first — school. The present condition in this, as in some other things, is a decided im- provement over the past, for there is nothing harder than imparting to others the knowledge which we have not yet acquired. As the Chinaman says, "No havee, how canee!" It is with the memory of the first school of one of these un- ripe and callow school ma'ams that I close this chapter of reminiscences. The possibilities arising from the conjunction of the county examination and the offer of a country school among good friends proved too compelling to be withstood and the third day following found a trembling but triumphant, short- dressed individual installed behind a pine-board desk with thirteen freshly starched and polished children ranging m age from pinafored to downy mustached days. They were arranged around the sides of the not-too-large-for-them room behind desks corresponding to the teacher's ia material and workmanship. The house was a combination sod and dug- out with its doors and windows opening, both literally and figuratively, towards Jerusalem. The back wall had grown unsteady and a plank was placed against it supported by a pole which extended far out into the room. A small black- board further adorned this wall. The fioor was as nature had left it minus the grass and had been worn by a few large and many small feet into depressions and eminences which necessitated one to look well to the order of his going. This floor afforded us endless delight when the rain ran in beneath the door and covered it sufficiently for us to recognize and name the chief mountain chains, continents, capes, peninsu- las, oceans, rivers and bays of our geographies. I was never 200 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA in subsequent teaching able to make the study of geography at once so popular and practical. Thus we lived day after day through that summer near to nature's heart, playing to- gether at noon and recesses and not living an over strenuous --it now seems to me — life during other hours, but happy and unburdened, with no anxious thought for the morrow, for those blessed days preceded with us the day of the writ- ten examination. I can see them all now, those thirteen, as though the sod walls, the unpainted benches and the mother- earth floor were re-created in reality instead of in the imagination, and I know what I have known long since that nothing I can ever be or do will seem to me more abundantly worth while than did those days while they were yet written in the i)resent tense. Of the hundreds of boys and girls who have been my pupils and friends in the years which lie between, none are more affectionately recalled than are these, the tirst fruits of my pedagogue days. I take myself to task because I was not able to do much more for each of them but especially for the gifted little artist whose marvelous — to me now as to all of us then — pencil sketches from life and from that greater realm of the imagination, held us spellbound through many a showery recess and noon hour. The teacher-friend with the seeing eye who could have counselled with her parents and helped to plan her future — in all likelihood that of a master portrait or animal painter — was denied her and there- in lies a great loss to the world — perhaps the tragedy of a life. What a truly awful thought, the possibility of imposing limitations upon our fellowmen because of our own limitations, the power which each one has to thwart to so great an ex- tent the plan of the Creator, not only in his own life but in the life of another. How could we endure this responsibility were it not for the redeeming fact that the ability to limit and thwart but argues the ability to enlarge, to enrich, to assist, to encourage, to develop? And is not the ability to be helpful after all what makes life so abundantly worth the living? HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 201 INDIAN SCARES MRS. SARAH F, ANDERSON At the time of the great Indian scare of 1H64, my fath- er's family was one of the families which the Nebraska City people had heard w^ere killed. It had been rumored through- out the little settlement that there were bands of hostile Indians api^roaching, and that they were committing great depredations as they went. On Sunday morning my uncle and Thomas Shields started down the river on a scouting expedition. After an all-day search, just at nightfall they came suddenly upon an Indian camp. The men thought their time had come, but the red-skins were equally scared. There was no chance to back out, and they resolved to know whether the Indians were friendly or hostile. As they bravely approached the camp, the Indians began to halloo, "Heap good Omaha." The men then concluded to camp over night with them, and they partook of a square Indian supper. The next morning they went home satisfied that there w^ere no hostiles in the country. A day or two after this my father (Mr. Wm. Imlay) and his brothers were on upper Plum creek haying, when Grand- father Imlay became frightened and hastened to our house and said the Indians were coming upon the settlement. He then hastened home to protect his family. About 3 p. m. we saw a drove of them approaching. They were about where the B. & M. depot now stands. We were living about eighty rods above the present iron bridge. My mother, thinking to escape them, locked the cabin door, and took all the children across the creek to the spring where she kept the milk. To kill time she commenced churning. Very soon four Indians (great, big, ugly creatures) came ridhig up to the spring, and told mother that she was wanted over at the house. She said, "No, I can't go; I am at work. " But they insisted in such a menacing manner that she felt obliged to yield and go. They said, "Come, come," in a most determined manner. The children all clinging to her. she started, and those great sneaking braves guarded her by 202 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA one riding on each side, one before, and one behind. Poor mother and we four children had a sHm show to escape. They watched our every movement, step by step. When we reached the cabin, there sat sixteen burley Indians in a circle around the door. When we came up, they all arose and saluted mother, then sat down again. They had a young Indian interpreter. As they thought they had the family all thoroughly frightened, the young Indian began in good shape to tell just what they wanted. They would like to have two cows, two sacks of flour and some meat. Mother saw that she must guard the provisions with desperation, as they had cost such great effort, having hauled our provisions from the Missouri river. The Indians said, "the Sioux are coming and will take all anyway, and we want some." "No," said mother, "we will take our cattle and provisions and go to Plattsmouth." "But," said the Indian, "they will be here tonight and you can't get away." Mother at this point be- gan to be as much angry as frightened. "I will not give you anything. You are lying to me. If the Sioux were so close you would all be running yourselv^es." At this point another bra\'e, who had been pacing the yard, seeing mother grow so warm, picked up our axe and marched straight up to her and threw it down at her feet. She picked it up and stood it beside her. Mother said afterward, that her every hair stood on end, but knowing that Indians respect bravery, she resolved to show no cowardice. We could all see that the whole river bend was swarming with Indians. Mother said with emphasis, "I now want you to take your Indians and begone at (mce." Then they said, "You are a brave squaw," and the old chief motioned to his braves and they all marched off to camp. The next day our family all went over to Plum creek and remained until things became settled. The following winter father was at Omaha attending the legislature; and I am sure that over a thousand Indians liassed our place during the winter. It required pluck to withstand the thievish beggars. Sometimes they would sneak up and peep in at the window. Then others would beg for hours to get into the house. A great amount of snow had fallen, and shortly after HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 203 father's return home, a heavy winter rain inundated all the bottom lands. We all came pretty near being drowned, but succeeded in crawling out of the cabin at the rear window at midnight, and our only refuge was a haystack, where we re- mained several days entirely surrounded by water, with no possible means of escape. Mr. Cox made several attempts to rescue us. First he tried to cross the river in a molasses pan, and narrowly escaped being drowned, as the wind was high and the stream filled with floating ice. The next day he made a raft and tried to cross, but the current was so rapid he could not manage it. It drifted against a tree where the water was ten feet deep, and the jar threw him off his balance, and the upper edge of the raft sank so that the rapid current caught it and turned the raft on its edge up against the tree. Mr. Cox caught hold of a limb of the tree and saved himself from drowning. A desperate struggle en- sued but he finally kicked and stamped until he got the raft on top of the water again, but it was wrong side up. We then gave up all hopes of getting help until the water sub- sided. The fourth day tall trees were chopped by father on one side and Mr. Cox on the other, and their branches inter- locked, and w^e made our escape to his friendly cabin, where we found a kindly greeting, rest, food, and fire. The author of the above sketch was born in Wabash county, Indiana, August 20, 1854. In 1856 her father moved to Harrison county, Iowa, and in 1858 to Cass county, Neb- raska, and in the spring of 1868 to the Salt Basin, and to his present home in April, 1864. And there on the frontier Miss Sarah grew to womanhood. She taught two terms of school in 1872 in her home district. At nineteen she was married to Allen S. Anderson, one of the soldier boys that made Seward county his home after the war. Mr. Anderson enlisted in company D, 205th Penn. volunteers, and served during the war. To Mr. and Mrs. Anderson have been born four children, all girls, viz., Jessie, Nellie, AdieM., and Mary J. The. family now" have a beautiful home, only about a mile from the scenes of her childhood which she has so ably depicted. Mrs. Anderson died in the spring of 1891. 204 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA RECOLLECTIONS OF FRONTIER LIFE IN BOYHOOD ADDISON E. SHELDON My recollections of early Seward county life do not go back as far as the author's. They begin with one wind-blown day, September, 1869, when I, a small urchin from Minneso- ta, crossed the Seward county line near Pleasant Dale on my way with my mother and step father, (R. J. McCall) to the new home on the southeast quarter of section 18, town 9, range '2, east, — about three miles southeast of the present Beaver Crossing. Looked back upon now, through all the intervening years, it seems to me there never was an au- tumn more supremely. joyous, a prairie more entrancing, a woodland belt more alluring, a life more captivating than that which welcomed the new boy to the frontier in the beautiful West Blue Valley. The upland "divides" as I re- member them were entirely destitute of settlement, and even along the streams, stretches of two, three, and live miles lay between nearest neighbors. What has become of the Nebraska wind of those days? I have sought it since far and wide in the sand hill and on the table lands of western Nebraska, but found it not. That wind which blew ceaselessly, month after month, never pausing but to pucker its lips for a stronger blast! Where are the seas of rosin- weed, with their yellow summer para- sols, which covered the prairie in those days'? I have sought them too, and along gravelly ridges or some old ditch yet flower a few degenerate descendants of the old time host. Mention of merely a few incidents seeming to hold the drama and poetry of frontier life at that time: "Pittsburg, the city of vision, at the junction of Walnut creek with the West Blue, inhabited by a population of "20,000 people, with a glass factory, a paper factory, a brick factory, oil wells, a. peat factory, woolen mills, junction of three railway lines, metropolis of the Blue Valley." All this and so much more that I dare not attempt to picture it: a real existence in the brain of Christopher Lezenby in the years of 1871-72. What unwritten dramas sleep almost forgotten in the memories of early settlers! When Mr. Lezenby began to build his me- HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 205 tropolis with the assistance of Attorney Boyd of Lincoln and a few other disinterested speculators, he was the possessor of several hundred acres of land, some hundreds of cattle, and other hundreds of hog^s, and a fair unmarried dauo^hter. What pathetic memories of the old man, month after month, surveying off his beautiful farm into city lots for the new metropolis, while his cattle disappeared from the prairies and his swine from the oak thickets along t-he Walnut; with sublime and childish simplicity repeating day after day the confession of his faith that "next week" work would begin; "next week" the foundation for the factories would be laid; "next week" the railway surveyors would set the grade stakes. And this real rural tragedy lasted through several years ending in the loss of all his property, the marriage of his daughter to Irwin Stall, and the wandering forth of the old man until he died of a broken heart in California. One monument yet remains to mark the site and per- petuate the memory of Pittsburg, a flowmg well, found I think at the depth of twenty-eight feet in the year 1874 and continuously flowing since that. Strange that no one was wise enough to take the hint and that it was twenty years later before the second flowing well was struck at Beaver Crossing, leading to the systematic search for them which dotted the entire valley with their fountains. There were no high water bridges across the West Blue in those early days. I remember acting as mail carrier for a number of families on the south bank of the Blue dur- ing the high waters of two or three summers, bringing the mail from the city of Pittsburg postoflice on the north bank. A torn shirt and a pair of short-legged blue overalls — my entire w^ardrobe of those days — were twisted into a turban about my head, and plunging into the raging flood of the Blue which covered all the lower bottoms, five minutes vig- orous swimming carried me through the froth and foam and drift wood to the other side where I once more resumed my society clothes and, after securing the mail, upon my return to the river bank, tied it tightly in the turban and crossed the river as before. I remember my first lessons in political economy, the fierce fight between the northern and the southern parts 206 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA of the county upon the question of voting bonds to the Mid- land Pacific railway duiMng the years 1871-72. It was a sec- tional fight in fact, but in theory and in debate it was a con- test over some first principles of government. The question of the people versus the corporation, since grown to such great proportions, was then first discussed to my childish ears. One incident of that contest is forever photographed on my brain — a crowd of one hundred farmers and village loungers in the shadow of T. H. Tisdale's old store. A yel- low skinned emaciated lawyer from Lincoln who looked, to my boyish vision, like a Chinese chieftain from Manchuria, speaking with fluent imaginative words in favor of the bene- fits the people of Seward county might secure by voting the bonds. This w^as H. W. Sommerlad, registrar of Lincoln land office; a short Saxon opponent. Rev. W. G. Keen of Walnut creek, was picked from the crowd by general ac- clamation to reply to the Lincoln lawyer. The impression of his fiery words denouncing the aggressions of capital and appealing to the memories of the Civil war and the Revolu- tionary fathers to arouse the people's independence is with me yet. Next in the economic vista is the old Brisbin sod school house east of Walnut creek where a grange was organized. Here a lyceum was held through several winters in which the debates were strongly tinctured with the rising anti- monopoly sentiment of those hard times. George Michael and Charley Hunter, leaders of the boyish dare-deviltry of those days, were chosen as judges upon the debates in or- der to insure their good behavior, and they gravely decided for the negative or affirmative many deep discussions of doubtful themes. Beaver Crossing in the early days was remarkable for the great number of boys in its surrounding population, and I have observed in these later years when visiting there, that the custom of having boy babies in the family does not appear to have entirely gone out of fashion. That great swarm of restless boy population which gathered, sometimes two hun- dred strong, Saturday afternoons on the Common! What "sleights of art and feats of strength" went round! What struggles of natural selection to secure a place upon the HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 207 "First Nine" of the base ball team. For years Beaver Crossing had the best base ball club in three or four counties and some of her players won high laurels on distant dia- monds. One custom which obtained in those frontier days seems to have been peculiar to the time, for I have not found it since in other frontier communities. It was the custom of "calling off" the mail upon its a,rrival at the post office. The postmaster, old Tom Tisdale — a genuine facsimile of Petro- leum V. Nasby — would dump the sacks of mail, brought overland on a buckboard, into a capacious box upon the counter of his store, then pick up piece by piece, and read the inscriptions thereon in a sonorous voice to the crowd, sometimes consisting of one or two hundred people. Each claimant would cry out "here" when his name was called. Sometimes two-thirds of the mail was distributed in this way, saving a large amount of manual labor in pigeon-holing the same. Nasby had a happy and caustic freedom in com- menting upon the mail during the performance, not always contemplated I believe, by the United States postal regula- tions. A woman's handwriting upon a letter addressed to a young man was almost certain to receive some public notice from his sharp tongue to the great enjoyment of the crowd and sometimes the visible annoyance of the young man. At one time he deliberately turned over a postal card written by a well known young w^oman of Beaver Crossing wiio was away at school, and on observing that the message was written both horizontally and across, commented, "From the holy mother, in Dutch." If I should ever meet on the mystic other shore, which poets and philosophers have tried to picture for us, old Tom Tisdale, I would expect to see him with his spectacles pushed back from his nose, "calling off" the mail to the assembled spirits, the wiiile entertaining them with pungent personal epigrams. One startling picture rises from the past, framed as Browning writes it, "in a sheet of llame," — the picture of the great prairie fire of October, 1871, which swept Seward county from south to north leaving hardly a quarter section of continuous unburnt sod. A heavy wind, increasing to a hurricane, drove this fire down the West Blue Valley. It 208 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA jumped the Blue river in a dozen places as easily as a jack rabbit jumps a road. It left a great broad trail of cindered hay stacks and smoking stables and houses. A neighbor of ours who was burned out remarked that he had ' 'been through Hell in one night," and had "no fear of the Devil hereafter. " At the other end of the scale of temperature are recollec- tions of the "Great Storm" of April 13, 14, 15, 1873. There burst from a June atmosphere the worst blizzard in the his- tory of the state. For three days it blew thick, freezing sleet, changing to snow so close and dense and dark that a man in a wagon vainly looked for the horses hitched to it through the storm. Men who were away from home lost their lives all over the state. Stock was frozen to death In sodhouses, dug-outs and log cabins settlers huddled close about the hearth, burning enormous baskets of ten-cent corn to keep from freezing. In these later years of life, Pate has called me to make minute study of many historical periods and places. Yet my heart always returns to review the early scenes of settle- ment and civilization in Seward county with a peculiar thrill of personal emotion and special joy in the risen and rising fortunes of those who there built the foundations of a great commonwealth. No land can be dearer than the land of one's childhood and none can ever draw my thoughts further over plain or ocean than the happy valley upon West Blue whose waters spring spontaneously from beneath the soil to water her fortunate acres. "G" PRECINT SETTLEMENT JAMES A, BROWN, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA Los Angeles, Cal., Dec. 12. W. W. Cox: Dear Sir — Yours of Dec. 5th came to hand a few days ago. When I declined to write you a historical letter upon the early history of Seward county, I then hoped that you would not further insist upon my writing, as at present I HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 209 have but little inclination in that way. But as you still in- sist that I must do it, I will attempt to record some of my first experiences connected with my making a home in Sew- ard county. In February, 1866, as I was on my way from Leavenworth, Kan., to Denver, Colo., and while waiting at Fort Kearney for teams enough to get together to make a train large enough to defend ourselves from the Indians, who were very bad at that time, I became acquainted with Ramsey Grant, who lived on the south side of the Platte, opposite Columbus, and who w^as afterwards killed by the Indians. He described to me in glowing terms the country, to such an extent that I promised to visit him on my return from Denver, and take a look at his country. In the month of April, 1866, I came dowm and spent a few days with him, and spent the time in looking at the country. While there I heard that a settlement had been started on the Blue River to the south of them, and that there was considerable timber there, w^hich was a main consideration, as the soil was good everywdiere in the country. I resolved to go and see it, and when I saw^ it considered it good, and resolved to remain and help develop it. I found in north half of the county the following families, at the time of my visit: David Imlay, Sr. , and two unmarried sons and daughter, and being a bachelor, I "corralled" the daughter, and whether it was for my everlasting happiness or eternal misery is none of your business;* Wm Imlay, W. W. Cox, R. T. Gale, E. L. Clark, Sr. , Thomas Dunaway and mother, Richard Sampson, Lewis Moffitt, J. N. Roberts, Thomas Skillman, John Durland, and F. E. Pitt. A number of other families came in that spring, among whom were the Hagemans, E. L. Ellis, John Roberts, Sr., J. C. Samson; and in the fall a few more families arrived — Roger Cooper, Wm. Cooper, E. B. Shafer, and Geo. W. Rogers. There were also a f ew^ people at the Oak Grove, among whom were J. D. Main, Mr. John A. Scott, and a few others, I think, but am not positive about it, as I did not became acquainted over there the first year. After that year it would be dif- ficult to keep track of all that came. *The auther happens to know that Mr. Brown made no mistake in choice of a wife. 210 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA In April, 1867, the river was higher than I ever saw it afterwards, caused by the heavy snows of the previous win- ter, which was the coldest winter that I ever saw there or anywhere else. In fact it was terrible, and as the people had poor houses, I was glad there were no more of them at the time. In 1867 there was a good crop of wheat and some corn and vegetables, but the grasshoppers got most of the corn. With the experience of the winter before, and with the time to prepare for it, the pepole were in better condition for the next winter, which being a mild one in comparison with the preceding one, but little suffering was experienced. In the summer of 1s6h the first buildings were erected on the town site of Seward. I think there were five that year, and on the Fourth of July a few of the people congregated on the public square and elevated a pole that was used as a flag staff for a number of years. Yearly additions were made to the town by buildings and people, till at present it has be- come as tine an inland town as can be found in Nebraska, Lincoln excepted. As I notice that you have described the county seat t^^oubles, I will not mention them. In August, 1869, Mr. S. G. Mathews and T. L. Norval first made a visit to Seward. At that time "Op.," now the honorable judge of the sixth judical district of Nebraska, looked like a school boy just out of school, but since that time he has acquired enormous proportions. The Norval Bros, were among the first attorneys who located in Seward, though P. M. Elsworbh was there about a year before, but we had but little use for lawyers, as it took all we could make to feed ourselves, and as to clothing, we will not mention the "old rags" that we covered our nakedness with, for we were truly what the people of Colorado called the Nebraskans when meeting them on the plains, "ragged Nebraskans." In fact the name was applicable to us for a number of years after I went there, and I do not think I should feel at home in Nebraska now unless I could be allowed to let my rags float in the breezes as of yore. I omitted to chronicle the advent of H. L. Boyes and family in the fall of 1867, who started a saw-mill, I think in the following summer, which was a great convenience to the people in getting lumber to make themselves and stock more HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 211 comfortable. Said saw-mill afterwards gave place to a flouring mill, which enabled the people to feed themselves better. All the people owe Father Boyes a debt of gratitude for first providing them with means to erect houses and then with bread, and may he and his estimable lady long live to sit upon their porch and listen to the whir of the old mill wheel, and enjoy the society of their hosts of friends.* While the people had grasshoppers to contend with, Mr. Boyes had the Blue river to watch during freshets. His first grist- mill was so ruined as to be comparatively worthless^ but the old man had the "sand" in his crop, and went to work with energy and rebuilt the structure, which he has again re- placed with the present splendid structure to take the place of the old saw-mill. In the freshets above mentioned the people were frequently put to straits by the bridges on the streams washing out^ when they would often have to travel many miles to cross Lhe river, or swim it. A little cotton- wood skiff that I made in the spring of 1M67 aided a great many people to cross the river, which tney otherwise could not have done. Although we were all poor, and at times had hard work to make ourselves comfortable, yet I think we enjoyed our- selves as well as Claudius Jones does today with his fine houses and barns and premium Short-horns and untold treas- ures. This teaches us that wealth is not indespensable to happiness. In the year 187^ the whole country west of the Missouri river suffered severely with drouth, which nearly annihilated the corn and vegetable crop, but the grasshoppers came in August and took what the drouth had not already destroyed, and unjustly the loss of the whole crop was charged to them. Since 1876 the grasshoppers have not visited the state, and from that time Nebraska can date the dawning of her prosperity. With her fine soil, even if the climate is at times severe, it must soon rank as an agricultural state sec- ond to none. But as Hon. Geo. Geddes remarked some years ago, in a communication to the New York Tribune: "Any country that will produce grass will sustain a population," and Nebraska has become a better grass producing country, *The old people have gone to rest. 212 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA especiallj^ for the tame grasses, than the most sanguine dared hope for fifteen years ago. With surety of producing cheap food for stock, Nebraska must ever take rank among the first as a stock producing state, and the people of all stock countries may at least become independent. I have written more than I first intended. I mean more words, but I fear that when you come to use the critic's eye of a historian you will find but little that you can use in your book. I hope you will thus treat it, for this is not intended for publication without such treatment, as I hardly know what to write, my not knowing what you have written, but if I have even furnislied you with some ideas and experi- ences I shall be pleased. I hope some day to visit Nebraska again, as "with all her faults I love her still," even if I do like the winters of Southern California better. With my best wishes for the success of your efforts, and for the future of that fair land and her prosperity, I am yours, James A. Brown. SNAKES IN THE KITCHEN MRS. MALINDA FRINK Mr. W. W. Cox, Dear Sir — When we came to the county there were quite a goodly number of settlers. There were a few small frame houses. We came in lisTT and settled on an eighty acre farm for which we made rather a curious trade of a neighbor in Clark county, Iowa. It was the Tom Starkey homestead that had fallen into his hands. We were to raise him eighty acres of wheat within five years and upon completion of our contract took a deed of the eighty acres. When w^e arrived here, in our prairie schooners, the place looked desolate enough being all grown up with weeds and grass. There were only a few acres broken and there was no house. The claim shanty had been confiscated and moved away. The well was boarded up to keep the rabbits HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 213 out. We were poor as church mice. We brought all our belongings in two wagons; one of them belonged to a brother- in-law that came along to see the country. Our nearest neighbors were coyotes and they made nighis hideous with their bowlings; but in the spring mornings our hearts were gladdened by the booming of the prairie chickens. Snakes were plentiful and were so friendly as to make us frequent visits in the soddie. They would crawl inio the walls and would remain until we disputed their claim to a residence with us. Once when we returned from Seward, our trading place, a large bull snake took possession and was snugly es- consed under the cupboard. The children left at home were scared out of their wits and dare not venture in the house until our arrival at home. It had crawled out of sight and could not be found until I went to put the milk down cellar when I found the horrible thing curled up on the cellar steps. It was about dark and I had called for a light as I was afraid of snakes, otherwise there would have been some spilled milk. We had some terrific rain storms and once our cellar filled up with water. Everything that would float was swim- ming and things that could not swim were resting quietly under water. We had to carry the water out with buckets. OUR OLD DOG MIKE STOLE THE MEAT H, A. BRISBIN MiLFORD, Nebr., June 6, 1905. W. W. Cox, Seward, Nebr. Your letter reminding me of promising to write up the greaser incident received. Will fulfill that promise now. The present generation living in Seward county, can hardly realize that thirty odd years ago the question of bread and butter was a serious problem to be solved. Ninth tenths of the early settlers were almost penniless upon their arrival here. Yq^t humble servant had put 50 214 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA cents. Thousands of others were equally as poor. Today every farm carries from 20 to 100 heads of hogs. Pork in its various forms is on every table once a day at least, but a generation ago it was a luxury. I well remember my first investment in pork in '70. Mrs. Brisbin and Mrs. Biggs had become joint owners of one or two pounds of pork. The pork was used to grease bread pans and pan-cake griddles, and was used back and forth as occasion demanded. It was safely guarded from all possible harm. "But the best laid plans etc. " applied to this piece of pork. A very large dog of the hound and mastiff breed had followed me from Iowa. In color was a dark brindle, and in size would tip the beam at 150 pounds or more, owing to the condition he was in. He responded to the name of Mike. He was noted for two things, size and digestive ability. The former quality was a terror to strangers and the latter to his owners. With head erect, eyes glistening, tail wagging, and drools running, he would watch that pork as my wife greased the bread pans. The sod house door (made of slabs, hung with leather hinges, and fastened with wooden latch) in pleasant weather was always open, and the doorway was Mike's favorite place of resort. Watching one day as usual my wife preparing the dough for the oven greasing the pans with that commercial piece of pork, Mike saw the chance of his life. As Mrs. Brisbin laid the pork on the table and carried the pans of dough to the oven. Mike seized it, and one gulp and my investment in pork was lost. A terrible commotion was raised. I was called to the house and Mike's sin was related, and the dark ominous fut- ure was portrayed, but there was no help for it. We were short on pork and long on dog. The event was told Mrs. Biggs and the hang tail expression of Mike for a week after- wards gave evidence that he was the recipient of unusual attention. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 215 VILLAGE OF BEE E. H. NOXON The village of Bee, lying seven miles north and two miles east of Seward on the Northwestern railroad on broad and commanding ground, was purchased by the Pioneer Townsite Company and platted in the spring of 1887. A postoffice was established with Miss Minnie Dunigan, postmistress. The first passenger train carrying mail ar- rived Sep. 20, 1887. The first grain elevator was built in the summer of 1887 by the late Luke Agur. Other buildings followed quickly. John Low built a store building and a hotel; M. Dunigan, a store building; Allen Price Lesse, the first store to open for buiness in 1887. Two churches, the United Brethren and the Christian were soon built, and res- idences sprang up in all parts of the little city. January 20, 1902, the village was incorporated with A. J. Gumbel, O. C. Bedford, H. Moler, A. Terwillinger, and E. O. Drake, trustees, with A. J. Gumbel, chairman, and G. L. Bedford, clerk. Bee has a fine tw^o story high school building costing $2500, and a Modern Woodman camp of over one hundred members owning their own hall. The postmaster, E. H. Noxon, appointed June 15, 1889 under President Harrison's administration, although seventy-four years old, still hands out mail. UGLY BACHELOR JUMPED OUR CLAIM MR, AND MRS. M, S, McCALISTER My father, Ira McCJalister, and family landed in "L" precinct, three and one-half miles south of Utica, in Decem- ber, 1872. He had visited the locality at a previous date and filed his claim. His time for settlement was about up, and upon arrival with the family he found an ugly bachelor waiting to jump his claim. The neighbors rallied to father's assistance, and they chopped and dug iu the frozen ground and made a dug-out about 8x10 ft., perhaps 10x12 ft. ; just 216 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA room for wife and two children to crawl into, and when the bed, stove and table were placed they were pretty thick. Father and a brother-in-law spent the night tliere just in time to save the claim. John E. Fouse sold father a ridge pole for two dollars, and with some small poles, hay, and shingles made of dirt, served for a roof. A crude door in the south with one window giving light! Precious light. These small quarters served the family as a home dur- ing the winter and next summer, and small as the home was they had to make room for me when I appeared on the scene the following July. I was rather small but took up lots of room in that dug-out. Father hired a small patch of ground broken as a garden patch, and he spent the summer at car- penter work. When I was old enough [ started to school in a little soddie on the site of the McNiel school house. The lit- tle old soddie had two small windows and a rough door. Pegs were driven into the walls and rough plank placed on them for seats. Later a small frame schoolhouse was built, and then a great prairie lire came sweeping by and burned it up; then we had to take another soddie. This was re- placed in later years by the present commodious schoolhouse. I was a farmer boy at w^ork by the month when the bu- gle notes of 1H98 called to arms. I hurried to Lincoln and enlisted in Troop K, 3rd U. S. Volunteer Cavalry, known as Grigsby's Rough Riders. The third day we were ordered to Chickamagua Park, Georgia. We arrived in camp May 25, and there met the remainder of our regiment who were mostly from the Black Hills. We were drilling every day and expecting orders at any time to sail for Porto Rico. There were sixty thousand in camp and a jolly crew we were, but in the heat of July the typhoid fever met us; we would rather have met all the soldiers of Spain than this enemy. August 6, Willis M. Powell of Beaver Ci'ossing proved the tirst victim of our company; he died at the camp hospital. We laid him to rest in the national cemetery at Chatanooga. Our next victim was Claud D. McNichols of Seward. He died Aug. 20, 1898, in the eamp hospital and was also laid to rest in the Chatanooga cemetery. First Sergeant Wm D. Smith of Milford returned home to die of fever contracted in HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 217 Camp Thomas. I was taken sick August 1, and remained in the hospital until discharged, October 15, 1898. I returned to the old home and found my girl that I had* left behind me awaiting my coming. We waited a while however, when Miss Alta Prink, also a native of Seward county and I concluded a bargain. We are making our home in good old '"L" precinct, to each of us the dearest spot of all the earth. DEMOCRATIC PAPERS IN SEWARD COUNTY W, H. SMITH The first democratic paper to be established in Seward was in 1876, when Samuel J. Tilden was the idol of the par- ty and the candidate for president. Wm. Haw, a Baptist minister and Missouri democrat, was the editor. After a two years' struggle, however, the paper was suspended, and from 1878 until 1884 the county seat was without a demo- cratic paper. But in the latter year H. E. McClellan came on from Wisconsin and started the Seward County Democrat, which he conducted until 1888, when the plant was sold to M. Meehan, who came to Seward when the Northwestern Ry. was built into the town the year before, he being the time-keeper. Mr. Meehan ran the paper until 1891 when he changed the name to the People's Rights, and espoused the doctrines of the people's independent party. But the democrats were not long without a paper, for P. C. Carpen- ter, who had been in the printing business at Beaver Cross- ing, was induced, the same year, to locate in Seward and start an organ for the democracy. About the same time Duncan M. Smith, a Seward boy, started the Seward County Independent, which was also run as a people's independent paper. In 1882, however, he sold his business to Mr. Mee- han, who consolidated it with his People Rights, and the following year the latter sold his plant to the Independent Publishing Co. , which was composed of prominent populists of the county, among the heaviest stockholders being Geo. W. Fuller, D. D. Remington, C. M. Gordon, C. J. Wright 218 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA and W. A. Brokaw. While this company owned the plant it was leased to various parties. Mr. Carpenter continued to conduct the Democrat which he had established, until 1H96, getting out his last edition just before the election that year. The following February the writer came to Seward from Iowa, purchased the plant and resurrected the paper, the first issue appearing on March 11th, 1897 — eight and one-half years ago. The fol- lowing June the Independent Publishing Co.'s plant was also purchased by the w^riter, and the two papers consolidated under the name of the Seward Independent-Democrat. Of the men whose names are mentioned as publishers in the foregoing Mr. Haw, who was quite old wiien he came to Seward, has been dead for a number of years. Mr. Mc- Clellan is a resident of Denver, Mr. Meehan a resident of Concord, N. H., where he is the editor of the Patriot, and Mr. Carpenter resides at Shawnee, Okla. Duncan M. Smith, the founder of the first Independent, is employed as a writer for the editorial page of the Chicago Daily News. ORCHARDS AND TREE PLANTING ELISHA KINNEY The first bearing orchard in this vicinity was on Mr. Jackson's farm on West Blue, Saline county. Joseph Lam- son, Sec. 28-9-4; J. W. Lowrie, 31-9-4; A. Burlingame, 34-9-4; A. H. Vance, 19-9-4; P. J. Hooker and myself, 29-9-4; W. C. Hooker and L. Chaddock, 18-9-4; Henry Wortendyke, Chas. A. Smith and others, 12-9 3; John Hammel, James Johnson, Henry Kemper, Wm. Stanton, Dan Wheeler and a few others in Saline county each planted fruit and forest trees. A few cotton-wood trees are 18 inches in diameter and 40 or 50 feet high. Many of the groves were cut down. There is now only about 5 per cent of the cotton-wood left. Ash, box-elder, soft-maple, walnut and bur-oak have stood the changes — drouth etc — better. Honey locust stands the climate, but don't plant it as it is a spreader and cannot be killed without great labor. The oldest evergreen here is on Sec. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 219 31-9-4 planted by J. W. Lowrie about 1871. In 1873 I planted a few apple trees; they are all dead now but we are all having good success with trees of all kinds that are suitable to the climate, since the 1880 drouth did not kill a very great per cent of fruit trees but was hard on cotton-wood, soft maple and willow. Mr. W. W. Cox will tell of Camden school dis- trict No. 1 and first post office in the county. He will not tell about school distrct No 1, Saline county (Star school house) as that is in Saline county. There are many small orchards now in this vicinity, apple, peach, plum, cherry and a few pear. Small fruits, gooseberry, raspberry, strawberry, etc., do well here. But eternal vigilance is the price of success in orcharding and forestry as well as in many other kinds of business. The early settlers had but little time to devote to tree planting whilst opening their farms. Many of the orchard and small fruit trees are from Crete nurseries. One orchard of 112 trees had 108 in full bearing a few years ago (trees furnished by Crete nurseries). FRUIT S. J, WELCH We came to Nebraska in Aug. 1878 and settled on the West Blue about two and a half miles south west of Camden. In the spring of '79 we broke the prairie where we intended to build, and after plowing the ground a foot deep in the spring of '80 we set about 3000 box-elder and maple trees, and although the season was rather dry we lost less than half a dozen of the trees. I think that it was the same year that we planted about 30 apple trees and a few years later some cherry trees. The forest trees suffered considerable during the drought years in the '90s and some of the orchard trees died; but some of the apple trees and most of the cherry trees have been good bearers. I set out an orchard of 50 apple trees in '88 that are mostly all living and bearing nicely now; besides that I have set out later some cherries, mul- berries and peaches that have done nicely and some plums 220 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA that have not done so well. Pears came into bearing last year producing nice fruit, and grapes are doing fairly well. Among the earlier planters in this vicinity in Seward county were: Mr. J. Samson who had quite a grove, orchard and vineyard when we came here. His orchard did well and his vineyard produced an abundance of nice grapes. Mr. Aug. Goldhammer also had a large grove and orchard in good growing order wdien we came here. Mr. Goldhammer has been very successful with his orchard, he has kept his trees well pruned paying particular attention to keeping the crowns well open. Other orchards that were growing in Seward county when we came here were: Mr. Wortendykes four miles north of here, most of the trees bearing yet. Mr. C. Smith's, east of Milford one mile, a fine grove and orchard. Mr. Stutzman's, two miles west of Milford. Just across the line on the West Blue in Salme county were the orchards of Gen. V. Vifquain, Mr. James Johnson, John Jacobson and Oscar Jacobson . It seemed at that time it was harder to keep an orchard growing in the bottom than on upland, as a number of the orchards in the bottom had to be replanted several times before a fair stand was obtained and the trees are dying off sooner than those on the upland. I think some of the nicest orchards in this county are west and north west of Milford ranging from fifty to several hundred trees but as I am not much acquainted there I can give the names of only a few, viz: J. W. T. Miller, J. Burkey, Joe Stauffer, Jacob Muir, orchard and vineyard. I think you are correct as to Camden being the earlier settled country. MY SUCCESS WITH FRUIT J. B, COURTRIGHT The county is yet in its infancy so far as fruits are con- cerned, but it can be readily seen that it compares favorably with other counties of the state. We have a good climate, our wijiters aj-e not so cold as many of the older states of HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 221 our latitude, and the fruits already raised are of better flavor and more free from specks than in Illinois, Iowa or many of the more eastern states. It is true that many of our present varieties are not as hardy here as in the eastern states, How- ever, they had many failures there until they learned what trees were adapted to their climate, and we must learn by their experience, and not plant such as have been proven to be worthless. Hardy trees of apple or plum will do well here if the proper varieties are selected and properly cared for. I have seen as fine apples raised here as I ever saw anywhere. We cannot grow an orchard in one or two years; it takes time and watchful care, but when grown, there is no- thing that an enterprising man feels more pride in than showing his orchard to his friends. Then, what is more de- licious than a finely flavored apple, or a nice bunch of grapes, or a fine peach. We think that he who plants and prunes an orchard is a true benefactor, and no citizen of Seward county can do a more praiseworthy act than by planting an orchard and doing his part in making Seward the best fruit county of our noble state. If we only do our duty we will soon have plenty of both large and small fruits. The following varieties we have found to be hardy and prolific: For summer apples — Red Astrachan, Duchess of Oldenburg, Early Penuock, Early Harvest. I would recommend as fall apples — Snow, Maid- en's Blush, Bailey Sweet, Hass, Roman Stem, Cole's Quince, Fallsware. And for winter — Ben Davis, White Pippin Wine- sap, Rawle's Genett, Jonathan, and Mann apple. There are many others that will do well. There are a few varieties of tame plum that do very well, but I have succeeded best with wild varieties. I hardly ever fail of getting a good crop the third year from planting the pits, and they have always proved to be of an excellent quali- ty. I have had but partial success with tame plums. Have succeeded well with strawberries, goose and rasp- berries, and grapes. In fact I have never seen a failure here. I think the grape merits a more extensive cultivation in our county. The grape rot is unknown with us. The Concord and Clinton are the leading varieties. Have seen 222 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Catawbas do well, but they are not as hardy as some others. I prune in February. Peaches are very uncertain, but have had some to meas- ure seven inches in circumference. I get a crop every few years, which pays me well for all my trouble. I think the trees and buds kill in the fall, as they grow too late and they have too much sap in the tree. I had peaches this year, and they grew on the topmost limbs, with none on the lower branches. The fruit was from ten to fifteen feet from the ground, and of course in the most exposed condition. Some of the fruit was very nice. I am hopeful of the future. I found my hope in the belief in the old adage, "What has been done can be done again." Orchards planted by the early settlers have done well, and are producing good results in both quality and quantity. Care should be taken in procuring healthy trees, and then good judgment in setting and pruning, and also planting at proper distances, say from 25 to 30 feet apart; and last, but not least, secure of the hardy varieties, and on- ly experiment with other and more costly kinds than those mentioned. We predict that in a few years our people will be feast- ing on apples of the best quality, the products of our own soil. Considering everything, the outlook is most encourag- ing, and the observer can see a marked improvement in the interest manifest in starting and caring for orchards. The exhibit at our fair in September last, and the two previous years, would put the blush to the cheeks of our sister coun- ties in the eastern part of the state. Notwithstanding the frequent warnings, unprincipled and irresponsible agents — "tree peddlers" — are from year to year beating people out of thousands of dollars, that are virtually thrown away, by getting worthless stock. But for all this we are making progress and no oae familar with the business can doubt that our county can become a very successful fruit county. Very many orchards have been so loaded that it was necessary to prop the branches. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 223 PIONEERING IN CHILDHOOD MISS LYDIA DILLENBECK Although children usually look on the bright side of things, yet pioneer life to them is not all roses — some thorns are mixed in. We well remember our first ride overland from Lincoln to our home in an old democrat wagon with one of Nebraska's most noted citizens. A dreadful storm was approaching from the northwest and was bearing right down upon us. Never will I forget the terrible grandeur of that spectacle. Long chains of lightning rent the sky, cul- minating in solid sheets of gold. We had just reached the house when the storm struck, and Oh! how the cotton wood timbers of the house creaked. It seemed that all must give way, but strangely the old house still stands. Water came in everywhere, and we were fairly drowned. We gathered up all the tubs, buckets and pans to hold the water. That same night we had our first Nebraska supper, made up largely of wild gooseberries. I can taste them yet as they gave my mouth such a pucker. I passed them to my brother; I cannot tell why I wished to afflict him so. My father, like all progressive men, came west to find a fortune, and his first step was to find a homestead, which he found, or rather it found him three miles east of a most beautiful village on the banks of the Blue river. We found a dug-out ready built and ready to occupy. But on close in- spection we found an occupant in a friendly rattler (an old settler). We gave him the preference, and father went to Seward and hauled lumber to build our house. It was large, 12x16 ft., and two stories high. Our neighbors all told us that it was too high for our Nebraska winds, but we had ample opportunity to test it the first night after moving in. The house was sided barn fashion — boards up and down. The north wester, or "north twister," came and the rain came through every crack and crevice. We all moved into the center and then resembled drowned rats. The next morning the sun shone out bright and clear as if nothing had happened. Our neighbors came to see if any fragments 224 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA of the house could be seen. They found it right side up, and we all rejoiced. The prairie fires of pioneer days are something that children remember. Par away on the high hills in long lines, it made a most beautiful and impressive sight. When the wind would rise, it would leap toward the sky and the heavens would be all aglow\ When it was headed our way it tilled the soul with horror. All the neighbors would turn out to fight the demon. The next morning after one of these prairie fires, we were out perambulating over the black sod and ran upon a colony of "rattlers" basking in the warm sunshine. That was a pleasant experience for a child to run upon a great lot of ugly serpents. I would like to spin other yarns, but must forbear, as room in your book is needed by others. MILFORD SCHOOLS MRS, A, C. RAWLS Milford, situated on the beautiful Blue, in the southern part of Seward county, is a town of as much note as any oth- er town of equal rank in the state. But it is particularly of her schools that we wish to speak, whose history begins with that of the town itself. A very small shack served as the first schoolhouse, with Geo. B. France as teacher. Then later when this building proved too small; another building used as a Congregational church was used, in which two departments were instituted by means of curtains serving as a partition. Mr. France was principal here also, and Miss Courtright, who afterward be- came his bride, was his assistant. Miss Maude Lamson also served as an assistant in the same building at a later period. A few years later w^e find the schools of Milford being con- ducted in the Baptist church building which was afterward bought by the village as the regular school building; the schools being under the supervision of Wm. Smiley, Mrs. Ed. Healey, Miss Mitchell, and others. Then came the era of our "brick school." The energetic members of the HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 225 school board never permitted the matter of education to lag behind other progressive movements of the town, and a sec- ond or suburban school was built across the river for the convenience of the East Milford pupils, thus giving room for eleven teachers. Prof. VanWeyman was the first to oc- cupy the new building. He was followed by Prof. Burkett, then Patterson, Oelting, Batcheler, Snare and Hendree. Then came a change in the long line' of Prof's; Miss Kate Pyott was given the principalship, which place she has oc- cupied since 1901 in a manner that has given satisfaction to all — thus showing that Milford is not blind to the apprecia- tion of woman's ability and to the efforts she is making in the development of higher education. OAK GROVE SETTLEMENT E. W. OLNEY John A. Scott located on his claim on section 20, town 12, range 4 east, in the spring of 1864, and John Owens set- tled on section 28 in the summer of 1864. Asa Munn made settlement on section 2 in 1866, John Royce on section 28, J. D. Maine and J . D. Olney on section 22, Warren Brown on section 23. Royal Dart settled on section 32 in 1867, S. M. Darnall on section 22 and John Darnall on section 12, the same year. The first school was taught by Miss Sarah A. Scott on the Jack Royce place in a little sod schoolhouse in 1867. Rev. George Clapp preached the first sermon in the old log school house in the same year. Rev. Robert Rowbottom or- ganized the first church (M. E.) in 1875. Until 1869 we had to go to Lincoln for our mail. At that time an office was established. G. B. Hardenburg was our first postmaster, and held his office in the old hoiise of Mil- ton Langdon on section 21. A steam saw-mill was es- tablished in 1868 by Kirkham and Hughes and proved a great help to the people. Our mail was carried by a buck- board at first, later by a stage. Our growth and progress have been slow but sure. Our 226 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA growth has been steady. Quite a number of the first settlers have passed off the stage of action, among whom were Mil- ton Langdon and wife, Mrs. Gillman Garland, David Haw- kins, J. D. Maine and wife, and Simeon Munn. This region has always been known as Oak Groves, and it is quite historic ground. It is unlike any other portion of the county. The land is what we term rough or broken, has many quite deep canons, and each of these has a beautiful rippling brook of clear spring water. Excellent springs are numerous. When the settlement began in 1864, these canons were all thickly set with oak timber. This timber was hauled to the salt works as fuel, and to the tablelands for all pur- poses, and finally, when the capital was located at Lancaster (Lincoln), scores of teams were kept busy hauling wood, and before the cars had reached the new city, these fine groves were all, or nearly all destroyed. There was a vast amount of valuable timber all through this section of country, and it seems sad that it should have been so ruthlessly destroyed. Many of these hills are full of a very superior quality of limestone. Many kilns of lime were burned, and the lime found a market at Lincoln, Seward, and throughout the farming region round about. While this is not deemed as desirable for farming purposes as the level plain to the west- ward, yet we have very many excellent farms in the valleys, and for stock purposes our advantages are unsurpassed. We have three railroad stations within easy reach — Ger- mantown on the B. & M., Raymond on the U. P.. and Bee on the Northwestern Our soil is excellent, our water is of the very best, and abundant, and we generally have happy and comfortable homes . How we got our start in hogs was related by Mr. Cox, the author of this book. There was an old Missourian, we forget his name, who wanted to get his hogs out of reach of the soldier boys in war time, so in about the spring of 1863, he drove forty or fifty shoats up to the Groves, moved his family along with them, and sojourned there while the war clouds hung heavily over Missouri. The hogs, like the fam- ily, ran wild, and were rather more untractable, and w^hen the old man found it convenient to move again, the hogs HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 227 were faring so well in the timber and tall weeds that they concluded not to move on uncertainties; they would rather stay, and they did stay. So the early settlers found the timber full of fat hogs and so did not suffer for meat; and frequently an old sow with aline litter of pigs was captured, and a start of hogs was secured. CAMDEN SETTLEMENT MRS, H. W, PARKER Beatrice, Neb., Nov. 28. Mr. W. W. Cox: Dear Sir and Friend — Mr. Parker received your let- ter, and being very much engaged in a public way, as city councilman, etc. , and just on the eve of his departure to California on a visit, he has delegated me to answer yours. I am truly interested in your letters of "Then and Now," and am very willing to contribute my remembrances if they will add interest to your work, but I have forgotten exact dates, and have not the faculty of condensing and making brief my letters, so as to be suitable for publication, but I will do the best I can. At one time (perhaps you can remember), the Camden Mills was a popular resort for social and Christmas parties, dances and New Year's gatherings, etc. One time at a large dance, when there were more than one hundred and fifty present, after the dance Major Strunk read a beautiful poem, after which he read a notice which a Methodist circuit preacher then handed me, giving notice that there would be preaching at the Mill two weeks from the following Sunday, and requesting as large a turnout as was there on the present occasion. The result was we had a large congregation, but it was hard to get a second audience, for in those days they came from ten miles distant and seemed to be attracted by amusement and recreation, rather than stale would-be preaching; but we were all interested in having good sing- ing and enjoyed that part immensely. In those days there 228 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA were no paid chorister or select singers, but all the audience joined in whether they could sing or not. Ha! Ha! Raising the mill, the washout, the high water, the losing of all our lumber, so that we had to live in a dug-out two years more, made a deep and feeling impression on my mind; also propping up the roof with six or eight posts inside to keep the roof from falling in and burying us with the wagon loads of sod and soil that formed the roof. For six months I know I suffered torture enough to atone for the sins of a lifetime. Did I believe in eternal punishment, I should say fleas had filled the bill. The venison, elk, and antelope meat were pleasant at- tractions with our Indian friends, who camped one winter for about three months near (Jamden. The squaws used to come over and cut wood for us. At one time I had two chopping wood at the door, and had the papooses strapped on their boards and kept inside for me to watch. When they cried, the squaws would motion me to tilt the board, and the little fellows would go to sleep. There were many little incidents of interest, but it was so long ago that I cannot remember them well enough to fix them up in shape to print. I forget their proper connections. It was not me that lawyer P. pulled the bed clothes from, but my hired girl, Miss Anna Bingham, now Mrs. Dan. Harris. I had not yet retired, but I was terribly frightened that night, and I have had a dislike for some of those folks ever since. Fordyce Roper and my husband (Hiram W. Parker) built the first saw and grist mill in the county in lb65-6 at a cost of $15,000. High water delayed the completion of the grist mill by washing out the dam and cutting out a perfect race around the mill, submerging their lumber yard, carry- ing down the river $2,000 worth of lumber. But with in- domitable energy and will to overcome obstacles, such as losses, high prices of machinery, etc., the mill was finally completed and in successful operation, turning out good flour, which caused the general rejoicing of all the settlers for many miles around, who had been compelled to go from fifty to sixty miles to mill. We had to board mill-wright, • HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 229 carpenters, and other hands more than a full year, instead of three months as we had expected. Produce was extremely hig'h; I remember we had to pay $3.00 per bushel for pota- toes-, 40 cents for butter, and I remember we had to pay Un- cle Billy Stanton 27 cents per pound for bacon; coffee, sugar, Hour and all other provisions in proportion. We paid the commonest carpenter $2.00 per day and board, and the mill- wright much more, and this was what swelled the expense of the mill. We paid $3.00 per day for our sawyer and $3.00 per week for kitchen girl, and we had no spacious mansion, our home being a dug-out. I do not remember the date they got to making flour. I know they had just succeeded in getting the three- story frame up the day before the ice went out of the river, March, 1866. I know they felt safe, as the river was clear of ice, but the water kept rising for three days, which we could not account for, but v hen weeks had elapsed, news reached Camden that there had been con- tinuous rains onthe heads of the river. This was explained too late for us to remedy the destruction of the property by the flood. WEST MILLS SETTLEMENT I, M. K, JOHNSON Thomas West and family, consisting of his wife Catha- rine, and sons Cornelius, Thomas, John, Charles, and James, and daughter Isabella settled at West Mills on the West Blue in the spring of 1860. They had many hardships to endure in 1861; their log cabin, together with about all their world- ly goods except a few cattle were burned by the Indians, supposed to be Omahas disguised as Sioux. This was in the fall, and the family suffered great hardships during the fol- lowing winter. The Indians were very troublesome, and stole much of Uncle Tommy's crops of that year. With the exception of the families of Orin Johnsoa and James West, who lived near, there was no !?ettlement nearer than Victor Vifquain, near the forks of the Blue, and the Morgans on the North Blue, from eight to ten miles distant. 230 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Their place of trade was Nebraska City, eighty -two miles distant. Uncle Tommy started a supply store (this was in 1862, according to the best information attainable), and once a month sent a team for supplies of such goods as were in demand by the frontiersmen. An invoice of a load of goods would read about as follows: powder, two kegs; lead, from one to two hundred pounds; percussion caps, from one to two hundred boxes; flour, bacon, one barrel whiskey; one hundred pounds tobacco; fifty or a hundred traps, and some miscellaneous articles. When roads were good a trip could be made in five days. Although the Indians com- mitted many atrocities on the Platte and the Little Blue, and were very threatening, Uncle Tommy's family never desert- ed their home nor abandoned it during the darkest hours, but in times of great danger guarded theii' stock and goods as best they could, and at last got on such good terms that they Were able to do a thriving trade with the Indians. They buried theirson John in 1H62. This was a sad affliction. This was probably the first white person buried in the coun- ty. John was buried in what is now West Mills cemetery. Mr. West built a saw-mill and put in a small burr and ground corn as early as the summer of 1H64. He is remembered by all the old settlers as a genial, kind-hearted man. The latch-string of his cabin door was always out, and no one in want ever called on him in vain. By his energy a postoffice was established in 1865 at the mill and store. He was elected county clerk at the first organi- zation in 1865 He died in 1879, and was buried beside his son, being followed to the grave by all his old neighbors as mourners of one they had known to love and respect. His widow followed him to the tomb in the winter of 1885. These dear people have gone to the better world, leaving very many sad hearts at their departure. Uncle Tommy acted well his part in the development of this new land, and for the many acts of kindness shown he will ever be remem- bered by all the earlier settlers. (The author of this book has a very warm place in his heart for the memory of the kind old people.) Uncle Tommy and family came from Maryland to Mis- souri, thence to Nebraska. They started for California to HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY. NEBRASKA 231 seek gold, but became disgusted with the company that they started with, and left it, and made their home in the wilder- ness. His Son Charles now lives on the old farm, and James and Thomas live within a mile. Isabella, now Mrs. Orin Johnson, still lives on a homestead wdiich her husband set- tled upon in 1H61. Her husband went to Oregon many years ago, and has not been heard from since he left, and it is supposed that he is dead. Cornelius lives in Missouri. Orin Johnson's family lost several children in an early day — 1867— with the measles. Only two of th^^ children yet live, and they, Fanny and Ida, are living with their mother. There was no doctor nearer than Salt Basin. A messenger was sent, and made the round trip, tifty-six miles, in eight hours, bringing back a Frenchman who claimed to be a doc- tor, and the people expected that he knew his business. He proved to be a fraud in all but his charges. All the children whom he doctored died. In the years 1H64 and 1H65 settlers began to locate all along the West Blue valley. At that time the idea prevailed that the uplands were worthless for cultivation. It was thought that the showers only followed toe valleys of the streams, and that the high prairies could not be made to pro duce grain. The early settlers on Salt creek used to say that it never rained twenty miles west of Sail creek. William J. Clark moved to his homestead just below West's mill in 1865. Mr. Clark came from New^ York state to Illinois, when Chicago was about the size of Seward. He run a fishing boat on the lake until he moved to Seward county. He had buried his wife at Chicago, and was accom- panied to this county by his three daughters. Mr. Clark proved to be a thrifty and successful farmer. He raised a large amount of vegetables and supplied the travel on the great road. He was a model frontiersman. He had had the misfort- une to have his right hand crippled, yet he could do and did about as much work as other men. He died in*lHS6, leaving quite a handsome property and some money in the bank for his daughters. He was highly respected by all his neigh- bors, and mourned by a host of friends. Samuel Englehouft and wife (Amanda) and their five children, Ellen, Mary Anne, George, Daniel, and Albert, 232 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA moved to this county in the spring of 1865. Alice, their younger daughter, was born here in 1865. Albert died in October, 1882. When they arrived in Seward county they had only a team and a wagon, a few sacks of corn meal, and not a dollar in money. He bravely went to work and raised a patch of sod corn, and worked in Mr. West's mill, and in a few years became well to do. He was very fond of hunting; was an excellent neighbor and well respected. He died Sep- tember 16, 1885, and was buried in the cemetery bearing his own name, leaving his aged widow, who, with her son George, still lives on the old homestead. The other children are all married and doing well. The family originally came from Pennsylvania to Manona, Illinois;from thereto Vinton, Iowa, thence to Nebraska. It is said to the credit of the family that no one was ever permitted to leave their house hungry. Jesse R. Johnson and wife, Rachel, with family, William P. and Clara B. , came to their present home, two and a half miles above West's mills, in 1864. Mr. Johnson came from Cincinnati in an early day to Illinois. At the time they set- tled in Seward county, provisions were scarce and high in price, and times were very hard, but by great energy the family lived it through until brighter days dawned, and now they are the happy possessors of a goodly heritage, having a fine farm and a magnificent orchard that has been bearing fruit for many years. He was the first (we believe) to plant an orchard in the county. Fruit was a hobby with him, and he always insisted that this would prove to be a splendid fruit county. Others watched his success, and now this county compares very favorably with any portion of Nebraska or the West. Mr. J. served several terms as justice of the peace, and was the first elected in the south part of the coun- ty. He was a good hunter and trapper and his table never was without meat. The furs and pelts secured were a source of profit. Through his energy school district No. 3 was formed, and a log school-house, which still stands as a landmark, was built mostly by himself. This old school-house stands on the farm of David Barton. His daughter Clara, now Mrs. A. C. Smith, lives in the same neighborhood. James West, brother of Thomas West, and his wife, Margaret, settled on a nice farm in the vicinity of his broth- HISTORY OP SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 233 er's farm in the spring of 1860. They then had two daugh- ters, Ehza and Kate. Alexander, their oldest son, was born November 7, 1H60, and was the iirst white child born in the county. Alexander continued his residence in the county until the fall of 1887, or about twenty-seven years. The father and all the family, consisting at present of eight chil- dren, moved to Kansas, whither they were followed by the kindly wishes of all the neighbors. Mr. West was a very generous man, and any weary stranger found a hearty wel- come under his roof. The family had their full share of pri- vations and hardships of a frontier life. David Barton moved to the neighborhood in the spring of 18()4; was, and still is, a bachelor, but built a log house on his homestead; came with but a pittance, and has been remarkably successful; is now the owner of a large estate, and is at this time the heaviest taxpayer of "N" precinct. Mr. Barton came from England, in 1858, almost a penniless lad, and by his industry and careful management he has ac- quired a handsome fortune, although a generous man. Young men may take pattern of him. Mr. B. has no rela- tive in this county. Israel M. K. Johnson, son of Jesse R. Johnson, followed his parents to the new home in July, 1865, and took a home- stead. He had just returned from the army, where he had served three years; first in Company K, 138th Ills. Vol., and afterwards in Company E, 34th Ills. Israel was fond of hunting and trapping, and in company with the West boys he frequently made long trips to the Little Blue, in Kansas, and to the Platte, and once as far as the Dismal river, where he had a close call for his scalp. As he had been through the war, he had become somewhat wreckless. He often guided trains to Denver, was a success as a buffalo hunter, and never returned from the chase empty-handed. At this time they w^ere plentiful some distance westward, but only occasionally one would appear within fifteen or twenty miles. Thomas West, Jr., killed the last one ever killed in Seward county, in 1866. Elk, deer, antelope, and wild turkeys were plenti- ful, and were frequently killed. "Id," as they called him, was a great hunter; his rifle or revolver was never out of reach . He thought that a man that could not take horse, gun. 234 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA and blankets, and rough it for three or four weeks at a time, had no business so far west as Sew^ard county. At one time he and Mr. McFadden had thuir wagon wheel and harness burned by prairie fire while a hundred miles from home on a hunt, south of Kearney, and they came home with a rawhide harness and a pole under the wagon axle. It was a hard- looking outfit, but they were glad to reach home even in this sorry plight, as it was at the time of the Indian massacre on the Platte. They had a hard fight with the Sioux, and if it had not been for timely assistance from Buffalo Bill (Hon. Wm. Cody) and his Pawnees, the Indians would have taken their scalps. They helped to bury two men, a woman, and a child that the Indians had murdered, just below Martin's ranch, on the Platte. Travel on the great roads was about suspended, on account of the Indian troubles. Rev. L. Oliver, a Methodist minister, settled near West's mill in 1869. He had a large family. His wife died in 1871, and he in 1874. He was one of the pioneer ministers of the south inirt of the county. Mr. Oliver was a good man and did much in moulding the moral and religious sentiment of the ccmmunity. We are sorry that we can give so little of his history. Abner M. Richardson came from Iowa in June, 1869, and made his home in the south part of the county. His wife (Maria) died September 19, 1885. They had lost their son Benjamin with small -pox in February, 1879. Mr. Rich- ardson still lives on the old homestead with his children, John, Emeline, andEmarette. He is now eighty-three years old and very feeble. He has been a very industrious man. In his old age he suffers from rheumatism. From 1H67 to 1869 great numbers of homesteads were taken along the Blue. Alonzo Clark, with a large family, settled near Jesse R. Johnson; also, a man by the name of Euland; and later, George Campbell and his brother Jacob, and Andrew Davenport, from Iowa. George Campbell was a blacksmith, and was of great help to the settlement, as before this we all had to go to Camden or to Louis Morgan's, on the North Blue, ten miles away. We usually went to Morgan's, as we could get the w^ork the same day, and at Camden there were so many mules to shoe, and so many HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 235 wagons to mend for travelers on the road, tliat we were compelled to remain over night or make the second trip. Mr. Campbell was just the man we wanted. From that time our r-ommunity has prospered. We boast of no large towms or cities, but we have as beautiful homes as any part of the state, and enjoy many luxuries. We had in early days to struggle for food and clothing, and were often severely pinched, and had it not been for Uncle Tommy West many of us would have been compelled to leave our homes. David Barton, W. J. Clark, Samuel Englehaupt, and my father did all that was possible to assist the people, and whether the settler had money or not, they were supplied as long as the supply lasted. Frequently corn meal was the principal diet. Nearly all our first settlers were poor, and consequently times become very hard with them . We have known families to live a whole winter on corn meal and what rabbits they could kill with clubs. Salt was scarce, and we had to make pilgramages to the salt basins for our supplies. On one of these trips we first became acquainted with Mr. Cox, the author of this history, but in what year we have forgotten . We do not know if he recollects or not. Our first doctor, in any reasonable distance, was Dr. Band, of Milford. The Otoes and Omahas frequently brought their whole village of tents and would camp for weeks at a time near the mill, and run all the game out of the county, so that we would not be able to kill any for our use. We then, as now, thought the only "good Indian was a dead one." But for all that, we believe they were no worse thieves than the same number of whites under no more restraints. What a change twenty-three years has brought! New- comers to Seward county can hardly realize the wonderful changes that have occurred in these years. 236 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA "B" PRECINCT SETTLEMENT F, M. TIMBLIN Hampton, Neb., Nov. 27. W. W. Cox, Esq., Seward, Neb.: Dear Friend — Your kind letter asking me to write a history of "B" precinct, in Seward county, Neb., was received several days ago. First. I did not move into that pre- cinct until April, 1869, and there was considerable settle- ment there before that time. Second. I have forgotten the dates of a great many interesting events of early times. Yet, being always ready to assist a friend in any laudable enter- prise, I will try to give you a few points and incidents which may assist you in your undertaking. The precinct, as first organized, comprised township 12 in ranges 1 and 2, and the west half of range H east of the 6th principal meridian, and being six miles wide by fifteen long, and was known as "Lincoln creek," or Plum creek, pre- cinct. The first settlement was made along the Blue river, about 1H64 or 1865, John and Thomas Shields, Robert Mc- Crosson, and George Read being among, if not the first set- tlers. A few settlers also went up Lincoln creek, among the first of whom were Charles Shaffer, the Hornburgs, Jack- mans, Ragans, Reynolds, and Hartmans. In 1870 I assessed this whole territory (6x15 miles) in about five days, and by going up Lincoln creek on one side and down the other, got all the inhabitants west of the Blue river. In 1868 the Hick- mans (J. D., William, Joseph, J. W., and H. W.), T. J. Poore, John and Thomas Quillen, John and Peter Varner, and Wm. Moore settled on the "divide" between the Blue and Plum creek, in what is now "B" precinct proper, and in 1869 F. M. Timblin, H. G. Dawley, Elias McClure, Amos Coleman, Wil- liam and Jesse Knight, E. H. Noxon, J. T. Davis, and James Read completed the settlement of government land on this divide (Shoestring prairie), while the Bates brothers, Amos Donaldson, Mike Dunigan, Esquire Batchelder, S. D. Love, Sabin Stanwood, and others settled the divide between Plum ere 3k and Oak Groves. The first school- house built in the precinct was a small HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 237 sod house in the north-east corner of section 32, in the fall of 1869, and was built by the settlers, who, having no money, each did his share of breaking, hauling, and laying the sod, while some furnished poles and brush for the root", others a door or window frame, or door or window, and each furnished seats and desks for the scholars he had to send to school. The house was built and seated in this way, but as yet there was no way provided to warm it. A stove must be had, but how? It was decided that those having timber should cut a load of cordwood, and those who had no timber of their own should go out onto section "37" and cut a load, and they would take it to Lincoln, sell it, and buy a stove. This plan was carried out, and in the latter part of November nine wag- ons loaded with cordwood wended their way to Lincoln through about eight inches of snow, and returned with a sec- ond-hand wood stove, and the first school-house in the pre- cinct was ready for occupancy. The first term of school was taught by P. M. Timblin, and was paid for by subscription. The house was small. poorly furnished and lighted, but I doubt very much if the people ever enjoyed themselves any better, spent their even- ings more profitably, or formed ties of friendship which will be more true or lasting than when they met in the little old sod school-house. The election which decided the county seat contest was held for this precinct in a house on the hill just east of the Blue river. The river happened to be very high at that time, and the only bridges were one at Seward and one at Ulysses. In order, therefore, to get the voters out, it was necessary to have a crossing near the place of voting. For this purpose ropes were procured and logs fioat to a narrow place in the river, and a "drift" or "gorge" formed on each side of the stream, and connected by boards or poles laid from one to other; and men stayed there all day to help the timid across, while wagons ran regularly between this "cross- ing" and the place of voting, thus taking voters to the polls and returning them to their own conveyances on the other side of the river. Elections in those days were fully as in- teresting and exciting as at present. At the election to vote bonds in aid of the Midland Pacific railroad every vote in "B" 238 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA precinct was polled except live, and these five men were not in the precinct on that day. Men drove over the precinct with two or three men in a was^on, and when they found a man who was in favor of the bonds (and they all were, but had not time to go to election), some one of the party stayed and worked in his place while the balance took him to the polls, let him vote, and returned with him. They called this "working the railroad," but they never got any pay for it, except the benefits derived from the building of the road. The foregoing may assist you some in your work, and I might have added that it was in the sod school-house that the Hon. T. Y. Darnell made his maiden speech. If there is anything further, please let me know, and I will do what I can to accommodate you. Your respectfully, F. M. Timblin. We have told some pretty big yarns in these reminis- cences^ but we believe Bro. Timblin has taken the rag off the bush in the wood and stove story; just think of nine big loads of wood only paying for a second-hand stove. As we remember wood at the time was worth from eight to ten" dollars per cord, but we don't know how second-hand stoves were quoted. Author. HARDSHIPS AND PRIVATIONS OF PIONEERS MISS INEZ FRINK My father, D. R. Fink and family, of wife and four chil- dren removed from Clark county, Iowa, to the present home in "L" precinct in September, 1H77. In the first years the family shared the hardships and privations of most of the pioneer settlers. The family home is 2h miles southwest of Goehner. When the family arrived in the prairie schooner, the county presented a deso- late appearance and looked rather discouraging. The farm was almost covered with tickle grass. The little land broken by the former occupant, had sort of gone back. Our first HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 239 house was 12x14 and it served as kitchen, dining room, sit- ting room, parlor and bed room In the ensuing spring a sod addition for a l^itchen and then we had plenty of room. Most of our neighbors w^ere living in soddies. Among them we remember John Hood, Cline Rhodes, E. W. S. Wingfield, Jolm Perkins, Chas. Emerson, John Burkett, John Florin, Geo. Purvis, James Robertson, N. E. A. Hawley, Barney Bonham, John Knerr, Ransom Walker, old Father Wheeler, R. S. Piper, Joshua Griffin, L. J. Graul, T. J. Foster and Peter Ogilvie. Most of these were homesteaders. A few of these had small frame houses and the balance lived in soddies. The first neighbor to visit the new comers was Chas. Emerson, a very pleasant man and a good talker. He told them all about the country. He tried to make them welcome but the old man rather overdid the thing. He told them too much. He introduced the grasshopper question and that made the family have the blues. Then the wind was on its bad be- havior that day; it blew a gale and the old man expatiated on the wind and said it was so common in Nebraska that people had learned to like it. Mr. Todd's people were our nearest neighbors. They soon sold to Mr. Cromwell. They proved excellent neighbers. They were always ready and willing to lend a helping hand in time of trouble or sickness. Mr. Cromwell took leave of us in 1901 and passed to the great beyond and left his good wife to mourn his loss. Our post ofdce and trading place was at Seward. They attended church at the Mound Prairie school house a mile north west of the present town of Goehner. Jerome Aldreck bought the building, tore it down and moved it to Beaver City. When the family went to church they hitched to the lumber wagon and loaded up with the neighbors and children. Rev. Chas. Bradley, Rev. C. E. Phinney, Rev. Winn, Rev. A. E. Beggs and Rev. E. W. Johnson served the people as preachers. Most of the old neighbors and friends are gone, some to other fields and many to their long home. The memory of the old times and friends are dear to us and are kept green in our memories. [We take it that Miss Inez was a later comer to the Frink home. — Author.! 240 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA GRASSES CALVIN J. WRIGHi Your requisition of a contribution relating to the various grasses grown in Seward county received, and replying I will say you have chosen a poor subject to discuss the matter as I have done no farming for ten years past. Twenty-five years ago there was scarcely an attempt made to grow other than native grasses in this county ex- cept a little blue-grass and white clover, as lawn grass. The first trial for feeding purposes was to grow millet of various varieties all of which produced well but was not sat- isfactory as it had to be sown every year and is rather rough feed for stock. Then came clover, timothy and blue- grass and in later years alfalfa and brome grass. The latter is being introduced quite extensively and is thought to be su- perior to any yet tried in this county for pasture and makes hay that stock prefer to timothy and clover. Alfalfa does well here also but many think it a rather course feed, espe- cially for horses. Blue-grass makes tine early and late pas- ture but is comparatively worthless during July and August and is practically worthless for hay. On my farm we keep about two hundred acres of timothy and clover mixed for pasturage and hay and so far have considered it the best all around crop for summer and winter feeding. Our Seward county soil is very rich loam but becomes dry on the surface within twenty-four hours after a rain, therefore it takes more care and more seed to obtain a good stand of grass than it does in the eastern states. The best method we have found is to use one fourth clover and three fourths timothy seed and sow it in the fall on land prepared for drilling in rye or wheat and do so just before drilling in the grain. We sow one bushel of the mixed seed to four acres of land and have not failed yet in securing a good stand of grass. The same result follows if the grass and grain are sown between corn rows. I would recommend every farmer to keep one third of his land seeded down in this way and change the land to grain crops every three to five years. Good grass and hay can be raised in Seward county as in any HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 241 other place on earth. I had one thh'ty-tive acre field in tim- othy and clover and cut it for hay fourteen years in succes- sion obtaining an average of nearly two tons per acre yearly. If the above rule for seeding, etc. were followed our land would never wear out but would constantly increase in pro- duction and value. SCHOOLS OF THE COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT E, KOCH Seward county is divided into ninety-one and one-half school districts; No. 1, known as the Camden school in the south west corner of "P" precinct was the first one organ- ized; No. 98 or the Bee school being the last district formed; No. ^0, north of Utica, was discontinued a few years ago and the territory added to Nos. 36 and 54. Seward county has 94 school houses, three of which are brick, two in Seward and one in Milford, and the rest con- structed of frame. The school rooms in general are in good repair and the interior of the rooms in most school houses is bright and cheerful. Many of the interiors of our rural school iiouses are papered, have pictures on the walls, and in general appear clean and cheerful. A school board association, organized three years ago, has done much to better the condition of our rural schools. The school boards have come to realize that the best teacher is always the cheapest when the real worth of the teacher to the pupils is taken into consideration. The result is, higher wages are being paid and teachers are thereby encouraged to better prepare themselves for the noble work before them . As high as $50 per month is being paid to women teaching in the rural schools this year, while the average monthly salary for women in the county last year was $38,43 and the average salary for men was $59.40. For self improvement and to keep in touch with the work neighboring teachers are doing, the county is divided into eleven teachers' reading circle sections. These circles meet regularly once every two weeks and pursue the state 242 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA teachers' reading circle course. In this way younger and more inexperienced teachers meet regularly with the older teachers and town principals, and thus besides studying good books on teaching, receive many valuable suggestions from their more experienced fellow-workers. Besides these circle meetings, the teachers meet in county associations three or four times each year. The total expenditures for the public schools for the year ending the second Monday in July, 1904, w^as 165634.13. Qf this sum, $42276.26 was paid to the 125 teachers employed in the county, $34033.61 was paid to the 108 lady teachers and $8242.65 to the 17 men teachers engaged. This $65634. 13 was spent on a total enrollment of 3947 pupils, or an average cost of $16.63 per year to educate one pupil per enrollment. An enrollment of 3947 out of a school census of 5544 in the county would show that 1597 children between the ages of five and twenty-one years did not attend school at all. This however is not the case, since we have twelve German Paro- chial schools, some of which have as high as seventy or more on roll. Eight of these private schools employ w^ell trained teachers and some excellent work is done. In the other private schools, the local minister is the instructor Where a congregation employs a teacher, ten months school is taught. The forenoon is given exclusively to German and religion and the afternoons are given to instruction in Eng- lish exclusively. The attendance in these private schools is usually very regular. The average length of school term in the ninety-one and one-half districts was eight and one-fifth months, with no district with less than six months, and but two or three of that length. The public schools of course are free to all who wish to attend. Even the text books and all other .school supplies are furnished, and it seems to us that with these splendid school advantages no boy or girl should be deprived of a good liberal education, for aftei" all, this is the best heritage we can give our boys and girls for the duties of life. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 243 ORLANDO CASSLER MURDER CASE In the forepart of July, 1878, a stranger from the state of Kansas, by the name of G. L. Monroe, was traveling through this neighborhood, and happened to fall into the company of Orlando J. Gassier, a resident of the southwest- ern portion of the county. The two camped just west of the city on the river bank, on the afternoon of July 7th, and dur- ing the night, while a violent thunder storm was raging. Gassier murdered his comrade and new-made friend, sunk the body in the river, and took possession of the team, telling his neighbors that lie had bought the team. Some of the citizens of the city happened to be fishing a day or two after the occurrence, and found the body floating in the water. The coroner's jury soon found a clue to the murder, and Orlando was arrested, tried, and convicted, and sentenced to be hanged on the 20th of May, 1879. The black Friday ar- rived, and a great host of people gathered into the city from all the surrounding country, as word had gone out that the barracks would probably be torn dowm. The sherifl" had taken what he supposed to be ample precautions for the pro- tection of the barracks. He had placed quite a large number of deputies and policemen, properly armed with billies, around the barracks, and had constructed a barb-wire fence around a space surrounding the building, which was denom- inated a deed line, and all the people were warned not to step over that line; but little did they heed the mandate. There seemed to be an inordinate desire to see the wretched man hung, and five or six thousand men, women, and chil- dren surged back and forth with an irresistible force, and just before noon some reckless fellows gave a whoop and a hurrah, and those barracks were scattered as if a cyclone had struck them in far less time than it takes to write a line of this paragraph. The sheriff saw in a moment that he was in the hands of the mob, to do the will of their good pleasure; their pleasure was to see Orlando hung, and if the sheriff was unwilling to transact the business in their presence they would do the work for him in his presence, and that right soon. So he assured the mob that the execution should occur in proper time, and that he did not need their help. The 244 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA drop fell in due time, and Orlando J. Gassier paid in full, as far as possible, the penalty of his crime, but the demoral- izing spectacle of a public execution produced a bad effect upon our people, and brought out a spirit of lawlessness that barely missed producing another murder before the day closed. We do not wish to mince matters, or in any way excuse the lawless spirit of many people on that occasion in tearing down the enclosure, but we would say that the governor was short-sighted, that provisions to maintain the dignity of the law W'Cre not made, and especially so when a like occurrence had happened at Minden only a short time previous. If the law is worth a place on our statute books, then when neces- sary usa all the powers of the state to enforce it, and not allow lawless ruffianism to control. We quote for the curious the last words of the doomed man: ''Well, now this will finish Orlando Cassler's life. Be- hold the scaffold with Orlando Gassier standing on it here. This is the last of trouble and sorrow. I am sorry, gentle- man, that I have to die here, but there is a world above, where there is no trouble and no sorrow. Goodbye, gentle- man." His spiritual advisor was Rev. Shank, of the M. E. Ghurch, w^ho delivered an eloquent and fervent prayer. CHAPTER XIV. PRECINCT HISTORIES It will be noted that up to a recent date, each geographical town- ship was a precinct. In later years the city of Seward was made into a separate precinct or town. It may also be noted that "^" and "O" precincts were each divided into two voting precincts. These towns or precincts, except Sewai'd, are named for the first sixteen letters of the alphabet from A. to P. The city is dealt with in a separate chapter and also are the principal villages. A PRECINCT "A" precinct or town is the northeast corner of the county, and was originally known as town 12, range 4, east of 6th P. M. The land is a succession of rolling hills. It is watered by Oak creek and its branches. The narrow valleys are very fertile. There are some excellent springs. There are quar- ries of excellent limestone. Some of the hills have gravelly points, and in many places large boulders crop out. The farms are well adapted to dairying and stock growing. Eggs and poultry are considered very profitable. At present they have no postoffice, but the people are well supplied by rural routes. Good markets are within easy distance at German- town, Bee, Raymond, and Valparaiso. They have live good frame school houses with two hundred and nine pupils en- rolled. There ai-e two hundred and twenty-four farms or sub-divisions of land as shown by the records. There is a population of about one thousand. The reader is referred to the valuable historic letter of E. W. Olney for information in regard to the first settlement. Very few of the first settlers yet remain. Great numbers of those who blazed the way are gone to their rest, among whom we may mention Milton Langdon and wife, John Scott, 246 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA J. D. Maine and wife, Warren Brown, Mr. Hawkins, John Owens, Asa Munn, and Royal Dart. The present people seem to be quite prosperous, and many of them have beautiful homes. While the general sur- face of the land is not so desirable as in other parts, yet the people have made great headway and are doing well . B PRECINCT This precinct is tow^n 12, range 3, east of the sixth P. M. It is mostly a great plain of table land reaching from the Blue Valley at the southwest corner almost to the breaks or rough land to the eastward. It comprises thirty-six sections of most excellent and valuable land, which is divided into one hundred and ninety-one farms and sub-divisions. Plum creek cuts the eastern half of the township. The land is mostly smooth prairie, but it is well drained. There is no swampy land, and none that can not be cultivated. It is covered with beautiful farms. It has between six and sev- en miles of railroad with one good shipping point. Much of it is near Staplehurst, and all parts of it are very handy to the city. It has six school houses with two hundred thirty- eight pupils enrolled. It has about twelve hundred people. The reader is referred to the excellent historic letter of F. M. Timblin in regard to the early settlement. There are a great many orchards; the farmers are all in a very prosper- ous condition and are making their homes beautiful. The litttle village of Bee is a good shipping point with two elevators, a bank, a good school, and several business houses, including a hotel and churchs. C PRECINCT "C" precinct is located in town 12, range 2 east of 6th P. M. Was first settled by Frank Shields in the winter of 1863 and 1H64, on what is known as the "Casey Place." His settlement was not very permanent. Among the fir.st to make permanent settlement were Wm. Reed, Judge John W. Shields, (Jeo. Reed, John A. Durland, and Frank E. Pitt. These all settled in 1864 and 1865, and were soon followed HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 247 by Moses Mitchell, Walter Hoops, and two or three others whose names hav^e escaped our memory. These early set- tlers all located by the river, for the sake of the timber and water. Settlements did not penetrate the high prairie much until 1H68, when people came like a Hock of pigeons. "C" precinct is cut in two unequal parts by Blue river, and has excellent water powers that are yet undeveloped. Lincoln creek also cuts the southwest corner of the precinct, and furnishes a splendid water power, which has a fine mill at Marysville. This mill was built by Luke Agur in 1870, and has been lately rebuilt, enlarged, and much improved. It is now a first class flouring mill with all modern improve- ments. Marysville is the nucleus of a large German settlement that extends far up and down the creek; and overreaches the boundaries of the precinct. They had located a store and church, with a school house, soon after the founding of Seward. Wm. Hornburg, John Schoepp, and old Mr. Hart- man's family were among the first to settle there. George C. McKay, John Gladwish, Father Archer and his family, and some others settled on the prairie between the river and Lincoln creek, and further up the river Thos. Corr and John Gill banks settled in 1868. Marysville remains a trading point; was a post office many years supplied by a star route, and the Lutheran church makes it a prominent gathering place for the people . Staplehurst was founded by George C. McKay in the autumn of 1879, immediately after the completion of the A. & N. R. R. Mr. McKay erected the first dwelling. T. W. Lowrey opened a grain house the same fall. Staplehurst grew slowly at first, but in 1882-83 it began to assume im- portance as a shipping and trading point. Messrs. Goehner & Co. laid out a large addition to the town, and many busi- ness houses sprang up immediately, including two first class elevators, a good hotel, a fine church, and a host of dwell- ings. They have a school house, and maintain a graded school. The place contains hear three hundred inhabitants, and is organized as a village; enjoys a good trade, and is prosp)erous. The precinct contains two hundred and fifty-one farms 248 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA or sub-divisions of land. It has five school districts includ- ing one graded school at Staplehurst. Each supplied with good buildings with an enrollment of 368 scholars. Staplehurst has grown to be a trading point of much importance and is improving from year to year. It has a good strong bank, large and well tilled merchantile houses. It has a good lumber yard, a great livery barn, two good elevators, good churches, a hotel and many pretty dwellings. It is only a few minutes ride to the county seat. The town- ship has six miles of rail road and a creditable depot. T. C. Allen is responsible for the following story: Prob- ably the first time a religious meeting was held, old Father Worley, of Ulysses, was preaching in a sod school houses, and was talking of hell and heaven in an old fashioned way, and had the congregation pretty well excited, when a serpent fell into the lap of one of the ladies, from the brush covering of the house. The audience were worse scared at the snake than at the preacher's hell, which he was so ably de.scribing. For further particulars the reader is referred to the Rev. Father Worley, but guess he can't as he is in Heaven. D PRECINCT Town 12, range 1, east of the 6th P. M. is our north- western precinct located upon the great plateau between the Blue river and Lincoln creek and its small tributaries. This is a most magnificent tract of farming land and is thoroughly well improved. It was settled by a very enterprising class of people who knew how to make the best of their opportu- nities. There is no village within its borders and only just a little corner of the precinct is cut by the Hastings branch of the Northwestern railroad. There is no postofiice, but the rural routes help the people to their daily mails. Settlement began in 1867, when Wm. Jackman and Jesse Horton located on Lincoln Creek. Mr. Horton moved to the county with a pair of oxen harnessed like horses, only a lit- tle differently arranged. This was a novel sight to see oxen in harness. In the long ago they had a postoffice named Or- ton, kept at a farm house and supplied by a star route with HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 249 mails semi-occasionally. We believe that Stephen Phillips was the honorable postmaster. Wm. Reynolds settled on the creek in 1868. He it was w^ho hanged himself at Utica some years later while laboring under a tit of temporary insanity. Mr. Johnson, who took the first harvester to the county, and O. C. Ragan of the hawk-pie story, settled in 1870, also A. D. Hornburg; then in 1871 A. D. Richie and his sons, Hon. W. E. and brother T. C. Allen and E. B. Hatch and others made settlement on the high prairie. Mr. Hatch taught the lirst school in li-i7l' in the Jackman dugout. The lands of the i)recinct are all well drained and en- tirely free from marshes, and there is scarcely an acre but what may be plowed. A large German settlement occupies the southern portion; they have become wealthy and have elegant homes. The precinct has two hundred and thirty-one farms and sub-divisions of land. It has four school districts with good buildings and two hundred and thirteen pupils. The precinct has five market towns within easy reach : Surprise, Gresham, Utica, Staplehurst and Ulysses, so that every family is with- in easy reach of a good market. "D" precinct is pre-emi- nently a good farming country. E PRECINCT This is town 11, range 1, east of the 6th P. M. ; this is one of the western precincts and is situated on the great up- land plain between Lincoln creek and the South Blue. There are no running streams within its borders. It is a va.st level tract of land with here and there a sw^amjjy tract that needs draining. It is nearly all excellent farming land under a high state of cultivation. It was first settled in 1871 when Hon. Geo. A. Derby, Joseph Jones, M C. Wriglit, Samuel Gleason, H. M. Coleman and old Father Greenwood made homes upon the great wilderness of prairie. About this time the state road was located from Seward to the westward, and passed through the precinct. Great numbers of people came and took homesteads in 1872. In its early history there were no such thrilling incidents as occurred on 250 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA the great freight roads to the southward. Seward was quite a village when the settlement began in that region, and the people were not so isolated from the world at large. Then it was not long until the locomotive had broken a trail to Sew^ard wiiich was only from eight to fourteen miles away. Yet many of the settlers saw some tough times, al- though they w^ere free from Indian scares and were in no especial danger of starving as older settlers were close at hand. From the first the development and progress has kept pace with other parts of the county. Hundreds of planted groves make the scenery beautiful to look upon. Where not one tree was in sight in that wide extending plain, now looking in any direction it appears like an un- broken line of timber in the distance as far as the eye can reach. Miss Clara Derby had the honor of teaching the first school of the precinct in the summer of 1H73, in an old sod- die of course. While "E" precinct is one of our most popu- lous townships, there are only four school districts. Utica maintains a fine graded school in a large tw^o story school- house. The country districts all have good frame buildings. Pupils enrolled number three hundred eighty, of which two hundred eleven are in the Utica district. The township contains two hundred and twenty-six farms or subdivisions of land. The Burlington railway was completed to. Utica in the fall of 1877, when Utica was founded. (See historic sketch of Utica.) F PRECINCT "P" precinct is located in town 11, range 2 east of 6th P. M. This beautiful precinct is principally upland prairie. Lincoln creek cuts the southeastern corner and gives it a broad stretch of most excellent valley land. With the small tributaries it furnishes a good system of drainage to a large part of the lands; however in the southwestern portion, it is a vast level plain, with an occasional swamp. The lands are mostly of very superior quality and is well improved with nice dwellings, great barns, orchards, etc. The township is traversed by the main line of the B. & M, R. R. where, at all times of the day or night, long trains HISTORY OP SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA • 251 of cars enliven the scene. Tamora, the station, is a neat little village where may be found several good stores, a'great lumber yard, three elevators, two commodius churches, a good high school building, etc. The tirst homestead entry was made in 1864, on what is known as the Rev. E. W. Johnson farm, on Sec. 24. He built a log cabin on the claim but never moved to it. Thomas Skillman was the first settler on Sec. 13, in the spring of 1865. Geo. and Russel Rogers and their widowed mother made settlement in the fall of 1866. D. H. Pigard, James Anderson, Charles and Joseph Thurman and Abram Wallick made settlement in the spring of 1876. During the spring of 1868, Geo. Slonecker, Sam Stevenson, Aaron and Allen Anderson, Mr. Shockey and Thos. Osborne came. The first school was taught in the summer of 1868 in the old cabin on the Johnson place. The first church organization was effected by Rev. Johnson at the Slonecker school house, date not given. In 1869 and 1878 droves of new people came and scores of homesteads were taken. Tamora was surveyed into lots in 1879 and that fall J. W. Scott built a small grain house, put in a set of scales and commenced the grain trade and Wm. Butler opened a small store. P. G. Tyler made the first home in the new town. Growth was slow at first. Morisey Bros, built an elevator in 1881 and T. W. Lowrey built one in 1882. The first school was opened in the spring of 1884. The Presbyterian people organized in 1880 and bought a small building and used it until the new cliurcn edifice was built in 1882. The church was dedicated November 9, 1883. The M. E. church was built in 1882. The present commodious two story frame school house was erected in 1886 at a cost of $2100. A graded school is maintained and is flourishing. At the present writing, Tamora is a beautiful busy village of about three hundred people. Tamora has always been free from the curse of saloons. They throw their surplus energy into beautifying their homes and maintaining their schools and churches. Tamora is a genial home place within a few minutes ride of the city, where society is excellent and the fumes of the grog shop are unknown. "F" township contains two hundred and forty-six farms 252 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA or sub-divisions of land. There are eight school districts in- cluding one graded school with an enrollment of 211 scholars. G PRECINCT "G" precinct is located in town 11, range 3 east, was first settled, so far as is definitely known, by Wm. Wymore on Sec. 8 and Mr. Olmstead on Sec. 17. This was in the summer of 1863. These men had deserted from the Union army and the Provo marshall was on their trial. Mr. Wy- more sold his claim to W. W. Cox and Olmstead abandoned his and later the land was entered by John Roberts, Sr. R. T. Gale had homesteaded on Sec. 21 as early as January 2, 1863, but did not move to his claim until the spring of 1864, when at about the same time Hon. Wm. Imlay and also his father David Imlay and family came and took claims on Sec. 15. Wm. Imlay located on Sec. 18. E. L. Ellis had entered by government warrant, a quarter on Sec. 18 as early as the summer 1861 and through the help of Joel Mason of Lan- caster county, Geo. Hilton, of Cincinnati, entered a part of Sec. 21 in 1862. W. W. Cox homesteaded in March, 1864, but did not move to claim until December 1st. Lewis Moftitt visited the locality in the winter of 1864 and 1865 and entered three eighties on the northwest of Sec. 21, the future town site of Seward and moved to the settlement in July 1865. In the spring of 1865, Richard Sampson homesteaded on Sec. 17 and John N. Roberts on Sees. 19 and 20. Rev. E. L. Clark visited the locality in October 1865 and moved to his claim in the spring of 1866. In the spring of 1866 J. C. Sampson, John Roberts, Sr., and E. L. Ellis came and later in the season James A. Brown. In the summer of 1864, Father Dunaway located on Sec. 3, but died shortly after- wards and the family occupied the land in 1865. In 1866 J. P. Duncan, Stites Woqley, Roger Cooper, E. B. Shafer came and also Wm. Cooper. Homesteads in their order were R. T. Gale 1st, Stites Wooley 2nd, W. W. Cox 3rd, Father Dun- away 4th D. P. Imlay 5th, Wm. Imlay 6th, Grandpa David Imlay Hh, Richard Sampson 8th, J. N. Roberts 9th, Thos. Dunaway 10th and Joseph Imlay 11th. Incidents of the early history of this precinct are so thor- HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 253 oughly set forth in other pages of this work and the valuable historic letters of James A. Brown and Mrs. Sarah Anderson that we will not deal further with it. The present precinct is now exclusive of the city of Seward. It contains two hundred and ninety-eight farm or sub-divisions of land. It has four school districts, each with good frame buildings, with one hundred thirty-nine scholars enrolled. We would say that Dist. No. 9, Seward district, takes in a large amount of territory outside the city limits and that district alone has an enrollment of 701 scholars. The precinct is a grand good one. It has a vast amount of valley land, as Plum creek and Lincoln creek form junctions with the river within its borders. The land is nearly all slightly undulating and well drained. There was quite an amount of natural timber along the streams. There is no rough land within its borders. Prom the river bottoms the land rises in gentle slopes. The farms are generally well improved and very valuable. The precinct has three lines of railway, with about twenty miles of track. It is cut by the main line of the B. & M. from east to west, by the A. & N. branch from northwest to southeast and the Northwestern from the northeast to the southwest. H PRECINCT "H" precinct, or township 11, range 4 east, is one of the eastern townships, and situated on the head of the north fork of Middle creek. It is rolling land, with numerous springs and bright running streams, many of them fringed with nice young timber. The settlement is largely German. The first settler was Lewis Leibrock, on his present farm near the stone church. Conrad Grant and Deidrick Brant settled soon afterwards. Andrew Shultz, Wm. Luber, Gill- man Garland, B. W. Walker, Fritz Ropke, and Wm. Leppe made settlement in 1868, and in 1869 Chris. Thomas and Jacob Thomas, John Westerhoif, and C. C Davis; also Chas. Ruchtassel made settlement just at the edge of the plain on the west side of the precinct; also Henry Petrie and John Ohlwiler. The first school was organized in 1869, with Wolsey Wy- ant, L. Leibrock, and Conrad Grant as school officers. They 254 ' HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA erected a school house on section 28, and Thos. Cowen taught the first term. The second school house was built in 1873, in district No. 32, and Mrs. J. P. Loose, then Miss Kate Miller, taught the first term. The stone church, of which we give elsewhere a history, was built under the pastorate of Rev. Theo Gruber, in 1872, valued at $3,000. The Lutheran society laid out a cemetery in 1H68, on the farm of Mr. Leibrock. July 14, 1869. The two sons of Conrad Grant were killed by lightning, and these were the first deaths in the precinct. , Charlie Grant was the first child born in the settlement, in 1868. The Midland railroad was built through the precinct in 1873, and Germantown was laid into lots in 1874, by Hiland Praszier. P. Bick opened the first store. John Westerhoff was appointed postmaster. Charles Howland opened the second store in 1878. The first frame house was built in the precinct by Conrad Grant, in 1876. This precinct is pre-eminently a dairy region and the peo- ple have made a success in that line as the history of the Germantown creamery will readily show. The eastern part of the township was first settled by Geo. W. Lowley, Henry and John Beckman, and Mr. Koch in 1870. The three latter families yet reside at the old homesteads surrounded with plenty of this world's goods with elegant homes. The township contains one beautiful village of near three hundred souls situate on the edge of the great upland plain near the north-west corner of the precinct. • It contains two large elevators and many good business houses with a good hotel and bank, with a fine high school building and three churches. It is a great shipping point. It has one of the most successful creameries in the state (see its history). The precinct has two hundred and sixty-two farms or subdivisions of land. There is one graded school and five others all with good buildings; scholars enrolled are 247. "H" is a properous and wealthy precinct if the lands are rough. I PRECINCT "I" precinct is located in town 10, range 4, east of the 6th P. M. The western part of this precinct is on the great HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 255 plain between the Blue river and the Middle creek breaks, where are many splendid farms; but the greater part of the precinct is rolling hills with plenty of running- streams and many excellent springs. There are many stony points. The little valleys are exceedingly fertile' and are well im- proved; the lands are largely occupied by a very thrifty class of Germans, and they have become independent, nearly all having pleasant homes. The lands are well adapted to dairying and poultry raising. Many groves of native tim- ber adorn the valleys. The precinct has but about three miles of railway, but has a good station at Pleasant Dale. The w'estern portion is very handy to both Seward and Mil- ford, while the eastern portion is only twelve miles from the capital. The township has two hundred and lifty-two farms or subdivisions of land. They have five school districts all supplied with pretty good frame buildings, including one graded school, with an enrollment of two hundred seventy pupils. (See "Pleasant Dale.") PLEASANT DALE In the beautiful little valley of Middle Creek in the southern part of "I" town stands the village that is so properly named. This valley was beautiful when a wilder- ness, when the herds that grazed and fattened on the luxur- iant meadows in their native wildness were the elk, ante- lope and buffalo, and the only sign of human habitation was the curling smoke of the distant wigwam. Thus we have seen it in 18o2. How much more beautiful is it now since the hand of civilized man has transformed it and made it to blossom out in all its present grandeur. It is all checked up into farms of transcendent wealth with hundreds of tasty dwellings surrounded with groves and orchards, splendid meadows and great stretches of waving fields of corn. Oh! how it gladdens the heart of the old pioneer as he stands upon an eminence and beholds the transformation wrought in forty-two years. Now instead of the whoop of the wild man in the chase may be seen the thousands of cattle graz- ing peacefully on the hills, while the screeching of the iron horse with his thundering tread is rushing up and down the valleys drawing in his great train innumerable blessings to 256 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA mankind. Suvoly we may exclaim in the language of the poet prophet, "Thy hght has come and the glory of God is risen upon thee." Among the honored names of those who first founded this settlement are James Her, Abram Courtright and Steven Brown. Upon the opening of the steam wagon road in 1864, this valley became better known to the world, and when the war closed in 1865, people began to have faith in Nebraska, and slow but surely settlement began. It took some years to convince people that this was not a desert land, and that it sometimes did rain west of Salt Creek. A history of the struggles of the pioneer settlers is the same old story, only with variations; long and weary jour- neys to mill, to the city, of camping out nights, of weary waiting and watching, of Indian scares and depredations, of poverty, want, and destitution, fighting i^rairie fires, and contending with grasshoppers and hot winds, living in dug- outs and log cabins. But those days are happily past and now, speaking in vulgar parlance, these people who braved all the dangers and hardships are "strictly in it." This is today a country of wealth and luxury, with beautiful homes and grand o])portunities, with the railroad, telegraph, and a telephone in hundreds of country homes, and a rural deliv ery box at nearly every farmer's door. The A. & N. railroad was built in 1879 and the station of Pleasant Dale was established soon thereafter. In 1883 Mr. J. H. Merrill and Thomas Best laid out a townsite on parts of the n. e. i and the s. e. i of sec. 35, town 9, range 4, east. A small store was opened. A post office established at James Iler's in the early seventies was moved to the new town, and thus the nucleus of the village was formed. The school known as the Happel school, Dist. No. 21, was one and one-half miles distant, but was moved to the village in about 1885. The first school in the village was taught by Miss Belle Caruthers in the year 1885. She is now Mrs. A. H. Merrill. J. R. Burd opened the first store. The Methodist people built a church edifice in 1883. In 1898 the enterprising citi- HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 257 zeiis built a public hall of no mean proportions. A fine and capacious hotel was erected in 1902. Now the villasje contains two hundred and fifty people, four mixed stores, two hardware establishments, a good ele- vator, a first class livery barn and plenty of other shops, a fine and commodious school building with capacity for one hundred and twenty-five pupils. They have two telephone systems, a well established bank, a money order office, and only thirty minutes from the county seat and a like distance from the capital. It is an ideal village, located on a sightly little hill, with a nice park, splendid water and surrounded by beautiful scenery. It is a splendid place for a quiet home. Lots are cheap, and the best of all it is among an enterprising, thrifty, intelligent and sociable people. J PRECINCT "J" precinct is located in town 10, R. 3 east of the 6th P. M. This precinct is one of the oldest settled portions of the county. Daniel Morgan and his sons Louis and Thomas set- tled near the present town of Ruby in the spring of 1861, and were the first permanent settlers in the North Blue valley and the second families to make permanent homes in the county. Job T. Reynolds, Samuel Long, J, C. Neihardt and T. L. Rogers settled in the same neighborhood in the spring of 1863. The Reynolds family and Grandmother Long yet live on the old homesteads; all the rest have gone to their long home except Louis Morgan. He lives in Missouri. "J" township occupies a rather central position in the county. The river runs through it furnishing quite an amount of timber and plenty of water power although it yet remains undeveloped. Both the east and west portions are on the table land. Nearly every acre of it is excellent farming land. The drainage is good. The railroad runs centrally through it from northwest to southeast giving it one station at Ruby which is but a hamlet with two elevaters, two small stores, post-office, etc. Sew- ard is the principal trading point although some of its trade goes to Milford. The precinct is well settled in all its parts, and is rich in all the varied products of our locality. There 258 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA are two hundred and seventy-three farms or sub-divisions of land. They have five school districts, each with a commodi- ous frame house, with an enrollment of 294 scholars. The precinct is well supplied with rural routes from Seward and Milford, while the rural telephone systems are being extended to every nook and corner. K PRECINCT Town 10 north, range 2 east of the 6th P. M. is a magniti- cent tract of farming land with one hundred and ninety-eight farms or sub-divisions of land. It is a great plam just slight- ly undulating. The farms are nearly all well improved with excellent houses and great barns, with orchards and beauti- ful yards. The people seem prosperous and happy. They have four school houses with 254 scholars enrolled. There is about seven miles of railroad and one village, Goehner, which is a good shipping point, containmg three grain eleva- tors, three good well supplied merchantile houses and one hardware house; several substantial brick two story busi- ness houses, a plendid school in a modern two story struct- ure, three church edifices and a town hall, a good bank, depot, etc., together with a goodly number of cozy resi- dences. The village was laid out in the autumn of 1887, and contains about one hundred and twenty-five people, with some wide-awake business men at the head. Goehner is well situated for trade, being surrounded by farms just as good as can be found in the' world, which are owned and occupied by some of Nebraska's best people. Settlement began in this prairie wilderness in 1869 when Geo. Perkins, Andrew Perkins, Peter Oglevy, and Abram Windsor unloaded their prairie schooners, and transferred their families and goods to the soddies and began building homes. Uncle Peter Oglevy and Uncle Abe Windsor have finished their work and gone to their reward. Andrew Perk- ins has left us for the sunny south and only Geo. Perkins remains of the sixty-niners, except widow Graul. In 1870 A. C. Miller, C. C. Tunecliff, K. B. A. Bonnam, Peter M. Johnson and Ed. Jensen and Allison and Martin Madsonand perhaps a few others came to help subdue the wilderness. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 259 The first school was opened in 1873 in a sod college and was taught by Miss Lotta Hillery at mound prairie. There were many pathetic scenes in pioneer days in this little set- tlement, some of which will be told in historic letters in these pages. The post-office was established in 1888 with Chas. Brock- way P. M. Chas. Matzke is the present post-master. The records of the office were burned and we are unable to secure much information in regard to it. Money order office estab- lished in an early day. L PRECINCT Town 10, range 1, east, was first settled by John E. Fouse, at the crossing of Beaver creek, in 1862, when he opened a ranch on the old freight road. Mr. Fouse lived here many years in a sort of rough-and-tumble way, trading with travelers and Indians. The writer was at his place in 1864, and at that time the ranch was kept in an immense dug-out on the bank of the creek. There were a great many tough stories told in connection with this ranch in the pio- neer days, but we will not reiterate them, as we are hardly able to vouch for their truthfulness. Mr. Fouse was a pe- culiar character, and his place became somewhat famous for many tragic events there enacted. Whiskey was an import- ant article of trade at the ranch . Thos. Tisdale opened his little store and the postoffice in 1869, and Mr. Donovan also settled in the neighborhood about the same time. The real substantial settlement began in 1870 when tlie prairies began to be homesteaded. Widow Foster built the first frame house in April. Thomas Foster and his widowed mother and F. M. Horton made a settle- ment shortly afterwards. In 1871 there were a great many who made settlement. The first school of which we can learn was taught by John Tui'ner, on what was known as the Norman (Jassler farm, in the summer of 1873. While "L" is one of our foremost farming precincts, it has no rail- road and no village within its borders, but is happily situ- ated, convenient to four stations on two different railroads, and has a choice of markets within an hour's drive from any 260 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA point. The southwestern portion is somewhat rough but the lands are good. The other and larger portion is as fine farming land as can be found anywhere. The precinct has the choice of Utica, Tamora, Goehner, and Beaver Crossing for market places, and the farthest farm does not exceed six miles from a station. The precinct contains two hundred and thirty-five farms or sub-divisions of land; it has five school districts each with a good frame school house and an enrollment of one hundred and ninety-one pupils. Rural routes from Beaver Crossing and Utica supply the people with their daily mail, while the 'phone bell rings in a large portion of the homes. M PRECINCT Town 9, range 1, east of the 6th P. M., is the south- western precinct. It was traversed by the old freight road. In 1862, Daniel Millspaw opened a ranch just west of where Beaver Crossing now stands, where Mrs. Thompson now re- sides. In 1863, John Leonard established his ranch a little farther west. Mr. Buzzard settled just northeast of the present village in 1865. Columbus Clark and G. Clark settled just southeast of the Ross Nichols place and about the same time Phillip Michaels located on the Migatt farm. Ross Nichols came in 1869 and located on a portion of the townsite and soon after platted a small portion of his land and named it Nicholsville. Smith and Ingalls opened a little store in 1871 and Mr. Smith built the flouring mill that season. At this time Thomas Tisdale had a little store at John E. Fouse's ranch at the crossing of the Beaver creek in the corner of "L" precinct. Mr.Tisdale had secured a post office which was supplied by a star route. Mail was carried on a broncho and was weekly; some said it was a weakly affair. Mr. Tisdale wanted to get nearer the mill and he moved his store, postottice and all, including the name Beaver Crossing, and that is how they beat the beavers out of their crossing. The new town was rather a dull, sleepy cross-road place for many years with a couple of stores, a blacksmith shop, a small hotel and doctor's oflice, and so it remained until the spring of 1887, when the building of the F. E. & M. V. R. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY. NEBRASKA 261 R. was assured, when it awoke to a new life, which is more thoroughly set forth in other pages of this work. "M" precinct is more fortunate in that it has two rail- road stations within its boarders. In the southwest corner, largely through the influence of Benjamin Hunkins, the railroad folks located a station and namrd it Hunkins, and a neat little village sprang up. When the post office matter came up for sttlement the government would not adopt the name as there was in the state another office of so nearly the same name, so the village was re-named Cordova. Cordova, at this writing, is a brisk village of about 200 people, with a good supply of business houses; two elevators, bank, two churches, a tine school house and many neat resi- dences. The town draws trade from Fillmore and York counties, and is in a flourishing condition. It is surrounded by a well developed and rich farming community. "M" precinct is divided into two voting precincts. South Blue river traverses the precinct from the northwest to the eastward and southward a.nd furnishes an abundant water power. The drainage is very good. Indian and Johnson creeks traverse the south portion and Beaver creek cuts the northwest corner. There is quite an amount of natural timber along these streams. As is fully noted else- where, there are about four hundred flowing wells in this valley which are of great value. There are seven miles of railroad, seven school districts, each with good substantial buildings, with two graded schools, an enrollment of 515. There are 234 farms or sub- divisions of land. The farms in the valley are the highest priced farms in the country, the flowing wells tell the story. It is the great potato fleld of Nebraska. This precinct has become im- mensely rich and prosperous within a few years. N PRECINCT Town 9, range 2, east of 6th principal meridian is old historic ground. It was crossed by the old freight roads. The first one that was opened via old Camden in 1860 and later in 1864 by the steam wagon road via Milford. These roads made their intersection at or near Walnut creek ranch. 262 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA The first settlers to make permanent homes were Jesse R. Johnson and David Barton in 1864. Samuel Englehaupt also homesteaded that year. At first "N" precinct was a part of Walnut creek precinct. In 1865 the Campbell fam ilies homesteaded, also a Mr. Cooper. In 1869 P. J. Good- rich and Hiram Brisbin took homesteads. The first lumber used in the construction of a house was by P. J. Goodrich in 1870 on what is now the Roth farm. He hauled lumber from the Missouri river and sided up a log cabin. Mrs. Goodrich taught the first school in 1870 on the home farm. The first school meeting was held in Hi Brisbin's sod house in 1870. That is now district No. 23. ■ The first and only post office in the county was named Norval and as near as we can learn, was estabhshed on a Star route in about 1872. The precinct now has no post of- fice, but is well covered by rural routes from the various stations in close proximity. The South Blue river cuts the precinct, and its broad valley is beautiful and rich. It contains many flowing wells. The first flowing wells of the county were on what w^as known as the Chris Lezenby farm on section 8. As near as we can learn, the second well obtained was on 'the W. W. Pierce homestead just a short distance to the south of the river and near what is now knowm as the flowing well school house in district No. 24. The precinct is a most excellent agricultural region, and well covered with nicely improved farms. Walnut creek cuts the northwestern portion and in that region the land is somewhat broken, but the mass of the territory is slightly undulating prairie with sufficient drainage. There are two hundred and sixty-six farms or sub-divisions of land. There are six substantial frame school houses with an enrollment of 303 scholars. Present population is about 1500. The pre- cinct has no village or railroad, but is situated so that ship- ping points and places of trade are handy to all the people. Those of the eastern portion have Milford right at the door. The western portion is handy to Beaver Crossing and Goeh- ner and the southern portion has Dorchester and Friend close at hand, while Seward is not far aw^ay, with excel- lent roads. Altogether "N" is a rich and prosperous pre- cinct. Nearly every farm has its orchard. Every modern HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 263 convenience of farm life blesses the homes of most of the peo- ple; the mail box at the door and the telephone is a fixture with the masses of the people. On the old Samuel Engle- haupt farm is an old historic elm tree, probably one of the largest on the South Blue river. This oJd tree was made noted in 1860, when Uncle Tomy West first came co the county. He lived some miles down the river. The Indians had fallen out with Uncle Tomy and captured him one even- ing and tied him to this great tree and for some reason un- explained, left him tied for the night. The old man ex- pected to be burned or massacred in some way, but some how he got loose and made good his escape in the darkness and thus spoiled the play. It was our fortune a short time ago to gaze upon that tree and as the mind wandered back over the years and the many incidents that transpired in that region, we felt that we were treading upon holy ground. For many thrilling scenes that occured in that locality, the reader is referred to I. M. K. Johnson's letter on another page. O PRECINCT Town 9, range 3, east of the 6th P. M. is peculiarly his- toric ground, but as many of the stirring events of the early settlements have been fully noted on other pages of this* w^ork, there remains but little to be said here of its first set- tlement. However it may be noticed that the first families of the county found homes within its borders, namely, the Wests. It has been the scene of thrilling incidents. The first great freight road via Camden crossed the precinct in 1860, but there was no ranch planted within its borders un- til the steam wagon road was opened in 1864 by that prince of frontiersmen, J. L. Davison, which is fully noted else- where. The township is most happily situated so that it takes in a large sweep of both the north and the south forks of the river, furnishing it most ample water power and a large stretch of valley land with quite an amount of natural tim- ber and most beautiful scenery. Prom the start the pre- cinct enjoyed quite a rapid growth. The first mill of the 264 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA county was erected at West's Mills, which was a joy to all the people of this vast region. The township may also be noted as having the first permanent village of the county, and for many years had the largest pupulation of any in the county, and also that it enjoyed having the county seat four years. It also enjoys having at the present time a block of farms in its western portion which are noted far and wide as the best lot of farms in the western states in one solid block. The township may also be noted for having two promi- nent state institutions. There is but a very limited amount of railroad track but it enjoys a station where an immense amount of business is transacted. It has one of the largest cereal mills of the state. Milford, its village, is carefully discussed elsewhere. The greater part of the township is located upon the great plateau. Between the two rivers and this region is a vast garden full of orchards and lovely homes where peace and plenty dwells. The township contains two hundred and thirty-four farms or sub-divisions of land. It has seven school districts with six commodious frame buildings and one two-story brick with one first-class graded school with a total enrollment of 566 scholars. The banks of the Blue are a vast play ground where thousand of people spend their outings every summer, ram- bling in the shady dells, bathing in the waters, boating on the great pond, fishing in the streams and drinking of the medicinal waters and enjoying the hospitality of a noble people. It is a feast for the soul to stand upon an eminence and view the beautiful valley with the windings of the grand river as it sweeps by the Queen of Beauty that nestles in the shade of the ten thousand trees planted by the hand of man. Milford has much to be proud of, and if her wide-awake people will grasp the opportunities within her reach she will have a grand future. P PRECINCT Town 9, range 4, east of sixth principal meridian, is the southeast corner precinct of the county. It is one of the old HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 265 historical spots of all this western region. Just by the con- fluence of the north and south rivers at the county line a bridge was built in 1860 by Nebraska City enterprise and the great overland freight road was opened. That saved freight- ers and emigrants to the mountain region many weary miles of travel as previous to this they had to follow the windings of the Platte around the great ox bow bend. The first set- tler so far as we can learn was J. L. Davidson. He opened a ranch half a mile west of the bridge in the spring of 1862, and some time in the same summer A. J. Wallingford opened one at the bridge just by the county line of Saline coanty. Victor Vifquain had made settlement some time previous, and also Mr. Stanton had located in the edge of Saline coun- ty. A little later old Mr. Bingamen and James Johnson located in the neighborhood. The great trains of ox and mule teams with their burdens of freight and the tens of thousands of emigrants swarming across the plains made the Camden bridge a place of great note. The most gifted pen has never yet been able to fully describe the motley mass of humanity that traversed this great highway of traffic. At times, and the times were frequent, when looking to the eastward a vast throng of people with all sorts of convey- ances would be winding their way down the great hills and sweeping past the ranches and stretching away to the west- ward just as far as the eye could reach. It is not overstat- ing the case to say more than a thousand teams of one kind and another would be within sight at a time. The great freight trains of oxen, six yoke to the wagon and twenty-six great prairie schooners in a train would be the central ligare. Then would come a great mule train with six stalwart well coparaisoned mules to a wagon, with from eight to ten thou- sand pounds of freight to the wagon. Then the innumerable throng of emigrants with all sorts of vehicles from an ox cart or cow team and old wagon to the gilded carriage. Folks on horseback and many on foot, with an occasional caravan of Mormons, with all their wierd and curious belongings. Generally at night immense camps of these people would be gathered at the ranches and trade in food stuffs, grain 266 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA and hay would be brisk. The surface of "P" town is unlike that of its western sisters. North Blue river cuts the south- western corner, but the south river does not touch the pre- cinct while it empties into the main stream within a feXv rods of its borders. It has but a small corner of valley land. In the northwest corner there is a broad plateau between the Blue river and Middle creek brakes, which is covered with nice attractive farms, but to the eastward and southward the land is cut by Middle creek and the land is rolling and with many stony points. Notwithstanding this there are many excellent and valuable farms. Some years ago gold was dis- covered on the farm of J. S. Dillenbeck. This for a time created much excitement. Mr. Dillenbeck spent much time, energy and money iri investigating and developing this find and claims to have demonstrated the fact that there was vast sums of gold there, but by any present known means, from lack of water it cannot be made to pay the cost of obtaining it. So the mine is destined to remain unworked until some future genius determines the way of developing it. In the eastern part of the precinct there are quarries of stone with springs of excellent water and many running brooks. It is excellent pasture and meadow land. There are many groves of native timber along the streams. Thei'e are about four miles of railroad in the precinct, but no village or station at present, although it was the home of one of the oldest villages in the county. Camden on the Blue at one time as- pired to be the principal city of the Blue valley. The Burl- ington company had made their first survey of the Denver line through it and it was expected tnat Camden would be a city. Parker and Roper erected a flouring mill and a very good one in 1H66 and laid out a town site. William Buchanan opened the first store there of the county and was honored by being our first postmaster. The village grew apace and was a quite lively little town, but fates were against it. The railroad abandoned their survey. High waters washed away the mill dam. The owners became discouraged and aban- doned the property, and Camden witn all its bright prospects became a thing of the past. Hopes were revived again about seventeen years ago, when the Burlington folks secured the right of way and graded a road from Milford to Crete, but HISTORY OP SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 26'; somehow the company ran out of rails or something was the matter. The road was not completed. Precinct "P" had the first postolfice and about the first village and now has neither. The people are however all handy to market towns, Milford, Pleasant Dale and Denton are within easy reach and rural routes furnish the mail at nearly every door. At old Cam- den is one of the best water powers on the river, with good rock bottom. It seems sad that so many brip-ht prospects which this historic field possessed, should be blighted . There are within its borders two hundred and fifty farms or sub-di- visions of land. They have seven school districts including No. 1 — each with creditable frame buildings with an enrollment of 226 scholars. PERSONAL PROPERTY ASSESSMENT In order to get an approximate value, these figures must be multiplied by five. Seward, Neb., July 22, 1905. Mr. W. W. Cox, Dear Sir: — Enlosed you will find total assessment by pre- cincts and town. A precinct 128,608 00 B " 40,469 00 C " 43,107 20 D " 37,392 00 E " 39,095 30 F " 40,969 00 G " 86,127 00 H " 42,447 00 I " 39,014 00 J " 53,621 94 K " 55,617 00 L " .' 36,074 00 M " 44,18100 N " 41,656 00 O " 52,917 00 P *' 37,386 00 268 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Towns and Villages Beaver Crossing 38,360 00 Cordova • 15,458 47 Tamora 15,938 00 Utica 45,679 11 Staplehurst 17,651 00 Milford 36,683 00 Pleasant Dale 20,882 00 Germantown 22,460 00 Bee ; 13,802 51 Seward City 217,418 00 $1,164,993 36 Raised by Equalization Board 8,305 00 Personal Total Assessed Value $1,173,298 36 Report furnished by H. E. Baker, County Assessor. CHAPTER XV. Diaiy of E. L. Ellis — Diary of Hon. Thomas (iiaham — Monej- paid teachers in 1887 — Directors of districts and money paid teachers in 1904 — Location of districts and school houses of county — Water and water co\irses and latitude— Fourth of July 1868 at Seward — Fourth of July 1876, at Seward — First white child born in county — Politics of the county — Indian episode. FROM E, L, ELLIS' DAIRY, KEPT IN 1859 TO 1861 Mr. E. landed in Nebraska on May 12, 1859, and on May 17th we find him and party on the Nemaha creek, near where Palmyra stands, which is described as a wild country with howling wolves. He finds in all that county just one deserted cabin. He says the roads leading to Nebraska City are lined with an innumerable host of returning Pike's Peakers. Was favorably impressed with the quality of lands. Party arrived at the house of A. J. Wallingford, on Salt creek, on the 17th. The party, consisting of E. L. Ellis, A. J. Wallingford, F. C. Simpson, Wm. Jones, and C L. Barrett, visited Blue river on June 10th. Their way led across the rough land along Haines branch and South Middle creek, and except a drove of deer they saw nothing to please tliem until they reached the Blue valley. We infer by the time they were traveling that they struck Blue river somewhere between Old Camden and Milford. At six o'clock they reached an improvement that w^as commenced on the farm of A. J. Rogers, and was occupied by a Mr. Norton. The party camped at the mouth of a branch putting into the river, which we infer was Plum creek. On the eleventh they trav- ersed the table-lands east of Plum creek, and were well pleased with the country. He mentions the old town site at the junction of creek with river. Party saw one wolf and ten elk. Mr. E. says he killed one of them. They camped on ground where Mr. E. claims to have camped a year before. Mr. Ellis was left alone at camp a day without ammuni- 270 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA tion, and says it was blue enoup^h, twenty-tive or thirty miles from settlement. Three elk came within two hundred yards of camp. June 13th, worked on his claim, which is by the present iron bridge. Returned to Salt creek on the 14th, and learned that live hundred Cheyennes and Arapahoes had passed on their way to butcher the Pawnee tribe. The set- tlers at Salt creek are fearful that these Indians will rob and kill them as the^^ return, and are preparing fortifications, and had also sent spies to watch the movements of the red- skins. This scare continued until the 19th. August 4th, Mr. Ellis rode a stray mule to Rock Bluffs, sixty miles, for a doctor, and carried cold johnny cake in his pocket to eat. September 4th it is noted that nearly everybody in set- tlement is sick. Mr. E. visited Blue river again in Novem- ber, and he camped on Plum creek on the 3d; was huntmg that day. Next we find him building a little hou.se on his claim. The company saw, on the 6th, near three hundred elk, and killod one that netted 500 pounds. On the 11th two men were attacked by live hundred Indians, and taken prisoners, held one day, robbed of all they had except their guns, which were given back to them, and they were charged by the brave Pawnees to never come to Blue river again. Salt creek, Christmas day, and no snow, warm and pleas- ant, roads dusty'. On the 22th of February a few Indians came and bought twelve bushels of corn, which six squaws carried three miles without resting. April 3d a terrible dust storm is noted. The atmosphere was fairly darkened by it. E^'earful prairie fires on the 12th, damaging the settlers greatly, and came very near burning a house where a dead man lay at the time. June 10th Mr. Ellis visited Blue river again, and had quite an experience ferrying Salt creek at the basin, as it was very high. Ferried over in the wagon box and pulled the gears over with ropes. On the 15th killed an elk and an elk calf. On the 16th found four head of stray cattle somewhere near the future site of Seward. The party also found an old wagon worth about $45, that had been abandoned. They HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 271 found a settlement on the Blue, where . parties had planted forty acres of corn, but the record ^ives no names. On the 23d, went over to Jud^^e J. D. Maine's, on Stevens creek, and had the stray property appraised July 25th, killed a buck deer and tried to carry it to wagons nine miles distant, but failed. On the 28th our party got lost on the prairie, and laid out all nigiit. September 3d, was again on his claim. September 10, 1860, entered the claim. Soon after this Mr. E. returned to Missouri, where he found a wife and had some romantic experience with the intended father-in-law, who opposed the match. FROM THE DAIRY KEPT BY HON. THOMAS GRAHAM In July, 1858, while he was examining government sur- veys in Seward county and the counties surrounding it, we quote as follows: Thursday, July 1, 1858 — This day promises to be" rainy and disagreeable. We ran over to range line in town five, between ranges two and three, and one mile up north to town corner, which we did not quite reach on account of its getting too dark to see. July 4th — We are spending our 4th to-day in Sec. 1, town 5, R. 3 east. We have mulberry pie for dinner, which tastes nice. Day sunny and warm. July 13th--Camped in Sec. 34 or 35, town ten, range 3 east. [This was probably about a mile from Milford.] July 14th — Spent the day examining town nine, range three. [This is O precinct.] July 15th — Examining town 13, range 3 [J precinct,] and discovered a small settlement on the east bank of the Blue, where we got some milk for supper. [Mr. G. , we regret to say, fails to give us the names of the settlers, but we suppose it was the McKinly and Morton families spoken of in another chapter of this work. It is barely possible that it was the Morgans. July 16th — Raining. Went up to T. 11, R. 3 [G precinct], and up as far north as T. 12. [The balance of this day's rec- 272 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA ord is so badly effaced that we can not read it, but we de- cipher the word creek, which we understand to be our Plum creek.] Sunday iHth - Spent the day fishing in the Blue. [Sorry friend G. woukl tish on Sunday.] Mr. Graham tells us that he remembers that there were some towns site stakes near the mouth of Plum creek, but knows nothing of how they came there. These same stakes and two foundations were yet visible in February, 1864. They covered the slope in what is now Moffitt's pasture, north of tlie B. & M. road, and extended west to near the river at Boyes' mill. Later in the sfeason we tind Mr. Graham and party again in Seward county, and at that time they heard of the French settlement being formed at the forks of the Blue, but did not visit it. This was Vifquain settlement, just below the Saline county line. If Mr. G. had supposed that Seward county had so many honors in store for him, his notes would have been more elaborate, but we are thankful for small favors. SCHOOLS OF THE COUNTY Below is the amount of money paid teachers in Seward county for the year ending July 11, 1887: Dist. Amount Dist. Amount 1 $1(50 5U IS 26.-) 00 2 220 00 10 215 00 3 120 00 20....; 320 00 4 388 00 21 - .. . 180 00 5 (Mi If ord) 198500 22 21000 6 304 00 23 425 00 7 305 00 ■ 24 305 00 8 180 00 25 307 00 9 (Seward) 556100 26 275 00 10 . 195 00 27 . 277 50 11 280 00 28 340 00 12 210 00 29 265 00 13 220 (10 30 195 00 14 360 00 31 247 50 15 315 00 32 240 00 16 210 00 33 218 00 17 210 00 34 ! 233 00 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 278 Dist. Amount 35 180 00 36 250 00 37 240 00 38 195 00 39 300 00 40 333 00 41 335 00 42 350 00 43 259 00 44 330 00 45 105 00 46 ^ 315 00 47 290 00 48. 221 00 49 254 00 50 210 00 51 (Malcolm P. O. ) 531 00 52 280 00 53 260 00 54 ."... 270 00 55 227 50 56 235 00 57 225 00 58... 294 00 '59 304 00 60 (Utica, all female teachers) 1395 00 61 265 00 Dist. Amount 62.. 180 00 63 200 00 64 190 00 65 142 00 66 210 00 67 210 00 68 130 00 69 . 210 00 70 ISO 00 71 260 00 72 245 00 73 197 00 74 175 00 75 84 00 76 78 160 00 200 00 198 50 260 00 210 00 305 00 80 .-- 81 82 (Germantown) 345 00 83 (Staplehui-st) 735 00 84 ^ 257 50 85 210 00 86 - 245 00 87 265 00 88 - 156 00 89 - 150 00 90 .. 417 50 The teachers employed are fully three-fourth ladies, and outside the city of Seward the wages are fully equal to that paid gentlemen. Following is a complete list of the directors of the sev- eral districts with the number of scholars and the amounts of money received from state apportionment in the year of 1904. Disbursements. May, $6649.92; December, 4003.21. Dii^ ;. Director. Pupils. Amt. 1 C. Siedhoff 32 1 76.47 two disbursements 2 A. J. Kremer 42 82.87 two disbursements 3 B. F. Bremer 51 99.15 two disbursements 4 Geo. L. Borden 266 406.55 two disbursements. Beaver Cr 5 W. R. Trimble 250 390.81 two disbursements. Milford 6 J. A. Diven 68 121.62 two disbursements I*' 1 Fred Trahert 60 118.16 two disbur.sements 274 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Dis. Director. Pupils. Amt. 8 N. W. Heimer 38 1 77.07 two 9 Dr. F. A. Marsh 701 1027. 62 two 10 J. W. Figard. 19 56. 17 two 11 H. L. Sampson 18 58. 28 two 12 B. M. Hickman 38 89.25 two 13 Carl Sheeper 44 105.96 two 14 Neils Bjerrum 76 134.79 two 15 C. E. Cassey 34 80.21 two 16 R. W. Stull 139 87. 34 two 17 R. G. Banks 27 73.76 two 18 J. W. Conrad 33 82.33 two 19 John Stehlick 43 81.55 two 20 Israel Kesler 34 63.70 two 21 E. J. Newton 77 133.56 two 22 James Leger 33 74.37 two 23 M. J. Eicher 75 128. 08 two 24 W. M. Severns 60 114.63 two 25 Thos. Moulding 36 76.87 two 26 D. L. Francis 39 87.34 two 27 Geo. Bowr, jr. 107 186. 05 two 28 P. A. Terwilliger 37 83.60 two 29 Sep Gribson 42 85.43 two 30 Lewis Berry 34 78.45 two 31 Aug. ochulz 40 85.24 two 32 Jacob Koch 21 61.68 two 33 Geo. Sass 46 89.38 two 34 J. F. Ficke 49 90.12 two 35 James Jensen 28 69. 90 two 36 Gus Irmer 41 81.35 two 37 Phil Kinneman 23 70. 72 two 38 H. H. Lezatt 36 80.41 two 39 Geo. Nelson 25 69. 16 two 40 Geo. Gribble 25 61.20 two 41 John McGinness 75 133.37 two 42 A. C. Muir 44 98.89 two 43 H. P. McCortney 43 80.67 two 44 Grant Gore 59 118.51 two 45 Elisha Pool '"•l 104.45 two 46 R. J. Jeary 55 111.92 two 47 E. H. Strayer 45 100.32 two 48 J. S. Dillenbeck 45 95. 02 two 49 Jabez Berry 69 126.58 two 50 E. M. Lingstrath 37 83. 33 two 51 John Beckman 60 115.51 two 52 H. H. Beckman 57 11,5.66 two 53 J. W. Hannah 41 84. 89 two 45 Wm. Mould 51 106.21 two disbursements disbursements, Seward disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements > disbursements disbursements, Pl's'ntUale disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements, Goehner disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbursements disbunseinents disbursements disbursements HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 275 Dis. Director. Pupils . Amt. 55 Wm. Barbee 70 $133. 31 56 Ole P. Peterson 41 88.43 57 Horace VValvin 51 105.33 58 Carl Eberpacker 64 122. 12 59 H. C. Wolfe 67 116.07 m Chas Swartz 211 359.09 61 J. L. Blanchard 42 83.66 62 W. D. Lewis 38 87.68 63 Henry Dickey 18 58.28 64 Fred Ihde 48 98.41 65 F. L. Sterns 28 66.36 66 Henry Campbell 35 78.10 67 Elias Knight 21 61.67 68 Wra. Heers 53 108. 19 69 Albert McGrevv 37 73.88 70 Harvey Gannon 46 95.56 71 Martin VVillers 45 101.20 72 M. O. Tingsted 29 73.08 73 73 J. R. Staufer 124 201.46 74 Joseph Britt 35 71.92 75 VVm. Shultz 38 83.26 76 John Prochaska 28 70.78 77 Jacob Switzer 23 65.40 78 A. J. Anderson 49 95.41 79 80 C. J. Cooper Discontinued 29 76.62 81 Perry Bradley 18 56.52 82 Lewis Meyers 12 192.76 83 Thos. Carr 137 227.94 84 Wm. Pathe 46 96.43 85 Michael Schmitt 38 78.84 86 Fred Beckman 27 75.53 87 John Dal ton 68 119.85 88 John Blackwood 82 149. 53 89 I. H. Darling 27 71.11 90 J. B. Hamilton 87 155.78 91 C. H. Tipton 20 40.41 92 F. H. Connelly 26 62.61 93 Harvey Church 58 115.32 two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbuisements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements two disbursements Dist. with Butler Co. two disbursements two disbiirsements It will be noted in the above table that the amounts received by the districts was from the May and December apportionments. The num- ber of children given was from the December enrollments. The reader will observe that some districts appear by this table to have received more per capita than others. This comes by change in the enrollment from May to December. 276 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA LOCATION OF SEWARD COUNTY SCHOOLS 55 43 D 36 44 4' 15 c 70 14 83 91 33 26 B '•' 67 28 12 50 68 A 13 87 89 54 59 E 60 57 10 66 63 F 74 3" <)0 8 40 81 69 46 11 G 9 79 51 32 H 75 85 ^o 56 42 72 L 53 38 30 27 K 58 78 31 86 6 49 71 64 I 34 45 21 62 4 M 35 20 39 88 61 1,, « .. N , 29 25 73 5 o 47 18 o 92 84 17 ^« 65 P 77 76 19 1 The above plat shows as nearly as may be the location of every school house in the county by numbers, the figures denoting the position of the buildings. We are indebted to Superintendent Koch for the above plat. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 277 WATER AND WATER COURSES The drainage of the county is supphed by the following rivers and creeks: The west fork of the Blue river enters the county in section 30, in 'L" precinct, passes into "M" precinct, in section 4, and passes through it in the south- east course, enters "O" precinct in section 80, and crosses the Saline county line near the southeast corner of section 32, and joins the North Blue just at the county line on the south line of section 32, in "P" precinct. Its principal tri- butaries are Johnson creek which rises in western Saline county, passes through "M" and "N" precincts, and joins with the river just at the county line. Beaver creek passes through the southern portion of York county and through "L" and joins the main stream just west of the village of Beaver Crossing in "M" precinct. Walnut creek rises in "L" precinct, and joins the river near the south line of sec- tion 7 in "M" precinct. Indian creek traverses the south- western portion of "M" and empties into the West Blue just southwest of Beaver Crossing. West Blue is a most excel- lent mill stream, and carries two llouring mills in this county and furnishes drainage to all the southwestern portion of the county. The river and tributaries are supplied at convenient distances with bridges. It is noted for an abundant supply of superior lish. The North Blue enters the county in section 3 in "C" precinct, and its course is southeasterly through "C" and "G," and gracefully swings to the west and south of the city of Seward and passes through "J," "O" and "P" precincts. Its principal tributary, Lincoln creek, enters the county in section 34 in "D" precinct, and traverses the southern portion of "D" and "C" precincts and the north- western portion of "G." and joins the river just west of Se- ward. Lincoln creek is a beautiful mill stream, and its broad valley is grandly beautiful. One mill in this county, at Marysville, only as yet responds to its invitation. Plum creek enters the county in section 3 in "B" precinct, and cuts the precinct centrally and emyjties its water into the river just south of Seward. Various other small streams join the main river and help in the excellent system of drain- age. 278 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Blue river furnishes ample power for mills and factories, but these water-powers are only utilized in three points, viz: Seward, by H. L. Boyes & Sons, with a very creditable mill, at the Cooper & Henderson mill, and at Milford, where Messrs. Johnson & Co. have, at least, one of the most ex- tensive merchant mills in the west. Several branches of Oak creek traverse "A" precinct, and numerous branches of Middle creek have their rise in "H" and "I" precincts, furnishing ample drainage and sup- plying numerous running streams of pure water, making the eastern portion of the county par excellent as a stock- growing region. The general surface of the country is a slightly undulat- ing plain, with a southern inclination, and probably pre- sents as many acres of first-class tillable land as any county of our state. The altitude of the county is from 1400 to 1500 feet above tidewater. Our geographical position is sixty miles west of the Missouri, twenty-five south of the Platte, and forty-eight north of the Kansas line. The forty-first parallel of north latitude forms our northern boundary, and our western limit is the sixth principal meridian line. The ninety-seventh meridian of west longitude from Greenwich passes through the eastern portion of the county and about three and one-half miles east of Seward. Our elevation seems to be just about right; we are generally free from malaria; chills and fevers are scarcely known since the pioneer days. At the date of the early settlement, when great quantities of new prairie sod w^ere in the process of decay and the people had to endure unreasonable exposure, we were subject to chills and fever or ague. We are free from that close, humid atmosphere of lower elevations, and yet we are not high enough to produce the inconvenience in breathing experienced in the higher altitudes. Our atmos- phere is peculiarly bracing and energizing. Nights are cool, yet we are not subject to early or late frosts. We have usually a very small amount of snow, and scarcely no winter rains. Occasionally we have winter storms that are terrific, but they do not often occur. Our principal rainfall is between March 1st and September 1st, and is usually as well distributed through the growing season as in any per- HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 279 tion of this continent. Our streams are not subject to dis- astrous overflows, as they are deeply imbedded and of rapid current. Our wells are of moderate depth, varying from tw^elve to twenty-live feet on the bottom lands and from forty to one hundred feet on the upland; however there are but few that exceed sixty feet. The water is uniformly very excellent and abundant. We are especially fortunate in the all-important element of water and water-courses. TWO FOURTH OF JULY EPOCHS IN THE HISTORY OF SEWARD Just about one month after the embryo city was estab- lished, we had a celebration. Let us look for a moment at Seward as it then was and the surroundings. There was one little frame store— Beaty & Davis's — on the ground now occupied by Temp Anderson's grocery house; the Tuttle house, a small frame in an un- finished condition, where the old Commercial House now stands; Beaty 's small residence, on the spot occupied by the Windsor House, and also a small frame house of Hon. W. R. Davis, on the lot now occupied by the family. Orlando Pierce had a small frame residence under construction, near the northeast corner of the block south of the State Bank, with the old log cabin of Lewis Moftitt on the lot now occu- pied by the residence of Mrs. Moftitt; a dug-out occupied by Geo. Boyes' family, near the old saw-mill, and the little old log sod-covered school house, near the present residence of Mrs. Spear, was all there was of Seward on that memorable day. Be it remembered there was not yet a legal road leading into or out of Seward. There was not yet a bridge of any kind on Plum creek, and only one low-water bridge on the river north of Milford. This was near the old Wm. Imlay farm, about eighty rods up the river from the present jron bridge, near Mr. Castle's farm residence. There were located within live miles of the village the |:ollowing named families: S. C. Koss, on the Gale home- stead; Stites Wooley, on section 15, town 11, range 3, east; D. P. Imlay, on section 15; David Imlay, Sr., on section 10; Mrs. Dunway, gn section 3; Dr. Leland Walker, on section 280 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 11, (By the way, a severe storm had wrecked the doctor's residence and he was just in tlie act of gathering up the fragments and hauling them to town, and we beheve the family were living in a tent where the opera house now stands.); Roger Cooper, on section 12; Wm. Imlay, on sec- tion 18; John Roberts, on section 20; John N. Roberts, on section 19; Joseph C. Sampson, on section 19; Richard Sampson, on section 17; James A. Brown, on section 20; Ezra Shafer and Rev. E. L. Clark on section 28; Lewis An- derson and Wm. Anderson on section 11, range 2, east; •Tames Anderson on section — ; Rev. E. W. Johnson on sec- tion — ; Thomas Skillman on section — ; Geo. Rogers and his mother on section — ; Geo. Sloneker on section — ; Chas. Thurman on section — ; Joseph Thurman on section — ; E. L. Ellis, F. Duncan and W. W. Cox on section 8, town 11, range 8, east. The mass of the county was wild prairie as was nearly all the town site. There was a corn field on all the ground from Jackson avenue north. The few people of the town and community, however, were patriotic and they deter- mined to have a celebration. Some of the good women gathered up some strips of bunting and made a flag, Mrs. J. N. Beaty led in this laudable undertaking. The men went down to Moffitt's grove and cut the tallest and straightest pole to be found. Others were delegated to sally around and notify the country people of the celebration, and the neighbors rallied, some on foot, some on horseback, .some with horse teams, and some with ox teams. They came with hearts full of enthusiasm and we celebrated.. We had no canon, neither firecrackers, brass bands, excursion trains nor .strong drink. The good people had dug a public well in the public square and it gave us plenty of good cold, clear and si^arkling water; we had plenty to drink of life- giving water and were all able to get home from the celebra- tion without the help of the police. We raised the pole and sent the flag skyward to flutter for the first time over this beautiful land. A great pile of dirt from the well answered the purpose of a rostrum. The Declaration of Independence was read. Sweet patriotic .songs were sung. Uncle John Ward and the writer made speeches HISTORY OP SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 281 and of course they were eloquent. We all had a a good time and went home happy. JULY FOURTH 1876 The Centennial celebration at Seward was one long to be remembered. Ample preparations had been made by a com- petent committee, and in what was then known as Robert's grove — now a part of the fairgrounds— the celebration was held. The day was ushered in with beautiful sunshine. Sew- ard was at the time a wide-awake business place of five or six hundred people. It was eight years old, the end of the Midland Pacific railroad, and commanded the trade from Seward, York, Hamilton, Butler and Polk counties. At an early hour people began to arrive in all kinds of vehicles known to the time. A vast procession was formed in the streets representing all the various industries and peculiari- ties of our community. Delegations from distant countie.^, and every nook and corner of our county came pouring into the town until the throng was immense beyond computation. It is speaking within bounds when we say not less than five thousand people were on the grounds at the exercises. It was a day of festivity, recreation and pleasure. Bands of music made the welkin ring. Cannon boomed and the small boy with the firecracker helped the thing along. Eloquent addresses were made, and right here the author did his first historical work. He read a short history of the county, or rather a series of reminiscences of the early settlement, and the applause of that vast throng perhaps is what has inspired his later efforts in that line. It was truly an era of good will, and all went merry as a marriage bell, and as we re- member there was no accident to mar the occasion. FIRST WHITE CHILD OF SEWARD COUNTY In the far off years to come when this generation has passed off the stage, it will be most interesting to know who, among the thousands that have had their homes here, was the first of our race to come to light and life. This person 282 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA was Ellen, daughter of Thomas Morgan and wife, born at the old home of her parents on the Blue river, about half a mile north and east of Ruby station in "J" precinct, October 7, 1861. Her present name is Mrs. L. W. Perkins, of Fron- tier county, Nebraska. POLITICAL MATTERS OF SEWARD COUNTY Tliere are some peculiar features about the politics of this county worthy of special notice. For many years the county was strongly republican, especially on national and state matters, and the 'first two elections every candidate of that party was elected by large majorities. There are no records to be found of the election returns from the begin- ning of our political life in 1865 up to 1875. Somehow these records have been lost in the shuttle. This much we re- member, that our first Presidential election in lcS6s, Grant received 159 votes and Seymour received 41, and in 1872 Grant received 637 votes and Greeley 138. In 1876, w^e find the full returns wherein Hayes received 905 votes and Til- den 325. In 1880 Garfield received 1354 and Hancock 699. In 1884' Blaine received 1630 and Butler and Cleveland, Fusion, 1332; St. John received 67. In 1888 Harrison re- ceived 1804 and Cleveland 1658, Fisk 104 and Streeter 12. In 1892 Harrison received 1330 and Cleveland 763, Weaver, populist, 1166. In 1896 McKinley received 1688, Palmer 53, and Bryan 1876. It will be noted that this is the first and only time in the history of the county that other than the republican candidate for the presidency, secured a majority of votes in the county, Mr. Bryan being the regular demo- cratic candidate and supported by the populists. In 1900, McKinley received 1937, Bryan 1865, and 49 votes were scat- tering. In 1904, Roosevelt received 2243, Parker 1029, scat- tering 371. On the gubernatorial ticket, David Butler received large majorities in 1860, 1868, and 1870; Furnas in 1872; Garber in 1874 and 1876; Nance in 1878 and 1880; Dawes in 1882 and 1884; Thayer in 18S6 and 1H88. In 1H90 the scale turned when J. E. Boyd the democratic candidate received 147H, while iRjchards, republican, received only 1238; Powers, indepen- HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY. NEBRASKA 283 dent, 922; Paine, prohibition, received 49. In 1892, the tide turned aj?ain, and Crounse received 1237; Van Wick, populist, received 1055; J. Sterling Morton, democrat, 955; and Bent- ley, prohibition, 70. In 1894 the populists had an inning. Holcomb received 1605; Majors, republican, 1496; and 183 scattering. In 1896, Holcomb received 1957, and McColl, republican, 1530, with 72 scattering. In 1898 and again in 1900 Poynter, fusion, received 1633; Hayward, republican, 1511; scattering, 22. In 1902, Mickey received 1595; Thomp- son, fusion, 1597; and Davis, prohibition, 41. In 1904, Mick- ey received 1751; Berge, fusion, 1842; scattering, 69. Notwithstanding the county was so strongly republican for so many years, Hon. Thomas Graham, a thorough going democrat was elected live successive terms county clerk, 1870 to 1880: he was followed by Ed. O'Keefe, an anti-monop- olist one term; then Joseph Dupin, another red-hot democrat, was elected three successive terms, up to 1888, when the tide turned and R. T. Coo]:)er, republican, was elected. Since that time the clerkship has drifted back and forth from re- publican to populist and democrat, just as it happened. The office of sheriff has also been in the hands of the democrats a large share of the time. Three terms out of six in the early years the democrats elected the state senator, viz: Graham, Dumphey, and Wright: and of later years it has drifted from one party to the other, republican, democrat and fusion being about equal. From 1868 to 1887, a mixed ticket was elected, but in the last named year the republicans made a clean sweep. It is proper to say that nearly all the gentlemen elected were very popular and worthy citizens. Just why it has so hap- pened that a naturally strong republican county as this was for so many years should elect so many men on the opposi- tion ticket is hard to explain, only in this way: that our peo- ple are very independent and will vote just as the notion takes them, without much regard for politics. It will be noted in the roster of county officials, mem- bers of the state senate representing Seward county but cit- izens of other counties, are not noted. The county officers of the county have been very efficient men and have performed their duties well. For thirty-three 284 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA years there has not been a defaulter, and only one little ir- regularity that is hardly worth noticing. MILFORD'S UNWELCOME GUESTS A scene of wild excitement occurred in the summer of 1878, when the Ponca Indians were journeying from their old home in the north part of our state to their new home in the Indian territory. Under the command of Major How- ard the Ponca tribe, about live hundred strong, were passing through this county. As they passed through Seward all seemed cheerful and happy. We recollect that the tribe was well provided with excellent teams, new wagons, and all the necessaries of life, but there was an under current of dis- satisfaction at having to leave the old home. Sliortly after leaving Seward one of the teamsters had an accident which started trouble. His wagon was overturned and a child was killed. This was a bad omen to the mind of the Indians, at same time a chief's daughter was very sick, and was carried on a litter. Late in the day the band arrived at the proposed camp- ing ground near the bridge, and just at this time the young squaw died. This was another bad omen, and the Indi- ans were becoming excited thinking the great spirit was angry at theoi. The major saw there was a spirit of great discontent, and he promised them a week of rest. The teppes were placed and camp tires were started, just then a furious storm broke upon them. One squaw had a kettle of boiling water suspended on a tripod over the fire. Some children were seated near the fire an awful gust of wind overturned tents and threw the camp into dire confusion, and the huge kettle of boiling water scalded one child to death, and another was seriously burned by being knocked into the fire. Confusion ruled the hour, Pandimonium broke loose. Fortunately the bucks had just been shooting beeves and had used up all the ammunition at hand. Major Howard sent a messenger post haste up town for a doctor. Dr. Brandon quickly responded, little thinking that he was to "wajk into the jaws of death; into the mouth of hell." Dark- HISTORY OP SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 285 ness began to veil the sky, and peal on peal of dreadful thunder with the ghastly scene only illumined by the flashes of lurid lightning and the whole camp in the wild revelry of a war dance and ready to wreak vengeance upon the pale face. Major Howard had under his command about thirty white teamsters with the doctor; in their midst a hollow square was formed and the men with revolvers were given strict orders to fire to kill provided the ferocious savages made an on- slaught with raised tomahawks, and scalping knives. The doctor of course was brave, but somehow his hat raised a foot or more. Thirty white men had to cooly face five hun- dred infuriated savages. The moment was awful in the ex- treme. The Indians were so frantic with rage that it was with great difticulty that a parley was effected, but finally a truce was made, when the poor creatures could be made to understand that it was the medicine man come to their relief, when they quieted down. The people of Milord knew nothing of the trouble or danger until it was all over. If a blow had been struck or a shot fired there would probably have been one of the bloody tragedies of history to relate for the village would only have been awakened when the work of death and distruction had commenced. CHAPTKR XVI. NEWSPAPERS OF SEWARD COUNTY NEBRASKA ATLAS The story of the newspapers of our county, if all told, would be a long one. The date of the first issue of a paper in the county is March 16, 1870, when O. T. B. Williams a former editor and proprietor of a paper in Columbus, Neb- raska, managed to find Seward. The long and tedious winter had given way before the genial sunshine of spring when Mr. Williams put in his ap- pearance. The good people were feeling pretty good and were ready to welcome the advent of a newspaper. The press that was to do the work was a "small fry," but we were all glad to welcome it; it was yet a "day of small things" in this county. If the press was small, it was large enough for the work it had to do. The paper was not as large as a "Sunday Bee" or a "Chicago Tribune" but it was large in our eyes at the time. It was christened, "Nebraska Atlas." This would indicate that the field of its useful in- fluence would be as wide as our young state. We will quote from its news columns the principal paragraphs of the first issue, as follows: "The new frame school house is to be commenced short- ly. We are greatly in need of the building and we hope the committee will prosecute the work with vigor. We trust the building will be completed in time for the summer school." The reader wnll note that the above named school house was our first frame school house: it was .sold by the dis- trict when the brick building was erected in 1874. Tne next item in the news column was that that there was near $700 subscribed for the new Baptist church. This is most encouraging. "Our citizens have taken hold of the matter in earnest. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 287 and there is no doubt but this summer will see the church edifice completed. Mr. Moffitt gives three lots on which to erect it." These were the lots owned and occupied for many years by the Presbyterian church. More of this on another page. "A petition is about to be started for the incorporation of our town [Seward] and we hope to see every name upon it." "Judge J. D. Maine in the Oak Grove settlement is credited with raising one hundred and fourteen bushels of corn to the acre the previous summer." We select the following correspondence in the first issue which in the light of subsequent events reads a little like prophecy: Seward, March 15, 1870. Dear Atlas: "We are glad to welcome your appearance among us. It makes us feel as if we were getting out of the wilderness. We have been watching and waiting through a long night of anxiety, and now behold a 'sign of promise.' The dark- ness is giving way, the sky is brightening, the clouds that have overshadowed us are disappearing, the day is dawning and we rejoice. Now let us put our shoulders to the wheel of progress, and these waste places shall be made glad, this 'wilderness will smile,' and instead of the yelping coyote, or the hoot of the owl, or the whoop of the wild man, as in the days past, we will behold a city surrounded by thousands of splendid farms. Here we will see springing into life facto- ries, seminaries, churclies, and here will concentrate work- shops and a multitude of merchants, and here will soon be heard the approaching tread of the iron horse. As the icy fetters of winter are giving way before a genial sun, we can already hear the sound of approaching footsteps from the far-off East, coming to find homes with us, and soon we shall hear the thundering tread of the mighty army that is com- ing to posses the land. Truly, W. W. Cox." We give also a letter from the county, which throws much light on the situation of things in general of that day: 288 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA "Hickman viLLE, March 10, 1870. Mr. Editor; "Presuming that the Atlas is to be published for the gen- eral information of the whole country, and the inhabitants of Seward county in particular, I propose to give your readers a few items from this settlement, the 'land of promise.' This place lies five miles north of Seward and seven miles from Ulysses, and derived its name from the large influx of Hick- mans from the state of Iowa, John D. Hickman being the pioneer, who settled on his land (homestead) in 1868. Since that time immigrants have come so rapidly that all the gov- ernment land in this immediate vicinity has been taken up, principally as homesteads. Some tw^enty buildings have already been erected, and several more are in course of erec- tion. "A school district was organized in the spring of 1869, with Thomas J. Poore as director. A schoolhouse (sod) w^as built in the fall of that year, and a teacher hired, who com- menced his labors January 1, 1870. We learn that the aver- age attendance w^as twenty. A lyceum was also organized about January 1st, which was christened the Pioneer Ly- ceum, and which has been in full blast ever since, meeting weekly, and as far as I can learn, giving general satisfaction. In connection w^th the lyceum a paper was established (Pio- neer Banner) devoted to literature, fine arts, general news, and advertisements. The paper has been well and ably ed- ited, but an exchange of editors being necessary according to the by-laws, a 'Poore' man w^as placed in the editorial chair. "Our school closed its winter term February 25th, with honor to both teacher and scholars, the exhibition— the first in the county — taking place on Monday the 28th. The house was crowded, and everything passed off harmoniously, and to the entire satisfaction of all, Hon. W. R. Davis delivering the oration. ' 'Thrift and enterprise seem to prevail. No less than seven wells have been sunk within sixty days, with gratify- ing results. "The weather for the past few weeks has been magnifi- cent. Preparations will soon be made for seeding if the HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 289 weather continues gfood. We are looking for an early spring. "Plenty of good land to the north and west of us, but none in this immediate vicinity. "And now, Mr. Editor, having given you our situation, we trust that your endeavors to establish a first class county newsi:)aper will prove successful, and that your career may be honorable and prosperous to yourself and those you rep- resent, is the wish of your correspondent." Clippings from old numbers of the Nebraska Atlas: (On- ly part of the tiles have been preserved.) Feb. 27, 1871 -Addie, wife of J. P. Losee, died. Mrs. Losee leaves a husband and a large circle of friends to mourn her loss. She had been married but a year. Mrs. Abram Wallick also died the same day. She was in her thirty- sixth year, and was the mother of thirteen children, and a very estimable Christian lady. Her husband and large family, and a host of friends mourn for her. July 21st — Warren Clough's wedding occurred. July 28th — The first brick dwelling is mentioned, D. C. McKillip's residence. Sep. 1st — Notice is given of the appointment of W. W. Cox as statistical correspondent of the Department of Agriculture. Sep. 22nd — John Robert's new farmhouse is looming up. Nov. 3rd^ Notes the advent of a man, wife, and nine girls, and only one son-in-law. The Presbyterian church is raised. June 18, 1873 — I. B. Compton has just finished the first tin roof in Seward. [The old postoffice building, just west of the Butler block.] Same date notes that fourteen Bohemians loaded up with building material for their houses in Hamilton county. The visit of Thomas Scott, the railroad king, and ex- Gov. Dennison, of Ohio, is commented on. July 2nd — Pour tights in the streets are mentioned. Aug. 27th — The Seward grain-buyers get rough over- hauling. Sep. 3rd — $5, 000 school bonds were voted by a majority of twenty-one. July 23rd — State Bank is open for business. 290 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Aug. 13th — The purchase of the Presbyterian bell is noted. Also that the telegraph is completed to Seward. Dec. 10th — The Mohawk Lumber Company has unloaded one hundred and seventy cars of lumber since March 1st. Jan. 21, 1874 — John N. Edwards is advertised for a free lecture in the church. Jan. 2st — John Tresslar and Carrie Olmstead are mar- ried. Jan. 28th — The Baptist church was completed. March 4th — The paper is badly nettled by the 'crusade movement,' and its columns are full of burlesque notices of them. They were evidently making it difficult; for him to get his regular drinks. April 22nd — War was declared by Foucet's saloon against the crusaders, and a shameful scene ensued, which reflected no credit on the town or its ofiicers. May 13th — The incoming Midland train ran over a pole- cat, and the passengers needed no perfumery for some time. May 20th — The injunction in the case of Monteith, in re- gard to planting trees on the public square, is yet unsettled. May 27th — Work on the M. E. church is being pushed with vigor. May 29th— Leroy Moffitt, the only son of Lewis Moffitt, died. Leroy was a kind liearted boy of about twenty years, and the loss is sadly felt by his parents, the friends of the family, and the young people, with whom he was a favorite. June 3rd— Little, Brock & Curson's elevator is under construction, the tirst in town. July 15 — The drowning of Peter Gerken in the Blue riv- er just south of town is noted. Also that Pricheau's block is going up rapidly; that Seward has three select schools; and also, that the comet is visible and growing brighter. It was truly an up-hill business to run a pa])er in so sparse- ly a settled country, and Editor Williams had a, hard time of it. In the winter of 1870 and 1871 the Atlas, as we used to say of povei'ty stricken cattle, "was on the lift," and the citizens made a festival to help it out and keep the poor thing from winter-killing. By the way, Seward was a great place in those early days for festivals and sociables. They were always well at- HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 291 tended and proved both entertaining and profitable. It made no difference if it was for the benefit of the churcli or some otlier public enterprise, the people flocked to such entertain- ments and were all on a perfect equality Old and young were there without distinction as to standing, race, or color. The people were all upon a perfect equality and enjoyed life remarkably well. The Nebraska Atlas managed to eke out an existence for nearly four years. Mr. Williams grew tired and disposed of the office and good will (that good will was a big thing "you know") to W. C. Cloyd and he associated with him Prof. O. S. Ingham again and they attempted to convert the paper into a great literary paper simiLir in appearance to the Toledo Blade, but they did not have Nasby to edit it and so the failure was complete. Prof. Ingham again took to the school-room where he was perfectly at home, and Mr. Cloyd managed to get the Atlas back into shallow water where it could swim or wade, and it managed to live until sometime in the summer of 1874, when it gave up the ghost. It died of too much democracy for its day. THE BLUE VALLEY RECORD Was the second newspaper to put in an appearance. It was first issued on the 29th day of December, LSTO, at Mil- ford and it continued its existance until April 10th, 1873. It was a lively and interesting paper from start to finish. Cul- ver and Parsons were the editors from its beginning to the end and they worked manfully for what they thought to be for the best interest of Milford and the county. They held Milford up before the world with ability and energy, and many times they made it quite interesting for the Seward people. It frequently measured swords with the Atlas and later with the Reporter. The files of the Record have all been well preserved and it has been our privilege to examine every page of them and have gleaned many interesting facts of historic value and many incidents both curious and interesting. We make no excuse for the free use we make of clippings. The valuable tiles are deposited with the State Historical Society at Lin- 292 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA coin. The work of the Record has frequently been quoted in other papers in these pages, and now the best history we can give is to let it tell its own story in the following clip- pings. From the Blue Valley Record of December 29, 1870, the first number ever issued, we extract the following inter- eresting items: The editor opens his paper with a three-column histoi^y of the county, in which he claims that Thomas West made the first settlement in 1859, and Daniel Morgan in 1H60. He also credits J. L. Davison with being the third settler. This we are quite sure is a mistake, for we were at Mr. Davison's house on Salt creek as late as the autumn of l!-i61, a little to the south w^est of the present town of Roca. Mr. Davison opened his old Camden ranch in the fall of 1862. James West located m 1860, near his brother Thomas; and Orin Johnson as early as 1860. The editor says that Mr. Davison, with a man by the name of Ellis, located the territorial road from Nebraska City to Port Kearney, but fails to state the time. We are quite sure this occurred in the spring of I860, for we distinctly remem- ber that Wm. E. Hill and party, of Nebraska City, went and built the old bridge on the Blue near Camden, just above the forks of the river and just by the county line, in the early summer of 1860. So it is quite probable that the road was then located. The editor says that Mr. Davison, as he re- turned from this trip, pre-empted a place near (\amden, which was afterwards the ranch. This is undoubtedly correct, but pre-emptors did not have to so carefully watch their claims then as later. There were scarcely any to molest or make afraid. The changing the name of the county is noted, and the building of the West mills; Parker and Roper's mill at Camden, and the Milford mills are all mentioned, and the agricultural resources and possibilities of the county are dis- cussed at length. It is noted that immigration set in in earnest in 1866, and that all the eastern and northern states were represented, and it was claimed that the closing of the year 1870 found full three thousand souls in the county. It was claimed that in the summer of 1870 there were broken over four thousand acres of land. The average crop HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY. NEBRASKA 293 report was noted as follows: wheat, twenty bushels per acre; oats, forty; corn, forty-live. Numei'ous groves had been ])lanted. Osage, plum, cottonwood and walnut were experi- mented with for hedges. Our soils are described as rich sandy loam, largely composed of decayed vegetable matter and underlaid with a clay subsoil, and well adapted to with- stand drouth. The peat deposits west of Milford are noticed. The surface and drainage of the county are favorably com- mented upon, and it was claimed that the waste lands were all in some other county, which was very correct. The water-powers of the rivers receive favorable mention. The red sandstone of Middle creek, and the white limestone in the southern part of the county, also the shell limestone of the north-east, are all noted. The indications of coal are mentioned. The school system and first school are mentioned as follows: "The county being so thinly settled, the formation of a school district was not to be thought of until the year 1S67, when a few families combined and formed an independent school at Camden, and employed Miss Eva Hooker as teacher. This we believe to be the first school in the county." In this the editor is mistaken. There was one up near West Mills prior to this; also one at Seward as early as the previous winter. The people are represented as wide-awake in edu- cational matters, and every individual was a committee of one to see that there was a school at tlie earliest possible date, and the result has been a healthy growth of educational interests in the young county. At the date of writing there are sixteen organized disti'icts and one academical associa- tion. The teachers are highly commended, and also the pa- trons, for their zeal. The Southern Nebraska C. C. Acad- emy, under the supervision of Hon. Geo. B. Prance, is spoken of as highly creditable to the county, and as already well spoken of abroad. Three villages —Camden Milford and Seward — are all spoken of in the highest terms; a compliment is paid to the Nebraska Atlas, the pioneer newspaper of the county. Mil- ford was well described as the county seat, and with two good water-powers and splendid possibilities. 294 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA In summing up the growth it is noted that from three families in 1862, now three thousand bright intelligent people have united their fortunes with the interests of the county. The edito]' seems to have set squarely before the world the county of his choice, and he certainly did it; and even now we remember his efforts with gratitude, as he was so earnestly striving to make this wilderness to smile. CLIPPINGS, "We notice a motto on a prairie schooner as follows: 'York county or bust.' " "The apportionment of school money to Seward county for 1870 is $1,452.42 to 782 scholars." We also note from same table that whole number of scholars in Nebraska was 32,762. The editor's salutatory contains these words: "Morally we shall labor for what we believe to be truth and justice, and shall act upon what we profess." Also it says: "We shall labor for the best interests of the republican party, not in a partisan spirit, but in a firm belief that it is the true party of progress and reform." January 5, 1871. — "J. L. Davidson, of Milford, has near- ly completed the largest and best dwelling house in the coun- ty." The house spoken of is the square house just west of the bridge. It don't look the largest or the bast in 1905. "A number of prominent Seward people are in town (Milford) attending probate court." That reads strangely now. "Wm. G. Keen is recommended for postmaster at Nelden? the new office on Walnut creek ten miles west of Milford." January 12th. — "Fresh buffalo meat is on sale, at three cents per pound." From a communication by Fair Play, it is claimed that Miss Agnes Bailey (now Mrs. Cornelius West) taught the first school in Saline county, near the county line, and was patronized by citizens of both counties. This was in the spring of 1861. She also taught a school near West's mill in 1868. So sha has the honor of teaching the first school of both Saline and Seward co unties; and Miss Englehouft HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY. NEBRASKA 295 taught the West Mills school in 1865-66. In 1866 the resi- dents of Camden district organized under the school law, bought" the old building in Saline county and moved it over, and Thomas Graham taught during the winter of 1866-67. The same articles mentions that Thomas Graham has a tine orchard of apple and pear trees which are doing well, and that J. W. Lowrie has peaches of his own planting, probably the tirst in the county. Jt is also mentioned that Mrs. Graham, Mrs. Lowrie, and Mrs. Parker are making the prairie blaze with the variety and beauty of their flowers. The county superintendent reports the school fund as follows: Apportioned by state $1,452 42 Dog fund 193 38 Fines and licenses 100 00 Total $1,745 80 This was distributed to twenty-six directors as follows: District No. 1 , F. L. Roper, Camden $ 85 25 2, Orin Johnson, West Mills 44 58 3, Sam Englehaupt, on West Blue 51 15 4, W. J. Thompson, on Walnut creek. . .. 74 65 5, Rev. T. M. Skinner, Milford 150 67 6, Matthew Hack worth (east of Ruby). . . 110 00 7, Geo. W. Lesenby, north of Milford. . . 44 58 8, Wm. Anderson, west of Seward 87 32 9, H. L.Boyes, Seward 125 92 10, J. D. Thurman, on Lincoln creek ... . 58 72 " 11, W. W. Cox, north-west of Seward. . . 44 58 12, T. Poore, six miles north of Seward. . 76 42 13, C. C. Berkey, center of "A" 88 79 14, E. C. Archer, we.st of Staplehurst. . . 74 65 15, wanting 16, A. Montgomery, north-west of "N". . 78 19 17, M. M. Neeves 62 28 18, Sam Strohm, center of "O" 33 96 19, Ed. H'ealey, south west of "P" 56 95 20, J. N. McCauley, center of "M" 58 73 21, J. A, Reymer, south-east of "1" 53 42 22, Wolsey Weyant, southern "H" ...... 46 3^ 296 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA District No. 23, Thos. Healey, northern "N" 55 19 24, R. J. McCall, west of "M" 44 5s 25, Wm. Halle, south-east of "N" ' 34 10 26, Geo. W. Losy (Bachelor) 51 65 This was done at Milford, January 7, 1871, by Geor^^e B. France, superintendent. The reader will please compare the above table with the present showing of the disbursements to ninety districts. It will be noticed that Milford district at that date was the most populous and had the most money, while Seward was second. In March, 1871, it is noted that James Her was appointed postmaster at Pleasant Dale. April 6th — The organization of the American Bible So- ciety by Rev. McCaadlish, of Omaha. Messrs. Birge, Keyes, S. Brown, and D. C. Tift were elected executive committee. Culver and Parsons were appointed to care for the books. Editor noting a visit of Geo. McKay, A. D. Sperry, and E. H. Nonon, of the north partof the county, says: "Perhaps we can visit you by rail before another century. " The century proved to be a short one. You can do it now, my friend. April 13th — "S. W. Houston has received his appointment as postmaster at Oak Grove." Now "A" town. April 20th — "Wm. Knight has received his appointment as postmaster at Groveland north of Seward." May 4th — The leturn of a hunting party consisting of J. W. Hickman, Mr. Davis, Ellis Gandy, Elias Frame, and oth- ers, with three loads of buffalo meat. Their game was caught on the Kansas border, south of the Republican. One hundred and eighty-nine emigrant wagons passed through Milford during April. Tuesday, May 2d — The second term of the district court met. Judge Lake on the bench. Twenty- four cases on the docket. We glean from the county superintendent's report for the year ending April 1st, the following interesting educa- tional statistics: Whole number of children of school age , 1,247 Number attending school , 679 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 297 Number of teachers employed (male) 19 (female) 20 Average daily attendance 754 Total amount paid teachers during year $3,717.00 We also glean from an editorial note that there are twen- ty school-houses — six frame, four log, seven sod, and three dug-outs. The editor remarks that the people must have an inordinate desire to educate the ' children, to face winter storms across the blighted railroad lands, long distances to a dug-out or sod shanty to school. We think as much. From a Seward correspondent of June 1, l.s71, that Sew- ard is a bright town of three summers, and has about one hundred and seventy people. We also note that at that time H. M. Coleman was princi- pal of our school. The organization of the Odd Fellows' Lodge, with L. G. Johns as Noble Grand. Tuesday, June 13th — At Milford the Good Templars or- ganized a lodge. Rev. J. M. Yearnshaw, Dis. D. G. W. C. T., assisted by D. W. Amesbury, of Lincoln. Officers elected were: J. L. Davidson, W. C. T. ; Miss Mattie Drake, W. V. T. ; H. G. Parsons, W. R. Scribe; G. B. France, W. F. Sec; Mrs. J. Laune, W. Treas. ; F. J. Culver, W. Chaplain. Onaway was the name chosen. Beaver Crossing was mentioned as "Nicholsville," and it is reported that work on the mill was progressing finely. Main street is being surveyed, and everything is bidding fair to make a youthful city in a short time. June 15th — H. W. Parker's nomination as registrar of Beatrice land office is noted. July 20th — "Corn stands about six feet high in the Blue valley." July 6th — "Jeff Stevens, a resident six miles north- west of here, was found under a load of overturned lumber, about four miles east of town, near the bridge on Middle creek. Mr. Stevens leaves a wife and ten children to mourn his loss. " The June apportionment of school moneys show $2,021 .10, divided among forty districts. We also notice that in this apportionment Seward leads 298 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA with $132.90, and Milford takes the second place with $125.25. Fourteen new districts had been formed since January. This number contains a sliarp letter from "Well Wisher," on the county seat embrogiio. Also a long editorial on a newly discovered coal mine, which it was claimed had been found by Mr. Stockton, forty-seven feet below the surface, and Mr. S. claimed they had bored four feet and six inches into solid coal. July 27th — Milford is announced as a money order office. August 10th — Dr. Woodward is announced for a lecture. Subject: "Immateriality of the mind and its relation to the body." August 19th — The Record gives some heavy hits at the Seward liars for reporting small-pox at Milford. August 24th — Gold is quoted at $1.12. Same date, we find the report of a railroad meeting at Camden, W. C. Scott, chairman, and Ed. Healy, secretary. Judge Hooker and Gen. Vifquain otfered the following reso- lutions: Whereas, We, citizens of Seward, Saline, York, Ham- ton and Hall counties, have been fraudulently deprived of the benefits that might have arisen out of the construction of the B. & M. R. R. on their original survey, and Whereas, We settled along the line with the full un- derstanding that the road should be built on said survey, ac- cording to act of Congress, donating to them half of our na- tional inheritance, and Whereas, The said corporation is assisted by Nebraska politicians, in its schemes to plunder the people, Be it RESOLVED, That we pledge our sacred honors, without any regard to party ties, to send to oblivion by the strength of our ballots any man that comes before us for office who is in any manner connected with this corporation. Resolved, That we authorize S. M. Boyd to commence proceedings in Nebraska and at Washington against said B. & M. R. R. Co. for the purpose of compelling them to build a line of railroad on their original survey, or that they be deprived of the lands received under this pledge. Re:::olved, That the people of the United States, look- ing for location in Nebraska, are hereby notified that we HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 299 hold the purchase of said railroad lands to be a dangerous bargain for the purchaser. Resolved, that these resolutions be published in all Nebraska papers, and in three in Iowa, and at least two in Illinois. Resolutions adopted unanimously. It was a swindle on the people of this and western coun- ties, to give up half their lands to the rapacious corporation, and then not get a mile of the road. September 7th— The county commissioners order an election on location of county seat, and the editor gives them a terrible scolding. Report of the election of the new constitution. At this time there were seven precincts, as follows: Milford, for constitution 122 Against Walnut Creek " 37 Beaver Crossing " 36 Oak Grove " 33 Camden " 30 Sew'ard " 68 North Blue " 25 Total 358 Total 12 First number of Nebraska Reporter is received, and is unfavorably commented on, on account of harsh epithets and course language used. October 5th — S. R. Douglas caught a coon. October 19th — The Record has heard of the county seat election, and has its w^ar paint on. October 25th — "County commissioners have re-districted the county into eight districts, as follows: Townships nine and ten, range one. form Beaver Creek; townships eleven and twelve, Lincoln Creek; township twelve, ranges two and three. North Blue; township eleven, ranges two and three, Seward; townships nine and ten, range three, Milford; town- ships nine and ten, range four, Camden; towaiships eleven and twelve, range four. Oak Grove." The editor takes a ride over to Beaver Crossing, and tinds the new town flourishing. Ross Nichols, Daniel Mills- paw, Roland Reed, John E. Fouse, McCauley, John Leonard 300 HISTORY OP SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA and Osborne, are mentioned as thrifty farmers. The new mill of Mr. Smith is hig-hly spoken of. Thomas Tisdale's store is noted as one of the best store buildin<4"s in the coun- October 26th — The election of officers of the county agricultural society, at Seward, is noted as occurring on the Kith inst. , when W. W. Cox was elected president; Henry Wortendyke, vice president; James A. Brown, recording secretary; A. L. Strang, corresponding secretary; Robert McCrossin, treasurer; directors — E. B. Shafer, J. W. Lee, George W. Standard, and Tliomas Graham. November 30th — There is a long correspondence from Seward about the court house location, wherein Croney, Williams (O. T. B.) and Ellsworth, are discussed at large by Mortimer. Wm. Hornburg, one of the commissioners, also gets a rub. At that time there was a struggle between Harris on one side and Cloyd on the other as to where the court house should be located. We note in the commissioners' meeting of November 21st, that a resolution passed the board by the votes of Imlay and Hornburg to accept the prop- osition of W. C. Cloyd, to place the court house on block 35, in Cloyd's addition, JQst west of the M. E. church, pro- vided a good title to the property should be made to the county without expense. This resolution must have been reconsidered at some other and later meeting, for the court- house evidently was not placed on that block. Dec. 7th — Notice is given that a lodge of Good Templars will be instituted at Beaver Crossing, Dec. 16, 1871. Dec. 14th — Contains a report from County Superintend- ent Prance, from which we glean that during the year 103 teachers had been examined, seventy-four of whom obtained certificates, sixty third grades, and fourteen second grades; fifty-two were employed during the year. Superintendent's salary, $200. A healthy growth and improvement is noted, and inany new school-houses were erected. An appropria- tion is recommended for charts, globes, and other fixtures for the schools. Jan. 4, 1872— The railroad bond proposition gets an over- hauling by the editor. Jan. 11th — There was a wide-awake meeting at Beaver HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 301 Crossing, wherein the bond proposition receives the follow- ing send-off: Resolved, That the county commissioners have disgraced themselves in the eyes of the tax-payers, etc., etc. Resolved, That this scheme to vote bonds is to aid a mo- nopoly, a one-sided railroad affair, a disgrace to the people, and a binding curse upon our county, etc. , etc. This interesting document was signed by W. J. Thomp- son, T. H. Tisdale, and Daniel Millspaw, committee. Also notices that Col. Vifquain will stump the county against bonds. Bond meetings, pro and con, will be held throughout the county. ' 'Monday last a crowded house voted unanimously against bonds. A committee, consisting of W. H. Reed, D. C. Mc- Killip, P. J. Goodrich, Ed Healy, and Cummins, were ap- pointed to hold meetings for defeat of the bonds." The burden of the song for all the weeks prior to the election day, February 22nd, is down with the bonds, and on that day they dow^ned them. We notice among the writers and speakers that were conspicuous in opposition to bonds, was Rev. T. N. Skinner. Riesult of the election is noted as follows: Milford, for bonds 5 votes Against bonds 147 Camden " 6 " " 138 130 135 3 60 9 Total vote 540 Total 622 Majority against, 82. This ended the first chapter in this desperate sectional struggle, with Seward the under dog. March 7th — The first issue of the Beaver Tribune, semi- monthly paper at Beaver Crossing, is noticed. This was published by V. W. Wilson & Co. March 11th — A mass meeting of the people of Camden is held, in which the county commissioners are handled Walnut Creek " 10 Beaver Creek " , 2 Seward 232 North Blue " 136 Oak Grove 47 Lincoln Creek ' ' 109 302 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA without gloves for disfranchising Camden precinct in the bond matter. It has always been supposed that a young Seward lawyer stole from the clerk's office the returns from Camden precinct, and wiien the canvas of the vote was made there were no returns from Camden, so the commissioners felt obliged to ignore the Camden election, and this Camden mass meeting was ready to take up arms, as it seemed that ballots had failed. Rev. T. N. Skinner heads an epistle to the people, "Ballots or Bullets." April 3rd — Seward correspondent says another bond proposition will be submitted; and also says the commis- sionei's will dismiss their county attorney, because he is such a consumate liar that they can't believe a word he says; and he is also accused of taking fees on two sides of a case. Milford money order office shows business for three months to be: ' Orders issued $2,653 38 Orders paid 961 61 Amount deposited 2, 140 00 ^^ — Total business ' $5,755 19 April 4th — Also has the minutes of a mass meeting in Seward to express their abhorrence of the idea of stealing an election. The meeting resolved that the people of Seward firmly believe in a free and untrammeled election, and in jealously guarding the purity of the ballet box; and "Be it further resolved. That we here assembled ex- press our disapprobation of any scheme or plan for the pur- pose of defeating the expressed will of the county at the late election; and further we are desirous to know the truth or falsity of the charges preferred, and will heartily engage in any movement to ascertain who are the guilty parties, whether in Seward, Camden, or elsewhere, and to bring them to merited punishment." Signed by J. N. Beaty, Chairman; T. J. Hamilton, Secretary. April 18th — Appears a clipping from the Atlas on the bond election, in which Prof. Ingham says: "Blessed, yea, thrice blessed, are the peace-makers, and most benign would be the labors of any, if only successful in allaying that bitter HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 303 animosity and uncompromising- hostility which excites the different sections of our county. This spirit of evil which pervades our county, will, we fear, unless exercised by a gentle spirit of forbearance and reconciliation, become so powerful as to utterly ruin the highests prospects of the whole county." The editor of the Atlas takes occasion to charge in this article the blame on the old settlers of both sections, and charges them with being narrow-minded, etc. This waked up a hornet's nest, and the learned professor soon heard a tremendous buzzing around his ears, and in a subsequent issue he takes everything back, and gets down on his knees in good shape to the old settlers; not only asks forgiveness, but attempts to '"bring forth fruits meet for his repentance," and pitches into Milford like a wild cat, and so the battle rages . May !^nd — It is noted that the commissioners have di- vided Lincoln creek, Oak Grove, and Camden precincts, so that there are now eleven. Also, it is noted that Prof. Ing- ham has retired from the Atlas, and assumed the roll of in- structor. It is also noted that the History of Seward County, by O. T. B.Williams, is just out, and was printed at the Rec- ord office, which has disgusted many of the Seward people. The county superintendent reports thirty male and twenty- eight female teachers employed, and an expenditure of $4- 721.95 between April 3, 1872. Whole number of scholars were 1,781. Approximate number of inhabitants, 5,203. May 9th — The erection of Tuttle's new hotel is noticed in the Seward correspondence; also the near completion of the Presbyterian church edifice; also a call for the corpora- tion election of the town of Seward; also that Miss Lizzie McKillip (Mrs. Buck) is engaged for the summer school. May 16th — It is noted that the injunction suit against commissioners in the railroad bond case is made perpetual by Judge Lake, and everybody is satisfied. June 13th — Notice of a new railroad bond proposition is given. The Seward correspondent calls Hon. Wm. Imlay the county commissioners. The same gentleman, whoever he was, predicted that the same blunderers would in like manner come to grief again. He remarks, no one has any idea they will carry. The drowning of Miss Hattie Tift is 304 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA commented on. She was partially insane. Croney's sale of the Reporter is noted, and of Prof. Ingham assuming the post of editor again . July 4th — The record says, in flaming head-lines: "Stop the reaper and protect yourselves," thereby meaning that they must stop their work and go and vote against bonds again. July 11th — The second bond election is reported, in wiiich the famous "Mortimer" is buried under an avalanche of votes, bonds having carried by a majority of 123 votes. It puzzled the editor to know how Seward could swell her vote 81 since last February: September 19th — The division of Beaver Creek precinct is noted. September 26th-— The removal of D. C. McKillip is com- mented on. October 3rd — Specimens of peat from Walnut creek are examined and pronounced good. October 10th — Reporter has again changed hands. October I7th — Two wild deer were seen just west of Milford. We also quote: "The second annual fair at Seward was a success, with a fine display, especially of stock, and a large attendance." December 5th — The Record announces the death of Hor- ace Greeley, with a fitting eulogy. Mortimer says in the same number that a scandalous story is afloat about one of our county oificials. This must mean McPherson, county treasurer . December 12th — A discovery of free lime, phosphates, and silicon, a vein twenty-two feet thick. This is on West Blue, in sections 7, 8, and 9, in town 9, range 2, east. The French leave taken by our county treasurer is reported, with a propable loss of five or six thousand dollars. December 26th— The action of the county board in the removal of the treasurer, McPherson, and the appointment of Wm. B. Thorpe, is commented on. January 9, 1873 — It is noted that a silver-headed cane was voted to W\ W. Cox, as the homeliest man in the coun- ty. The same paper notes the scalding of the child of Thomas Osborne on Lincoln creek; also the resignation of HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 305 W. J. Thompson as representative; also the removal of E. L. Clark, Jr., from the Seward postoftice for embezzlement. Said defalcation is said to be about $2,000. L. G. Johns was appointed to the place. The apportionment of school money to Seward county is, to 1701 pupils, $3,690.07. January 16th — Announcement of the election of D. C. McKillip, representative, to fill a vacancy. January 23rd — School moneys apportioned among fifty- nine districts. February 13th — It is mentioned that at the commission- ers' meeting held on February 3rd, the geographical town- ships were made into precincts, and were named for the first sixteen letters of the alphabet. The same issue mentions four marriages in Seward, viz. : Ethan Atwater, Walter Briggs, Mr. Spear, and Andrew Wright. March 6th — The bill incorporating Seward is noticed by Mortimer, who also says that the railroad track is just being laid into Seward. This letter is dated March 4th. Morti- mer made a mistake, as the track was complete and the cars reached Seward on the evening of March 1, 1873. He also notes that Rev. Rockwell preached his farewell sermon to the Methodist congregation. April 10th — The editor publishes his valedictory. We have looked through every page of the files of the Record from first to last, and it is our pleasure to say that the paper was a credit to the county and the state. While the editors worked manfully for the interest of Milf ord in all her battles, yet they manifested a gentlemanly and courteous attitude towards all. We wish the Record had continued its publication. In quoting so liberally from its columns, we feel that we are giving bits of history, both interesting and profitable, and we hereby extend our warmest thanks to Mr. Culver for the use of his files. THE NEBRASKA REPORTER For almost thirty years the Reporter was a leading ex- ponent of republican ideas and a champion of Seward's in- terests. It came just about the time when Harris, Moffitt, and Robert's addition was platted, and it came to stay a 306 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA long time, and it did stay. The editor for a time was Charles Crony. He came with Mr. James Harris. He was what we might call an adventurer. He was a fighter "from away back," and rather sensational in his make-up. The Report- er lost no time in getting into a quarrel with its contempo- rary, the Atlas, and also with the Record. Frequently the air was full of sulphurous smoke. The Reporter was in the field in time to take part in the last county seat contest, and when that was ended it was ready to take a hand in the rail- road bond fight. The Editor concluded that everything was fair in war, and he acted bravely all along that line. The Reporter was not designed as an exponent of morals. It was here to win. The paper had friends many, and like all aggressive papers, it had enemies not a few. When it got into a rumpus with its contemporaries or other friends, it made the fur fly in all directions. It was amusing to see what a "kilkenny cat fight" there was between the editors of that day. All man- ner of vile epithets were used, notwithstanding all three pa- pers were of the same politics. Early in June, 1872, Crony sold out his interest in the Reporter and Prof. O. S. Ingham became its editor. The professor only continued at its head until October 1st, when he gave up the job and returned to the schoolroom. Thomas Wolf is now installed as editor. Under Mr. Wolf's management, the Reporter was a financial success, and as an all round fighter, it was steadily improving. There was no truce between the Reporter and Atlas or the Record. The removal of the county seat, followed by the building of the railroad, made it evident that a paper could not be maintained at a jjrofit at Milford, and the Record con- sented to give up the ghost at Milford and take a new life at Lincoln, being consolidated with the Leader of that city. Now the Reporter has only one antagonist. The Atlas has turned a somersault in a political way, and seeks the favor of the democrats. It was not warmly welcomed in the new camp. The democratic brethren surmised that it was a dem- ocratic' convert "for revenue only." It was not popular. It managed to live until about the time the grasshoppers came, HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 307 in the summer of 1874, when it said farewell to this old world, and there were but few mourners. Now the Reporter had a clear field for awhile. Of course it now had a cinch on the county printing and all the job work. With a first class financier at the head, what could hinder success? But Thomas made almost too good use of his opportunities. The county board soon learned that Wolf was not doing the county printing for fun. For about three years the Reporter had its own way about all the time and had come to the conclusion that Seward county belonged to the editor, when all of a sudden there appeared a specter in the sky. Rev. Mr. Haw put in an appearance and started a new democratic paper. The Reporter thought it to be a small fry, and sneered at its coming; but one morning it awakened to the fact that the Democrat had a bid in for the county printing at just half the Reporter's bid. Calamities do not come singly. In the month of February, 1877, W. S. Walker, who had been schooled amid the snow capped mountains, came to Seward, and after looking over the situation concluded that Seward needed another republican paper. (He was right, it did.) So, the Seward Advocate was launched on the great sea of journalism. Mr. Walker was a wide-awake fellow with ex- perience and full of "dare-devil" grit. There were several bones of contention lying around loose at Seward, and it did not take many weeks to get up a newspaper row, and soon the air was fairly blue. Clippings from these papers will prove very interesting reading. Mr. Wolf continued at the head of the Reporter until 1882. In the meantime, the Advocate had changed hands, Mr. J. H. Betzer buying the concern and changing its name to the Blade. The bright glimmer of the new Blade had about the same effect on the editor of the Reporter as would the shaking of a red rag in the face of an angry bull. Betzer was no slouch in handling the Blade, which seemed to have two sharp edges. The Democrat, under Mr. Haws, did not tar- ry very long, and there was no side issue to attract attention, and as both Reporter and Blade were born fighting, they must fight, as it seemed to be the object of their existence. Mr. Wolf retired in 1882, and F. G. Simmons became the 308 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA editor, and he manao:ed it eighteen years, or until the close of its eventful life in February, 1900. When Mr. Simmons succeeded to the editorship, the hatchet was buried by him and the Blade man, and it was buried where it could never more be found; and from that glad day the two valuable pa- pers worked in harmony in advancing the best interests of the county and the city; and in this they found much more congenial and profitable employment than in scratching for each other's eyes. Mr. Simmons took the Reporter when he was just a young man. Prom the start he showed marked ability as a writer, and as an editor he was a success; but unfortunately he was like most good writers, in finance he was not a success. After a long (and at first stormy) career of about thirty years, it died of old age in February, 1900. We quote freely from its files so far as they are at command. By quoting from the files of our county papers we can give a better idea of the growth and progress than by any other means at command. The following items are taken from the Nebraska Re- porter. We regret to say that the earlier files are only frag- mentary, most of them are destroyed; but were able to get from what we have at command some items of interest: December 13, 1872 — The Baptist church is up and nearly enclosed. A letter from Shoe String Joe complains bitterly of the management of the Seward postoftice. He says the P. M. is an inveterate novel reader and does not like to be bothered by people asking for mail. January 4, 1873 — A mush and milk sociable for the bene- fit of Rev. J. H. Rockwell was a success, and from fifty to sixty dollars were realized. Also, that homely man getting the cane is noticed. The organization of the Seward Literary Club is noticed, of which V. Daniels was chairman, and in which Wm. Leese, T. L. Norval, H. C. Page, D. C. McKillip, T. F. Buck, J. W. English, and C. P. Dick each figured. January 1, 1873 — The New Year's address by O. S. Ing- ham is given. January 11th — Returns show a total vote of 396 in the special election, wherein D. C. McKillip was elected to fill a HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 309 vacancy, in this legislative district. D. C. M. received 208 votes and there were three opposing candidates, viz. , Els- worth Hamilton, T. J., and Campbell. January IMth — The editor is impressed with the number of dead torn cats in the streets. The marriage of E. M. Spear, of Seward, to Miss May R. Newland, of Rochester, N. Y., is noticed. May 8th — The charter election of the town of Seward is reported as follows, resulting in the election of V. Daniels, Sam Stevenson, Herman Diers, Wm. Hays, and T. L. Norvai as trustees of the village for the coming year. There were 93 votes cast. May 22nd — The air is tilled with grasshoppers, also that work is being pushed on Tishue's store, and the editor says we may as well be proud of such a building. Well, we were, but have gotten bravely over it. The advent of Claudius Jones is welcomed. May 29th — The new jail is nearly enclosed. It is noted that the grasshoppers are doing some damage in a few localities. June 12th — Sixty buildings in two months, by actual count. June 26th — Ed. Ingham gets eloquent over a street fight. We. quote: "On the morning of the 21st of June the sun in unclouded splendor issued from the pearly portals of the Orient to pursue his daily journey through the shining con- cave heavens, past the lofty zenith, down to his purple cloud- draped ocean couch, behind the western hills," etc. July 3rd — The M. P. R. R. depot and water tank are about completed. Sept. 30th — The county fair is pronounced a success. Sept. 4th — Says from one to two hundred loads of grain are received daily, and threshing liardly commenced. Feb. 1, 1874 — F M. McPherson joins the editorial force of the Reporter. The marriage of Ethan Atwater is noted. The town council is scored for voting a hundred dollars to H. C. Cloyd for his pamphlet. Feb. 13th— H. T, Clarke is building a bridge west of town on the river, 310 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA The city is full of strangers. The organization of the Seward cemetery association is noted. McPherson, our defaulting treasurer, receives encour- agement and is assured that he has plenty of friends. May 8th — The editor complains that the Atlas man calls him a lunatic. Sept. 4th — Dick Norval is building a cozy cage for his prospective bird. July 31st — School report from district No. 9, with J. A. Brown director, shows 139 pupils in the district; enrolled 66, present t/hat day 44; average attendance 33. The following was clipped from the Toledo Blade: "Out at Seward, Nebraska, they build houses for editors in about eight days. The editor of the Reporter gave an order for a residence to a building firm, and in less than two weeks the editor moved into the house, and his wife im- mediately presented him with a fine pair of twin babies. They do things up in a hurry in Nebraska." The above clippings are not in their regular order, but they were jotted down from miscellaneous papers. Nov. 15, 1878— Total vote cast in "G" precinct, 286, of which Judge Lake received all but one for judge of the su- preme court. Total vote of county 1156, of which Judge Lake received 1130. Nov. 22nd — Discusses in detail the street fight at Utica, which occurred some days before, in which railroaders and citizens exercised the pugilistic ability. Also, a stab- bing affray northwest of the city, in which the Manning boys stabbed Frank Slonecker five times with a pocket knife. In the same paper it is noted that township organi- zation carried by a large majority. Also the result of the liquor damage case of Eliza Perkins, wherein she gains a judgment of $3000 against three saloons (this is the first case of the kind ever tried in the state) for selling her husband liquor and thereby causing his death. Dec. 6th— We notice that R. R. Shick sold, in 1873, bonds for school district No. 46, (now the Purdum district) $1000 for $750, in order to build the little frame school house. We quote the above to show just how our people were bled HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 311 in the early days by capitalists. These bonds were ten per cent bonds and run for ten years. April 10, 1879 — School census shows in district No. 9, Seward, four hundred and eighty-nine school children. The same census gives the total population of the city at 1,250 and of the entire district at 1,666. April 17th — Is noted the financial condition of the city. Amount on hand April 22, 1878, $68.14; collection to date," $1,101.11; paid out, $885.86; balance on hand, $283.29. April 24th —Chronicles the arrest of P. B. Thompson for robbing the mails in the Seward postoffice. May 12th — Gives Orlando J. Gassier 's autobiography. We will not quote it. May 22nd — A full history of the execution is given. May 29th — Is noticed the purchase of the tire apparatus, chemical engine with hooks and ladders. June 5th — The triumph of the A. & N. bonds is dwelt on at large. The total vote cast on county bonds was 1,798. The commencement of Goehner block, on the corner of 7th and Seward streets, is noted. Also Henigan & Ashton's meat market on the east side. June 26th — The injunction suit commenced by Claudius Jones against the commissioners in the matter of issuing bonds to the Lincoln & Northwestern company is fully com- mented on, with severe strictures. The arrest of Isaac Whitman for making counterfeit fif- ty cent pieces is announced. His factory was a dugout near West Mills. He worked over pewter and ground glass and was doing a thriving business. July 10th — We clip the following from the description of the Fourth of July celebration parade. It speaks for it- self, and shows to what extremes people can be led in hours of wild excitement. We trust those responsible for this scene have long since become ashamed of it: "An immense hog, which some of the people mi.stook for an African elephant instead of a Seward county swine, on each side of its back were hung large letters 'B. & M.' A gaudily arrayed man was leading this hog by a strong rope, and this disguised personage was labeled 'U. P.' Pol- lowing the hog came a man with a large shovel on his 312 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA shoulder, with his hat festooned, 'Banker,' and carrying a banner on which was inscribed the device, 'I do the dirty work for this hog, but it pays. ' "A large caricature representing first the figure of a man striking a lively gait, holding in his hand a roll in- scribed, 'Injunction,' which he is handing to an attendant near, accompanied with the exclamation, 'My only refuge is Salt Lake — serve this.' Following comes a woman with a carpet sack, and hanging to the coat tails of the first de- scribed figure, exclaiming, 'Run, I smell tar!' In hot pur- suit comes a crowd in the distance carrying buckets marked tar, and feather beds. On the other end of this large stan- dard was a large sleek man who had 'U. P.' on his hat, and held a rope that had been tied around a partly finished man inscribed 'A. & N.,' but the rope was broken in trying to hold the 'A. & N.' man, and the 'U. P.' figure exclaiming, 'the A. & N. must be stopped at all hazards.' " Also, the departure of Claudius Jones and family for Salt Lake is noted. July 24th— It is noted that Fred D. Grant, a young lad living in N precinct, was killed by being dragged by a runa- way horse. July 31st — Says the contracts for the Norval block are completed. Also, the death of Mrs. M. W. Warner, in M precinct, which occurred July 23d, 1879. This lady was the former wife of our late school superintendent. Aug. 7th — It is reported that $60,000 had been received for freight at the B. & M. depot in Seward during the year ending July 31st, 1H79. Oct. 16th Is noticed at length the shooting by accident of Miss Lizzie Welty, which resulted in the death of a noble young woman. Also the completion of the railroad to Milford. Oct. 23d — The visit and speech of Hon. De La Matyr is commented on. Nov. 6th — Is noted the completion of the A. & N. road, and the visit of fifty distinguished citizens of Lincoln. Nov. 13th — It is mentioned that the following two-story brick buildings have been erected during the season: Heni- HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 313 gan & Ashton's, John Cattle, Sen., Goehner Bros.' engine house, Bischof s, John Roberts', and Nerval Bros. Dec. 15th-- We tind an estimate of the corn crop of that year as follows: 2,300,000 bushels. The highest reported yield was eighty-five bushels per acre. In the same article it was estimated that tlie reduction in freight, consequent upon the building of the A. & N. R. K., was three cents per bushel, or $69,000 on the crop of that year. According to our memory the estimate was rather low than high. It was a noteworthy fact that the Seward grain dealers of that fall and winter were able to pay from three to five cents more for corn than any town on the main line of the B. & M. west of Lincoln . Jan. 8, 1888 — The founding of Staplehurst and the ship- ment of eight cars of corn is recorded. Also the death of Mrs. Thomas Best, at Pleasant Dale, which occurred Dec. 18, 1879, aged sixty years. We also append from its columns, the following useful information: "Edmund Mclntyre has made the following statement for the B. & M. Land Department of the acreage and yield of cultivated lands in Seward county for 1879: "Total acres in county, 368,640; under cultivation, 109,- 590 acres: in rye, 1,283 acres, yield 19,240 bushels; in spring wheat, 43,825 acres, yield 482,362 bushels; in barley (must be a mistake, too many acres or not enough barley), 8,900 acres, yield 170,800 bushels; in oats, 5,718 acres, yield 227,720 bush- els; in buckwheat, 112 acres, yield 2,240 bushels; in flax, 2,- 109 acres, yield 18,981 bushels; in broom corn, 160 acres, yield 53i tons; in corn, 46,584 acres, yield 2,096,280 bushels; in potatoes, 966 acres, yield 36,840 bushels; in turnips, 28 acres, yield 4,200 bushels; in blue grass, 17 acres; in timothy, 1,272 acres; clover, 1,189 acres; cultivated timber, 4,500 acres. Number of apple trees 30,500, pears 300, peaches 26,450, plums 8,000, cherries 16,000, grapes 33,000 vines; 175 miles of hedges. "These estimates are made on the returns of 1877 and estimates of the proportionate increase." Sept. 9th— Is recorded the death of E. N. Wingfield, of K precinct, aged seventy-five years. His death occurred 314 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Sept. 4, 1880. Mr. W. was a worthy Christian, and a mem- ber of the M. E. church. Aujj-. r2th — The dedication of the U. B. church by Bishop Wright is favorably mentioned. Also the death of Robert Walker, at the residence of his son James, aged seventy-seven years. The deceased was one of our old settlers, and was the father of W. H. Walker of our city. He was well known and highly respected. Also, in D precinct, Aug. 2d, Henry Newjahr, of cancer, aged fifty- five years. He was one of the first settlers of that part of the county. Aug. 25th — The editor, speaking of his contemporary, calls him "the bay- windowed, brazen-faced liar." July 29th— Is recorded the death of Mrs. L. E. Tisdale, of Beaver Crossing, aged forty-five years. Mrs. Tisdale settled in Seward county in 1869. Her death occurred July 23d. Also the death of John S. Bartlett, at Milford, on July 25th, aged thirty six years, of quick consumption. June 10th — Records the freaks of the wind, the heaviest gale in many years, in which the Catholic church was par- tially wrecked, and many buildings damaged. "Feb. 19, 1880— Is recorded the death of Wilber McNall, by accidental shooting. April 8, 1880 — Records the result of city election, in which the anti-license party elects the whole ticket. April 22d — Also records the death of Ira Wendall, caused by getting his hand caught in machinery at West's mill. Deceased leaves a wife and two children to mourn his sad fate. May 6th, 1880~Is recorded the death of Mrs. Joseph H. Ballard, after a long and painful illness. Mrs. Ballard was an estimable Christian lady. The visit and lecture of ex-Vice President Colfax is dis- cussed at large. The small-pox scare with its attendant results is noted. ADVOCATE PREDECESSOR OF THE BLUE VALLEY BLADE Was founded in February 1877, by W. 8. Walker, and managed by him until June 1879, when J. H. Betzer from HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 315 Iowa bought the paper and re-christened it Blue Valley Blade. The advent of the Advocate was understood by the contemporary paper at Seward, as an open declaration of war, and of course the fun commenced immediately and con- tinued as long as Mr. Wolf of the Reporter continued to ed- it that paper. Mr. Walker was a wide-awake editor, ready at all times to measure sw^ords with an advisary. We much regret that files of the Advocate are beyond our reach, as the Editor took them out of the State with him. The Blade was under the control of an old republican war-horse, and fighting was no new thing for Mr. Betzer. He could fight democrats or brother editors, as the case might be. He had been schooled in the editorial work in Iowa, where he controlled a paper sixteen years, at Chari- ton and Monroe, and he came to Seward county well equip- ed, and was ready with his new bright and sharp blade to take a hand in the little embrolios of that period. The edi- tors of that day did not stop at wrangling over public questions, but would frequently resort to personal matters, and heap all manner of abuse upon each other. We ar^ glad that in these better days such personal slang is not tolerat- ed among the editorial fraternity. Mr. Betzer continued at the head of the Blade until October, 1901, when his health failed and he gave the editorial work and management over into the hands of his son, Elmer E., w^ho has conducted the paper to the present time. In the liberal quotations from its columns a good idea may be gained of events for the twenty-seven years of its life. BEAVER CROSSING NEWSPAPERS There have been many attempts to publish new^spapers in Seward and in other parts of the county that proved un- successful ventures. The first attempt at publishing a paper at Beaver Crossing was in March, 1872, when a semi-monthly called the Beaver Tribune, was issued by J. H. Vincent. The printing was done by J. H. Culver at Milford. It lived but a few months. The Beaver Crossing Bugle was founded by H. C. Hensel April 27th, 1887. In its day it w^as one of the largest weekly county papers in the state, being an eight page seven column 316 HISTORY OP SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA paper. It was republican in xDolitics. The Bugle notes made the wild woods ring for two years. Its life was active and energetic, but the editor bit oif more than he could chew and after about two years of struggle its blasts were heard no more. It just died. It was also printed at Milford, In 1H8U, P. C. Carpenter started the Beaver Crossing Journal, the first paper printed in the town. It was sold to C. E. Miller in 1891, and the name was changed to Farmer's Patriot and in 1892 it again was sold to J. H. Waterman and it has been under his management up to December, 1904, un- der the name of the Weekly Review. At this writing Mr. Waterman has sold the office and fixtures to F. C. Diers who will now begin the publication of the Pride of Beaver Cross- ing. We are under obligations to B. F. Thompson for much valuable information in regard to the above named news- papers. UTICA SUN The only newspaper of that thriving village was founded by Frank Compton, in 1886. It changed hands many times. Among the men that have controlled it we find Wm. Compton, Steven Lowley, E. W. Harvey, then again Wm. Compton, and after his death his widow, H. M. Smith, L. R. Alphin and has finally landed in the hands of Harvey iind Hunter, who have the most complete job office in the county. Every- thing seems in perfect order in their connnodious office. The Sun is neutral in nothing but politics. The ambition of the editors is to build up Utica and the county, and so far as politics is concerned, they don't care which wins so that the Sun shines all O. K. FARMER'S ZEITUNG Farmer's Zeitung is a German family newspaper of high order, and has a wide circulation in Seward, Butler, Lan- caster and York counties. It is non-partisan and lends all its efforts to the betterment of its many readers, and their advancement financially, socially and morally. The chief object of the wide-awake young editor, Mr. Joseph Tagwer- HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 317 ker, is to infuse into all his readers a hi^h standard of Amer- ican citizenship. This young man was born and grew to manhood in Austria and came to make his home in this new land of greater promise, in 1890. He is now thirty-five years of age, just in the prime of life, full of energy, and a future full of bright promise. INDEPENDENT'DEMOCRAT CLIPPINGS March 11, 1897— W. H. Smith took charge of the Sew- ard County Democrat, and from its files beginning at that date we clip from its pages by the courtesy of the editor and manager: March 6, 1897 — The annual conference of the U. B. church convened at Seward. About one hundred delegates are present. Bishop E. P. Kephart presides. Blue river is on a rampage. March 7— Is noted the advent of the first robin. Death of Mrs. Amerilla Ford is noticed as occurring March 1st. Local mai'kets. Wheat 60cts., corn lOcts , oats lOcts., hay $3 to $4 per ton, hogs $3 to $3.25 per hundred, eggs 8cts. March 25 — Is notice of a sale of a quarter of land one of the best in town twelve, range one, at $3500. Car load of horses bought for Boston market, ])rices ranged from $40 to $75. April 1 — Ray Vance was killed at Utica while attempt- ing to board a moving train on Friday last. Superintendent Ed Healy reports the schools of the county in a good, flour- ishing condition. Roads are reported the worst ever seen in the county. Burglary of C. Kroeger's shoe store occur- red last Tuesday night and got away with about $30 worth of goods. April 8 — South Blue is overflowing its banks. April 15 — Milford goes dry this year. Wm. Winegar, the Tamora horse thief, goes to tiie pen. April 22 — Is noticed the fatal accident that befell the boy of Laren Jensen near Germantown. The boy was thrown from a stalk cutter and killed. 318 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA April 29 — The finest rain storm for many years fell last Friday. Bad R. R. wreck at Pleasant Dale. April 22 — James Maroney, an old pioneer died. May 6 —Postmaster Dupin's house burglarized of a hundred dollars. May 20 — L. J. Groul was killed by lightning at Goeh- ner Friday night. June 23 — A young cyclone just missed Seward. Demo- crat and Independent consolidated June 17th. July 29 — Chris Hippie was killed by lightning three miles south of Germantown last Tuesday. August 12 — Charles France, proprietor of Windsor hotel, died last Monday morning. August 8th, John Fend- er's barn in "B" precinct was burned with twelve horses. Sept. 15th — A most successful county fair opened at Seward. Nov. 4th — Death of Henry George noted. The I. D. has a big rooster crowing over the election of Judge Sulli- van. Nov. 11th — Gives election returns, showing the fusion ticket elected in the county by 372 majority. Nov. 18th— The ten year old son of Mr. Minsell of "H" precinct, was accidentally shot and killed last Friday. Cald- er & Co.'s safe was cracked last Tuesday night, at Tamora. Dec. 1st — Death of John Roberts, Sr. , one of the early pioneers of the county, having located here in the spring of 186(5. Jan. 21st, 1898 — The accidental shooting of the twelve year old son of Joseph Manwiler at Utica, which occurred some days previous. New court house proposition is agitat- ed by W. R. Dickinson, $50,000 bonds are advocated. Jan. 27th — A $10,000 Government postoffice is urged by Congressman Stark. March I7th — Notice is given that the splendid, new cereal mills will open up for business the coming week. April 7th — The Shilo veterans held a splendid reunion at Seward and all went home happy. April 21st — Independent-Democrat enlarged. May 12th — Is noticed at large a grand reception by the HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 319 people of Seward to Troop "A" when two thousand citizens gave them a grand welcome. June 23d — Emil Martsen was drowned at Beaver Crossing in mill pond, last Sunday morning. July 4th — Was a gala day in Seward. Splendid crowd and excellent time. July 15th — Is noted that w^hile the funeral of Mrs. Reed Pendall was in progress, four miles north-east of Seward, that the residence of J. C. Ford in the same neigh- borhood was burned. Nov. 8th — I. D. has his big rooster again crowing over the fusionists' victory. Nov. 24th — A bad blizzard of the Sunday previous is noted. Wm. Morford died in "N" precinct, January 10th, 1899. He was a prominent farmer. Jan. 26th — Two safes cracked in Tamora, Calder's and P. L. Webster's. Nothing of much value obtained. Feb. 9th — The dead body of a tramp was found near the railroad at Pleasant Dale. A bottle partly filled with alcohol lay near the body. Coroner's jury thought man froze to death, as the w^eather was severe. Feb. 16th — Fred Vaihtman was run down and killed by cars at Tamora. March 2nd — Burglers broke into Ed Batchelder's hard- ware store at Bee and carried away a lot of knives and razors. They then broke into Meyers & Gambel's store, but were scared away. March 16th — The death of Ed Biggs, a Seward attor- ney, is noted at length. March 30th — The I. D. changed its form and was made an eight page paper. April 15th---Conrad Reusch committed suicide at Pleasant Dale. April 27th---News of the wounding of Egbert Humph- rey, in the Philippines, is recieved by his parents. May 4th---The house of David Bender at Milford was robbed and $40 secured. May 12th---Market reports show wheat worth 50cts, corn 23cts, eggs 9cts, hogs $3.25. 320 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA May 18th— It is noted that I. D. Neihartis preparing to build a new hotel. May 25th — $8,000 county bonds are called in and paid. June 1st — Ten graduate from the high school. This was the 18th annual commencement. June 8th— The death of Patrick Welch of "D" precinct is noted. Mr. Welch was an old settler and a splendid citi- zen. July bth — Last Sunday five young men were killed by lightning in the road north of Staplehurst. Their names are as follows: Victor and Ira Dob.son, John Ames, Thomas Bidwell and Herman Egars. They were traveling in a wagon. No celebration in Seward this year. July I3th — Harry Culver's long bicycle ride from Lin- coln to New York City, via Texas, New Orleans, Mobile, Atlanta, Washington D. C, a distance of 4120 miles. Time 53 days. The old Saratoga hotel of Milford burned last Saturday morning. July 23d — Hon. Wm. R. Davis was called home. Aug. 17th — A bad hail storm struck near Staplehurst, and cut a swath about two miles wide as far as Germantown. It did much damage. Bemis' 40 acres tomatoes, east of Se- ward were nearly destroyed. H. M. Bower's large field of melons were also destroyed. S. H. Beaver had 300 lights broken in his green house at Seward. Corn was badly damaged in the path of storm. Aug. 24th — S. C. Langworthy was stricken with apo- plexy on Saturday last. Aug. 30 — Notes the arrival of the corpse of Sainuel Manly, who was killed in Montanna by a wild broncho which he was riding. Sept. 7 — Notes that the returning Philippine soldiers had a royal welcome at Seward. Sepl 14 — John C. Johnson was killed instantly while putting a belt on a threshing machine near Geohner. Sept. 28 — The great Bryan meeting of last Monday, when five thousand people greeted the candidate for president. Mrs. Mary A. White, near Utica, committed suicide by taking strychnine. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 321 Oct. 5 — Six thousand dollars county bond paid. County fair is pronounced a success. Oct. 12 — Chas. Priest in '"H" Precinct was killed by falling from a load of lumber. Mrs. Helen M. Gouger is booked for a speech at Milford for Oct. 21 in the interest of the Fusion ticket. Nov. 9 — The I. D. has its roosters crowing over a clean victory for Fusion in the county. Ex-governor Altgeld made a speech at Seward last Friday. Nov. 16 — The death of Wm. O. Pierce occured last Fri- day . He was one of the very first settlers of Seward. Nov. 23— The death of Egbert Humphry of Nebraska First is noted. He died of wounds received in the service. Nov. 30— $3000 more county bonds taken up. Dec. 21 — Seward county's share of state school funds is $5,500.84 Jan. 4, 1900- The death of Mrs. Lewis Anderson, Dec. 29, 1899. She had resided in this community since 1868. Jan. 10 — The golden wedding of Mr. and Mrs. I. E. McPheley. Feb. 1 — The golden wedding of Mr. and Mrs. John Slonecker on last Thursday is noted among the Tamora items . Feb. 8 — The scalding to death of a two-year-old child of Herman Langner on last Friday. Feb. 15 — Fred Frebse, an old settler in "P" precinct, was thrown from his wagon and instantly killed last Tues- day. David H. Figard and Mrs. W. W. Cox, two of the old- est settlers in this communty, died on the 14th inst. Feb. 22 — P. G. Simmons' trouble is noted at length. Fire in Wm. Shultz shoe store nearly destroyed the stock on the 20th inst. March 1 — Burglers got in their work at Staplehurst. They were in Forster's store and Maden's drugstore, alsoH. Meyer's store. They got about $15. The death of Mrs. S. H. Beaver occurred Feb. 24. March 8— The three year old child of Mr. L. G. Sov- ereign of Ruby, was burned to death last Monday evening. March 6 — Occurred the death of C. F. Schlueter. 322 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA March 29th — Notes the death of Wm. J. Compton, editor of Utica Sun, which occurred last Tuesday. April 12th — It is noted that the claims of the government against F. G. Simmons, is fully paid up. The death of Mrs. M. J. Mesler, occurred last Tuesday. April 26th — Joseph Cams and Wm Gannon had a lively scrap. May 3d — Burglars looted Staplehurst bank, last Monday morning, and carried away $1350. Benjamin Hunkins, one of the oldest men and among the first citizens of "M" precinct died April 27th, aged ninety years. May 10th — Lewis Mofiitt makes a proposition to donate his lands to the county for a court house. May 10th Has an ad. Twenty bushels of potatoes for sale at lOcts per bushel. May 24th — Is noted the death of Scott L. Larson, one of our boys at the Philippines. May 31st — Schools have just graduated a class of twelve. Decoration day is appropriately celebrated.- June 7th — $12,000 county bonds are paid off. June 28th— A train of cavalry horses. Seventeen cars passed Seward on the w^ay to Manilla, last Friday night. July 4th — A splendid celebration at Seward. Leon Richardson w^as killed by lightning last Wednesday. July 12th — A bad hail storm sweeps the north part of the county. Lizzie Gray was killed by a runaway horse in "B" precinct, July 16th Lewis Mofiitt died. July 26th — Says the Seward firemen were "strictly in it" at the York tournamant. Seventeen head of cattle killed by one bolt of lightning, for Elisha Cortright. Aug. 2nd — Elevator burned at Germantown on last Fri- day night. A robbery of John Koehler's house at same time is noted. Aug. 9th— The sudden death of Mrs. Alice Gillespie. She was a daughter of S. C. Longworthy. Herman Diers is assaulted by a stranger. Aug. 16th — A bad blaze in the Butler block. Chas. Means killed by lightning, near Tamora, on Saturday last. Aug. 23d — Sixty-seven business men of Seward had an excursion to Omaha last Monday. Last week the worst HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 328 storm of twenty years passed over the south part of the county. Aug. 30th — Seward county fair is pronounced a grand success. Oct. 4th — Is noted that "Teddy the Terror" sweeps down on Seward. A bad explosion occurred in Egar's store at Beaver Crossing, injuring three persons. Oct. 11— E. E. Mitchell was killed by lightning October 1st, six miles northeast of Gennantown. David Reavy, of Utica, died, Oct. 10th, aged seventy-two years. Oct. 25th — Fred Goehner, Jr., faced a revolver in the hands of a burglar in his Uncle's store, last Tuesday night. Nov. Hth — The I. D. has no rooster crowing this time, but meekly acknowledges that McKinley is elected. Nov. 15th — Notes the accidental death of John Wright at Milford mills, last Thursday morning. Official count gives ttie whole fusion ticket a majority in Seward county. Nov. 22d— Dickinson Bros. 'barn in Seward, burned Fri- day night. It was occupied by Birney Wise, who lost heavily without insurance. The city council contracts for the big well. Nov. 23d — Silver wedding of O. E. Bernecker and wife. Dec. 13th — The marriage of Thos. H. Wake and Miss Emma Jones is noted. Dec. 20th — Personal taxes collected in 1900 to date is about $38,000. Jan. 17, 1901 — The Nebraska Firemen are in convention at Seward and having an interesting time. Jan. 24th — Is notice of the death of W. B. Barrett, one of the oldest business men of Seward. Came to Seward in the spring of 1872. He died Jan. 20th. Jan. 31st — Census reports of the county are given by precincts as follows: "A" 543, "B" 771, "C" 984, "D" 633, "E" 1,145, "F" 823, "G" 772, "H" 889, "I" 769, "J" 816, "K" 712, "L" 701, "M" 1,263, "N" 717, "O" 1,570, "P" 612, Seward 1,970. Villages are as follow: Staplehurst 211, Utica 487, Tamora 139, Germantown 194, Beaver Crossing 359, Cordovia 140, Milford 542. Jacob Graff of K precinct died of cancer of the face. 324 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Feb. 7th — The worst blizzard of the year occured last Saturday and Sunday. Feb. 14th — Mrs. H. Hans, an old settler of Germantown, died on the 8th inst. The remains, of Scott Larson, who died in the Philippines, arrived today. Feb. 28th — Two old settlers of the northwest part of the county, viz: Cnris. Nieman and Conrad Rienmiller died some days ago, date not given. March 7th— $6,000 bonds paid off. March 14th Samuel M. Welch, one of our old pioneers, died, March 10th. April 4th — Death of Mrs. R. A. Hughes, occurred in Seward, March 28th. Harry Bradley is noticed as "Gov." Harry Bradley by the I. D. April 11th — Jacob B. Courtwright died at his home in "N" precinct on April 1st. Mr. Courtwright was one of our most valuable citizens. Mrs. C. E. Archer, of Staplehurst, died April 3d. She was one of our old settlers, who came to Nebraska in the very early territorial days, and resided in Seward county since 1873. April 18th — Mrs. Christianah Obermeyer met death by an open gas jet in an Omaha hotel. Her home was at Beaver Crossing. April 25th— The little son of Chas. Dingham got his clothes on fire and was burned to death. G. L. Kilpatrick for many years the efficient surveyer of Seward county died last Monday night, at Crete, where he had been for treat- ment. May 2nd — The death of Wm. D. Bowers is noticed at length. J. F. Merritt's death is also noticed. May 9th J. H. Devore was shot in Denver by his moth- er-in-law. Local market: wheat uOcts, corn 34, oats 24, eggs 9. May 23d— John Tucker drowned himself in Connelley's fish pond, five miles west of Seward. Eleven coaches full of Lincoln students visit Seward on Friday last, over. 700 of them. May 30th — $6,000 more old county bonds paid. Decora- tion day was properly observed. Philip Bick is found dead HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY. NEBRASKA 325 in the vault of the Brewing Go's, building near the Elk- horn depot. June 6th —The high school turns out thirteen graduates. June 20th — Tim Lacker is drowned while fishing in Blue river, near Milford, on Sunday morning. Bishop Bonacum is hissed and jeered by the lookers on at court in Seward. June 27th — A great German picnic was held at fair grounds, last Sunday. Several new concrete walks and crossings, near the square, are ordered by the city council. Wheat harvest has commenced. July 4th — Seward county property is assessed at $2,608,- 880. July 11th — Three barns in one neighborhood burn one night, in Seward, viz: P. N. Paiks, Mrs. Bonds and Mrs. Al Edwards. Parks' horse perished. July 11th— The little son of Mrs. B. Robottom, south of Germantown, was killed by the kick of a horse. The third court house proposition is discussed. Milford took the Fourth of July crowd and had a grand time. July 18th — The Seward Fire boys cut a big swath at the tournament at Fremont. Weather report shows July 8th 100; 9th 102; 10th 102; 16th and 17th 104. July 25th — Court house knocked out to the tune of 335 majority against. August Kortge, a citizen of Seward for many years, found dead in his bed in Lincoln. Sunday was a scorcher, thermometer was 105 in the shade. Aug. 1st — A soaking rain breaks a drouth of twenty- three days. Aug. 15th — The Woodmen have a great picnic of Kansas and Nebraska members. Jacob Imig's barn southwest of Seward burned; four horses and a vast amount of grain was consumed. Aug. 22d. — J. A. Dowding's jewelry store was burglar- ized and ten gold watches were taken in the noon hour. Aug. 29th — Seward county fair is a grand success. Sept. 19th— Memorial services in honor of Pres. Mc- Kinley was attended by a vast throng at M. E. church; Qct. 3d— -$3000 more county bonds paid, 326 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Oct. 10th. — A collision occurred in the B. & M. yards and a general smash up resulted in injuring two stockmen. Oct. I7th — Orlando Casler's farm was to be sold at sher- iff's sale to -pay costs of his execution. Nov. 7th — A mixed county ticket elected. Dec. 12th — Milford depot burned last night. Jan. 23d, 1902 — Treasurer's reiiort shows $28,704 in the treasury. Jan. 30th — The heaviest snow storm of the winter oc- curred last Saturday. Feb. 6th — Mrs. S. B. Clark, an old time resident died Feb. 1. Advent church dedicated last Sunday. Robert Mc- Crossin, an old time settler of Seward county, died at the Soldiers' Home last Sunday. Feb 20th — Alf. Melick was accidentally shot and killed at Pleasant Dale last Friday. Feb. 27th — Farmers' Institute, just closed at Tamora, was a grand success. Forty-seven new members just re- ceived into the Workman lodge last Tuesday. March 13th — Judge J. W. Dupin died last Saturday. He was an old resident, coming to Seward in 1870. He had oc- cupied many official positions in the county; county clerk, county judge, postmaster, etc. Joseph D. Woods, father of Wm. Woods, died at Stromburg last Sunday. He was years ago a resident of Seward. Mrs. Carrie Nation was at Sew- ard and demolished Judge Holland with her little hatchet. March 27th — Judge Geo. W. Lowley died. Had been a resident of the county for thirty-two years, (see sketch on another page) Mrs. Anna Skeede was found dead this morning. She had wandered away in a delirium. April 17th — Wm. Schluckeber died April 10, near Goehner. A. P. E. O. society was organized at Seward last Tuesday evening. May 8th — Good rains breaking the drouth is noted. The new telephone to Staplehurst and Tamora from Sew- ard are completed. May 22d — The remains of Oba Gibb were found in the river near Staplehurst last Monday. May 2i:)th — Three hundred University Cadets visited Seward yesterday. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 327 June 5 — The decoration exercises were attended by an immense crowd May 30. The '20th high school commence- ment occurred last Tliursday evening. Eight graduates. June 19 — Grocers and butchers of Lincoln had a picnic at the Fair grounds last Tuesday. 950 of them came on two trains. Mrs. Maria Konkright died in Seward last Friday. Mrs. F. L. Remington died June 12. Great Sunday School convention was held last week at Beaver Crossing. June 26 — The double tragedy occurred at Seward in which John Haud is shot to death and Alex Lange shoots himself and died yesterday afternoon Notice account of tragedy on another page. July 3 — Luke Agur died last Friday at Exeter and was brought to Seward for burial. Mr. Agur was an old citizen of the county, came to Marysville and built a mill in 1H75. S. Adler, an old time merchant, died at Hot Springs, South Dakota. July 10 — Celebration at Seward on the Fourth was a success. July 31 — Big A. O. U. W. picnic was held at the Fair grounds last Tuesday. Aug. 14 — The city was looted by a gang of roughs, fol- lowing the races. Last night seven houses were robbed, the amount stolen aggregates $99-1.80. John Cattle. Jr., died in England yesterday. One of Seward's bankers for many years. Micheal Auwender, a carjjenter fell from Becktel's barn and broke his neck last Friday. Dr. Leland Walker of Utah, the tirst doctor that ever faced the winter storms of Seward county, is here on a visit. Sept. 5 — Mrs. F. C. Shoemaker, an old resident of the county, died near Staplehurst on Saturday last. Sept. 7 — German Evangelical church at Goehner dedi- cated. Oct. 16 — A bad wreck on the B. & M. near Boyes mill last Monday night. Two freights collided. Eight cattle were killed and the cars were badly demolished. One tire- man bruised. Dr. James H. Woodward the pioneer doctor of the county died Oct. 8. Had been a resident in the county since the early seventies. A man of wide research and experience in his profession. 328 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Oct. 23 — Mrs. Jennie, wife of Dr. Cummins died Oct. 14. Nov. 5 — No rooster up although election is over. Dec. 11 — Money on deposit in banks of Seward county is $1,000,000. Dec. 18 — Seward city has made second payment on bonds of $1,000. Dec. 18 — Mrs. H. L. Davie, a long time a resident of Utica died at Seward last Friday, Jan. 1, 1903. The I. D. gives a large illustrated edition of the paper. Jan. 8 — Mrs. May A. Hubbard of Utica was found dead in her bed last Monday morning. Yesterday the Burlington had 106 cars of Milford ice on track at Milford. Jan. 15 — A fire in Diers block last Monday morning. Narrow escape for the whole block. Thanks to the firemen. Feb. 5 — Miss Jessie Kortges' death occurred last Sun- day evening under very sad circumstances. Feb. 26 — Fifty new members were initiated in the Work- man lodge last Thursday night. March 5 — $2000 county bonds are paid. Rev. C. E. Phinney of Utica died today, aged seventy years. He was a pioneer preacher of that region. Last Thursday night a severe sleet storm occurred. March 12 — Simon Johnson of Milford died last Friday. March 19 — Otto Holstein was run over and killed by a B. & M. train northwest of the city yesterday morning. April 2 — Mrs. W. C. Hartman of Staplehurst died last Saturday. April 16 — The death of John Roberts Sr. occurred last Friday. He was a Seward county born boy. April 30 — The school board begins figuring on a new high school building. May 28 — Nineteen deaths occurred in a cyclone in Ne- braska last week. Mrs. Harriet Swan, an aged lady, died in Seward last Saturday. Jessie Moore was accidentally shot and killed near Staplehurst last Friday night. A little cyclone last Friday near Germantown. June 4th — Nine graduate at the high school last Thurs- day evening. Thirteen inches of water fell during May. June llth--$8,000 county bonds paid last Tuesday. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 329 New strawberries received from Beaver Crossing last Sat- urday. June 18th~Wra. C. Pallet died in Seward June 12. He had been a resident near Beaver Crossing 33 years. June 25th — A heavy hail storm visited the southwest part of the county last Friday doing much damage to crops. John Englehauft of Milford died last Saturday. Had been a resident of Milford twenty-three years and prominent in bus- iness. July 9th — Dan Tophan fell otf his wagon and^was killed on his way home from Staplehurst last Thursday. Phil Bridenbough of "N" precinct committed suicide last Monday, cause dispondency. July 16th — The electric proposition carried by a vote of five to one. Dr. D. D. Potter's house was robbed of a gold watch. A bad hail storm passed over the west part of the county last Sunday and destroyed the crops in its wake. July 23d— The last $2,(X^0 of county bonds are paid and Seward county is free from debt. Mrs. Harriet I. Jones, widow of Claudius Jones, died last Saturday. Claudius Roberts, a Seward boy, was accidentally shot and killed at Ogden, Utah, July 20. July 30 — H. Webermier of "N" precinct was killed by ac- cident in the harvest field last Saturday. Aug. 20th — The old settlers enjoyed a fine picnic at Beaver Crossing. Seward County Telephone Co. organized at Beaver Crossing. Capital stock $5,000. Aug. 27th — The A. O. U. W. picnic at the park was a big affair on last Tuesday. Sept. 3d — County fair now in session and large attend- ance. W. C. Forster of Staplehurst died last Friday. Oct. 1st— German picnic at the park was an immense affair. Oct. 8th — Gus Babson, prominent business man of Se- ward died last Tuesday. Near Goehner last Saturday F. Shultz accidentally cut otf the feet of his little daughter with a mowing machine. Oct. 15th — A very destructive fire at Milford yesterday destroyed seven business houses. Nov 5th — The big rooster is up and crowing because 330 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY. NEBRASKA Baker, Calder and Bern is are elected. The rest of the ticket is repubhcan. Nov. 19th — Burglars got in their work at the North- western depot last Sunday night, but got no money. Nov. "26th- -35, 000 sheep are being fed in the county. Patrick Reynokls, eighty-seven years old, died in the north- ern part oL" the county last Tuesday. Dec. 3d — Mrs. M. J. Ruby, an old time citizen of Se- ward, died in Oklahoma last Thursday. She was nearly ninety-eight years old. Dec. 7th — It is noted that Milford is on the boom. Dec. 17th — Helmer Hiteman loses a hand in a corn shei- ler. The coldest wave of the season passed over us this week. Jan. 14th, 1904 — Gen. Victor Vifquain died last Thurs- day. Jan. 21st — Mrs. J. H. Vance, one of the pioneers of the south part of the county, died la»t Monday. Feb 4th — Mrs. Harriet Ritche died at Seward last Tues- day. She was an old setbler in "D" precinct. Feb. 11th — Mi's. E. A. Rodman, an old settler near Go6hner, died on the 5th inst. The Seward electric lights have been running a week with entire satisfaction. Feb. iMth — Mrs. Susan Roberts, one of our pioneer mothers, died last Friday. March 3d — S. C. Langworth, president of the First National Bank of Seward, died on the 2nd inst. CHAPTER XVII. TiiV)iite to Wives and Mothers — Clothing of Pioneers, Manner of Living — What Kind of a People are weV — Old Settlers' Reunions — Address at a Reunion— First District Court— First Marriages— Snow Storms —Well Behaved Winters— High Waters. TRIBUTE TO WIVES AND MOTHERS OF THE PIONEERS The mothers and wives of the pioneers are justly enti- tled to kind remembrance. They were devoted and self sacrilicing beyond measure. The labor they performed and the hardships they endured should live in the hearts of the people to the remotest generation. Here is a picture not overdrawn: A young bride of twenty has left her father's home of comfort and luxury in the East, and with her young husband has turned her face toward the setting sun, with the determination to assist in hewing out a new home in the wilderness of the West. With no capital except a strong resolution to win, and strong faith in the future, they bid adieu to friends and kindred, and with a steady eye tixed upon the star of empire they penetrate the wilderness. A little log cabin, or a sod house, or a dug-out has been has- tily built for shelter. A iDarlor, sitting room, kitchen and bed room are all combined in one. The bare walls of the rude home are brought in contrast in the mind of the young wife with the beautiful home of her childhood; but in her young breast, "'hope is like an anchor to the soul." When the first Sabbath dawns, she may listen in vain for the sweet chimes of the church-going bell, but looking out on the broad expanse of prairie, all is solitary. Sometimes with heaviness of heart she labors on and on, and cheers the faltering heart of her husband in his endeavors. The little means that they have brought are rapidly melting away be- fore any return for their labor is in sight. The beautiful garments of her youth are fading and becoming tattered. By and by she becomes a mother, and while the beautiful 332 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA gift of heaven may bring joy and gladness, yet in the same train it brings anxieties and sorrows, a constant care by day and by night. The young father must sometimes go long distances from home, to be gone days at a time, to a mill fif- ty or a hundred miles away, or to a city far away, and the young mother and lier darling must stay weary days and long nights in the lonely home, with no protector but her God. And now comes a strolling band of hungry Indians to frighten and annoy her, and while the child is sci'eaming with fright, she must stand in the door and face these ferocious wild men. She must frequently leave her child to cry, while she goes long distances after the cows, or to a distant spring for water, or carry the baby on her arm and a heavy bucket of water with the other. Then again, the harvest time comes, or something else occurs, when several work hands must be provided for when with scanty means at command she must perhaps carry the babe on her arm and with the other do the work of cooking for the hands. And again when night comes, she must divide her bed and make beds upon the cabin floor for the men, and as her husband keeps a "free hotel" for all strangers, she must deny herself and little ones ease and comfort to wait upon strangers, and frequently make her children wait at meal time while stran- gers eat their bread, and the mother and children make their meals from the scraps. This is no fancy sketch; it has oc- curred ten thousand times, of which there are plenty of liv- ing witnesses. Oh ! who but a mother can tell of the weariness of a mother's life on the frontier; so often struggling to keep the wolf from the door, so often beset with dangers, so often overworked with slavish labor, and so often overwrought with anxious care. No wonder that untimely gray hairs ap- pear, and that her cheeks are furrowed while she should yet be in the prime of her womanly strength and beauty. Young men and maidens of Nebraska, you that have such pleasant homes today, will you please remembei- what it has cost your parents in tl\e years gone by, to prepare these homes for you. In your grateful hearts will you in a becoming manner reverence and love them? If you can fully re^^lize in your imagination what they have done for you, it HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 333 will surround their gray heads with grace and beauty, inter- mingled with a halo of holy light. THE CLOTHING OF THE PIONEERS During the first years of the settlement, this should per- haps receive some notice. It must be borne in mind that clothing was extremely high in price from 1H63 to 1868. The commonest calico was worth from forty to fifty cents per yard. A pair of brogan shoes cost live dollars; common domestic was worth from seventy-five cents to one dollar per yard, and all articles at about the same rate. Pine cloth- ing was entirely out of reach of the common people, and was unseen in this country. The men were usually pro- vided with a (condemned) soldier's overcoat, which were the cheapest garments in the market. Condemned soldiers' blankets were also used to a considerable extent. We have seen them made into overshirts, and then used for under- snirts. We have also known them to be made into pants. Our hats and caps were just what happened to come handy — sometimes caps of coon or badger skins; at other times some old garment would be ripped up and made into a cap; occasionally a chip hat was seen, but usually in a weather- beaten condition, and frequently it was minus a large part of the rim. A gray horse blanket frequently served as a coat. Mittens were made rudely of skins of animals — elk, coon, or whatever came handy; sometimes they were made of odd bits of cloth, and faced with pieces of old meal sacks; and meal sacks were frequently converted ito pants. Strips of bed ticking furnished us with suspenders. Our feet, per- haps, had the hardest time of it, as they were brought more directly into contact with frost and snow. The man who had a good pair of cowhide boots was fortunate; but he was an exception. We improvised moccasins, which at times we were fortunate enough to trade for with the Indians; then we would make them ourselves out of elk hides, or of cloth, or sheepskins. Our poor feet were often in a sorry plight. If our wives were fortunate enough to have two calico dresses in one year, they were truly thankful. Sunbonnets of calico were commonly worn to church, as well as the 334 HISTORY OP SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA faded shawls of other years. Cloth slippers frequently served for shoes or moccasins. We have known the old chests to be rum aged and old bedspreads, such as the dear old grandmothers wove, brought out as a last resort and made into skirts and worn. In summer, men, women, young men, and maidens went barefoot to a great extent. Such clothing as we wore, even the best of us, would now be a laughing stock for you all, but then, it was no laughing matter; now it's no matter how much you laugh. Should you see one dressed in the usual garb of 1864 and 1865. you would certainly think it to be a scarecrow, yet we were powerless to have it otherwise. We all felt the sting of the situation. We had many of us been used to better fare. We had just as noble aspirations as any of our pres- ent people. We all wanted to do better, and just as soon as it was possible, we did do better. Our food was usually ])lain and healthful. We used as matter oC necessity a great amount of corn bread and lye hominy. We generally had a good supply of wild fruits, such as plums, grapes, gooseberries, alderberries, and rasp- berries. We made sorghum molasses for sweetening. Our new ground produced melons in grand profusion, and when we were fortunate enough to kee]) the Indians from stealing them, we enjoyed eating melons such as a king might admire. Our wives were almost universally good cooks, and they would come neai'er getting up a good dinner out of poor ma- terial than most women do out of a well supplied larder. At times our tables were supplied with delicious meats of ante- lope and wild turkeys, frequently of elk, and occasionally of buffalo. Then again we would have to depend upon smaller game, such as prairie chickens, rabbits, squirrels, etc. Af- ter the first year, pigs began to accumulate, also domestic fowls, and occasionally a beef would be slaughtered, and al- so vegetables were produced, and the skies became brighter. Later comers usually brought a little money, and we proved a blessing to them, as we usually had something to sell them that they most needed, such as grain, hay, poultry, a pig, a cow perhaps, .some potatoes for seed, and we wel- comed them heartily, for they brought us some money, which we sorely needed, and they brought us society, which HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 335 we had longed for so patiently. They brought us hopes of school and church privileges, for which we were hungry in- deed. We began to renew our dihipidated clothing and live more like folks, and our lives were brighter and more cheer- ful for their coming. Visiting on the frontier was a feature worth noticing. With all our poverty, we enjoyed visiting one another. We made no fashionable calls, just to show what fine clothes we could wear. We were all ragged alike. When we went, we aimed to put in the whole day, and took the whole family, and we invariably had a good time. One feature of these vis- its was that our good wives all knew one another's circum- stances. If the neighbor to be visited was out of butter or meat, or any other article necessary to make a square meal, it was never an offense to look the cupboard over and take such things along as would supply the deficiency. That would now be considered an insult. Then it was the most common thing to take a roll of butter, a piece of meat, a few eggs, or anything that parties were fortunate enough to have, and that was known to be lacking at the place to be visited. People were always welcome at their neighbor's hearths. We did not stop to ring the doorbells or send in our cards to learn if we were welcome. WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE ARE WE? Our citizenship is made up of a mixed multitude. All the eastern and northern states east of the Missouri are well repre.sented. Illinois and Iowa have furnished the largest quotas, but Indiana, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Wis- consin and Michigan are not far behind. We have quite a sprinkling from Missouri, Kentucky, and other .southern states. Of the foreigners, the Germans have the lead. They are here in great numbers and they came to stay. The great majority had been in America long before they came to Sew- ard county. The had halted .some years in the other states, and had "worn the green off;" nearly all of them had learned our language and had become conversant with our institu- tions. They have proved apt scholars in learning American ways. They do not forget the fatherland, but they came to 336 HISTORY OF riEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA this country to find better homes, and they are loyal to the flag and institutions of their adopted home. We have quite a goodly number from Sweden and Den- mark and they are "true blue" Americans as well as the Irish and English, of which we have many. If you want to pick up a row with an Irishman, just say one word against our flag and you will be readily accommodated. These foreign born citizens, we take it, are from among the best their several countries afford. Many of them are scholars of a high order, and men of broad views. Some of the most thoroughly trained minds in our county and state are to be found among the foreign born citizens. We find such among every nationality except the Bohemians; of them we know but little as they have but lately invaded our coun- try. Some of the brightest scholars are Frenchmen. Un- fortunately, we have but few of them. It would be a great blessing to us if we had many more of them. We have a large settlement in west "O" and "N" pre- cincts known as Amish Menonites who migrated from the western borders of Russia. They are of German descent or origin. They are a prodigy as farmers. We must say in all our travels in the northern states (nearly every one of them from the Atlantic to the Pacific) we have never seen such a beautiful block of farms anywhere as may be found at the Amish settlements in Seward county. These well-behaved, energetic and thrifty people have done much to enrich and beautify our land. This has been largely the case with all our foreign born people. If they are not the best Europe can afford, they must have some mighty good people over there; but we think we got the best they had. We are rapidly becoming a homogeneous people. The children of these people are just the same as our American boys and girls. You could not tell the difference. We have but few families of colored people. The older ones of these were born and raised slaves. They are all in- dustrious and well disposed people, and it speaks well for them and is certainly to their credit that under such dis- couraging conditions they have come to such a high stand- ard of citizenship. The Americans, of course, preponderate in numbers, HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 337 and nearly all of them are progressive and intelligent, and generally prosperous. There are hundreds that came to the county with bare hands, except they generally had plenty of children; but now they are well to do, with pleasant homes and a great abundance of this world's goods. Their children have grown intelligently and the old folks are enjoying the fruits of a well-spent life. We have a great number of old soldiers in all parts of the county, and w^e take great pride in testifying that they are nearly all universally respected and honored for the part they had in saving for us a home and a country, and for their many sterling qualities as citizens. Long live the sol- dier boys. We are so glad that our Nebraska has provided such a beautiful home for such as are so unfortunate as not to have homes of their own. OLD SETTLERS' REUNIONS The first meeting of the reunion of old settlers was held in the public square in Seward in October 1884, with W. W. Cox as president. The meeting was not largely attended, but was of great interest. Many touching incidents of early times were related. In 1885 there was no meeting, but in October, 1886, the society was re-organized and placed on a more permanent basis. Officers elected were: W. W. Cox, president, Geo. A. Merriam, secretary, and Mrs. Thos. Gra- ham, treasurer. The society that year opened a registry of the old settlers, giving name, time of settlement, where lo- cated, age, etc. Great numbers availed themselves of that privilege. A very large and enthusiastic meeting was held in Roberts' grove west of the city. The officers for 1887 were: J. H. Culver, of Milford, president; George A. Mer- riam, secretary; Mrs. Thos. Graham, treasurer. In October, 1887, the annual meeting was held at Milford and was very largely attended, and a very enjoyable meeting was held. Gov. Thayer made the address of the day. Many new names were added to the registry. Oiffcers elected for 1888 were: W. R. Davis, president, and George A. Merriam and Mrs. Graham were again re-elected, and Seward was chosen as place of the meeting of 1888. These meetings bid fair to 338 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA grow in interest from year to year, and in long years to come the registry will become of priceless value. The four counties of Butler, Polk, York, and Seward have held conjointly three reunions at Lord's grove, near the four corners, where vast numbers of people from these four counties have held very profitable meetings. At the meeting in 1886 it was estimated that over four thousand were present. The meeting of 1887 was postponed on account of a heavy rain storm, and the meeting adjourned with the same obstacle when it was determined to defer the meeting to the summer of isss. By some unaccountable reason these meetings were dropped. We very much regret to record this fact. They should be revived and kept up. They would be pleasant and profitable, helping lo keep up old friendships, and assist in renewing old acquaintance, and it would be a great help in preserving historical data. As the old people die off, many incidents of their lives which it would be profitable to pre- sei've for those who come after is buried with them and can never be known. ADDRESS AT A REUNION The following is an extract from an address delivered at the old settlers' reunion at Lord's grove, near the four corners of Butler, Polk, York and Seward counties in 1886: Young friends, children of the pioneers, we would ask you to bear in kind remembrance the hardships and strug- gles that these gray-headed fathers and mothers have en- dured in other years to provide homes of c;omfort and luxury for you. Their heads are fast becoming silvered with age. Their steps are not so elastic as in other years. The great duties with which they so manfully grappled in the prime of their manhood's strength must now be accepted by you. Will you accept them like men and women worthy of the honored names you bear? The improvements on these prairies, these houses and barns, these groves and orchards, these smiling fields, these churches and school-houses, these thrifty towns and cities, that, like jewels of a crown, are scattered over the plain, all HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 339 attest that the pioneers have not hved in vain. They have laid well and tirmly these foundations. You must go on with the superstructure. There is yet plenty of work for you. These beneficent institutions are to be guarded, and great undertakings are yet to develop into achievements that will bless mankind. This vast empire must in the near future teem with its mil- lions of people, and it will require great wisdom to guide them to a proper destiny; and upon you, our sons and daughters, must devolve the duty of going forward wisely and energetically to complete the task we have so well be- gun. Oh, for the glory of the future of our native land! May you, fathers and mothers, spend your declining years amidst peace and plenty, surrounded by earnest, lov- ing, and intelligent children, carrying forward with master hands the enterprises that are so dear to your hearts; and may he who shall stand here in the far off years to come, to tell the stories of our first settlement, of our joys and sor- sows, of our labors, trials, and discouragements, and the fi- nal triumphs, '"be able to still look around upon a great, in- telligent, free, and hap])y people." May he with all the en- thusiasm of poetry exclaim: "Here is still my country, Zealous yet modest. Innocent though fi-ee, Patient of toil. Serene amidst alarms. Inflexible in faith. Invincible in arms." FIRST DISTRICT COURT The first term of the district court in Seward county, was held at Milford, November 15, 1869, Judge George B. Lake presiding. Prank M. Elsworth was appointed dis- trict attorney. The first case on the docket was John W. Shields vs. J. L. Bandy. The only state case was against W. H. Tuttle, for an assault on Jonathan Gordon. Mr. Tut- tle got clear of the charge, but the prevalent opinion was that he ought to be fined for not doing a more thorough job. J. C. Cowun, of Omaha, was the first district attorney of 340 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA the district who attended oui* court, which was held in the year 1H70, at Milford. The first term held at Seward was in the spring of 1872, Judge Lake on the bench. T. L. Norval was appointed dis- trict attorney. At that term the famous Courtwright in- junction case came up, in which Judge Lake made the in- junction against the Midland R. R. and the county commis- sioners perpetual. Judge Lake held the office of judge of this judicial dis- trict until the year 1876, when the districts w^ere changed and the sixth district was formed. Geo. W. Post was elect- ed and he was re-elected and served until the spring of 1883, when he resigned, and T, L. Norval was appointed by Gov. Dawes to fill the vacancy. Judge Norval was elected in the fall of 1888, and held the office from that date until 1H90. M. B. Reese was elected district attorney, and held the office until 1882. Thos. Darnall was elected to the place in the fall of 18S2, and held the place until January, 1887, when the law took elfect providing for county attorney, at which time R. P. Anderson was elected to the office of county attorney. Prior to 1879, the county clerk performed the duties of district clerk. H. P. Lewis was appointed in 1879, and elected in 1880 and re-elected in 1882, after which Geo. A. Merriam was elected, and re-elected in November, 1887. We glean from the probate court records that the first letters of guardianship were issued by Judge Henry Wor- tendyke, on the 29th of January, 1870, to Sarah C. Wilcox, in matters of guardianship of the minor heirs of Syrel Tift. FIRST MARRIAGES The first marriage in the county, as shown by the rec- ords, was that of John W. Pitt and Miss Eva Long, at the residence of Samuel Long, on the 12th of November, 1866. The ceremony was performed by C, J. Neihardt, J. P. The first marriage in "G" precinct and city of Seward was at the house of Lewis Moffitt, on the 20th day of March, 1867. The contracting parties were David P. Imlay and Miss Mary Moffitt, W. W. Cox, justice of the peace, officiat- ing. On the 20th of April, 1H67, the second wedding in "G" HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 341 precinct was that of James A. Brown and Miss Sarah A. Imlay, at the residence of the bride's father, one and one- half miles northwest of the present city. We had the honor of ofticiating on that occasion. SNOW STORMS Since the stormy winter of 1866 and 1867, we have had only occasional storms of p^reat severity. April 13, 1873, a rain commenced in the early morning, which turned to sleet during the day, and raged so fiercely that man or beast could hardly withstand it. As night approached it turned to snow, and the night and following day were appalling. The whirl- ing and drifting snow drove the unsheltered stock before it to destruction. Mr. A. D. Ritchie had a large herd of sheep drift with the storm until they rushed over the bank into Lincoln creek, where they perished. Peter Henegen, of Butler county, lost a herd of cattle in the same way. They took shelter under a high bank on the upper Blue, and the snow drifted entirely over them. The worst snow storm of this generation struck this county a little after 3:00 p. m. on the l"2th day of January, 1888. A damp snow had been falling from near the previous midnight. The weather was quite warm and pleasant, and up to 3:00 o'clock the snow fell in great feathery flakes, such as school children rejoice to see, with no breath of wind; and while we were all watching the beautiful snow coming so gently, little thinking of the terrors of the night, when all at once, as if some demon had been turned loose on the world, there came a blast from the northv:est, such as was never seen before in this fair land. All hearts were terror- stricken at the fury of the storm. The atmosphere was so thick with drifting snow that nothing could be seen, and the mercury immediately fell near fifty degrees, and it seemed for a time that no mortal exposed to its terrors could survive its fearful ravages. This continued till near midnight. There was no loss of life recorded in Seward county, but there were numerous hair-breadth escapes. We have two victims in this county who suffered more than death: Lena Webbeke, of "I" precinct, a girl of eleven years, under- 342 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA took to reach her home from the school-house, and became bewildered and remained out in an open field, partially drift- ed under the snow, and was rescued in the morning. This is one of the most remarkable incidents on record. That she should survive seems a miracle. One of her legs was ampu- tated and she bid fair to recover. Miss Etta Shattuck, who was away in Holt county, teaching, was caught in the storm, and by chance ran to a haystack and burrowed into it, re- maining there seventy-two hours, and was accidentally found. She was brought to her home in Seward, and it was found necessary to have both feet amputated. She seemed to be recovering. She remained cheerful under the terrible ordeal. Her case created wide-spread sympathy, and large amounts of money were raised at Seward, Omaha, Fremont, Nebraska City, among the traveling men on trains, and at many other places in the state. Poor Ettie died February 6, 1888. The State Journal started a subscription also for the Webbeke girl, which was caught up at Seward and other places and resulted in ample funds for her care and educa- tion. All that willing hands and loving hearts could do was done for her relief arid tender care. The storm was of such short duration that the stock stood it through with scarcely no loss in this county; but in the great northland it swept men and beasts to destruction by thousands. The people of our county were very grateful for the generous contributions from all parts pi the state. Since that memorable storm to this writing, the winters have been pretty well behaved. We have not had a regular blizzard since that date. There has been but a moderate amount of snow at any time. In the winter of 1903-4, there was but little, so sleigh rides were at a premium. On the 20th of January, 1905, we had what may be called a "beauti- ful snow," and a well behaved one. About ten inches fell, and it is yet (two weeks later) just lying perfectly quiet, and sleighing is good. In the last seventeen years, the thermometer has rarely gotten down to twenty below zero, and the winds since that horrible night of Jan. 12, 1888, have been on their good be- havior. Of course it blows sometimes, but to say the least, HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY. NEBRASKA 343 there has in seventeen years been no destructive storm in winter. We have an occasional hail storm that phiys havoc in narrow belts; however they are generally in the other coun- ty, but sometimes we get a taste of hail. In the summer of 1904, one swooped down near Tamora and swept a district from two to three miles wide running in a southeasterly di- rection, crossing the Blue river north of Ruby station, and losing its force in the Middle creek hills. It did a pretty good job and marketed about all the corn in its swath. Destructive Hoods in summer time we never have. Our drainage system is so perfect that it may rain all that it has a mind to, and the land cannot overflow to do great damage as it does m many less favored places. Within the forty years that we have been familiar with the Blue river, we have seen but three floods that covered any considerable part of the valley: one in Feb., 1865; one in April, 1867; one in Aug., 1881. On the subject of water courses and drainage the reader is kindly referred to another page. CHAPTER XVIll. Agricviltural Society — Assessments and Financial Conditions — Value of Property — Census Tables — Court House and Struggles to Get it — Eggs and Poultry — Telephone Companies — A Little Story. AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, ITS HISTORY Seward County Agricultural Society was org-anized August 7, 1871, by the adoption of a constitution and set of by-laws, and the election of the following officers: Milton Langdon, president; F. M. Ellsworth, vice-president; T. P. Hardenburg, secretary; Geo. W. Standard, treasurer. The tirst fair was held from the 21st to 23d of September, in the grove southwest of Seward. By referring to the Nebraska Atlas of Sept. 29, 1871, w^e tind that the fair was a success, and that there were over a thousand people in attendance. We have our memory refreshed also by finding in another issue of the same sheet that our secretary got away with some of our funds. yVe have no means of learning just how much. At the regular annual meeting in October, 1871, we find that W. W. Cox was elected president. There is no record of who were the other officers, but we remember that James A. Brown was chosen secretary, and Hon.T. L. Norval, clerk; that w^e held the second annual fair at the same place as the first, and that it was quite successful. We arranged a very creditable premium list, and were able to pay all the in- debtedness caused by the default of the former secretary, and every expense of the fair, including the premiums, and turned over sixty dollars to our successors in office. The exhibits were good, especially in farm products and in the fine arts. The trees of the beautiful grove fairly blossom 3d with the handiwork of our women. The editor of the Ne- braska Parmer delivered the annual address. It is most unfortunate that the records of the society from the date of its formation until 1881 have been lost or 346 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA destroyed; and what is more surprising, the most diligent search through the files of the newspapers of those years discloses nothing from which we can learn anything of im- portance, except the first organization in the summer of 1871, in the Nebraska Atlas. We remember, however, that- Mr. Campbell was elected president in the fall of 1872, and Joseph Lossee was secretary, and that they held a fair in the fall of 1873. J. A. Brown was elected in the year of 1873, and a fair was held in the year of 1874. If we remember correctly, Mr. Brown was re-elected, but of this we have no means of being certain. They held a fair in the year of 1875 and Mr. Brown delivered an address, which we find in the Nebraska Reporter in full, but not another word about the fair. The speech was a good one, and full of good hints and sugges- tions. If memory serves us correctly, (and we have searched diligently and taxed the memory of all who would be most likely to remember,) Ed. Mclntyre was elected president, and re-elected in the fall of 1876, or held over on account of there being no election in 1876. There was no fair held that year. In the fall of 1877 a fair was held, and was quite a success. During the summer of 1^77 an association was formed, known as the Seward Trotting Park Association. This as- sociation bought forty acres of land of the B. & M. R. R. Co. at ten dollars an acre, and raised the money by selling stock in five-dollar shares. Arrangements were made with the Agricultural Society to hold the fairs on these grounds for a certain consideration, and our fairs were held there for a time. There is much unwritten history connected with this Trotting Park Association. In the first place the rail road folks were induced to part with the land at half price, be- cause it was apparently for a public benefit. Men sub- scribed for stock in small quantities, just to help the enter- prise, and had no thought of realizing any income from the investment. The stock was transferable, and it was but a short time until it was discovered that one man had a majority of the stock, and enjoyed complete control of the whole con^ HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 347 cern; so the association larg:el.y consisted of one man. The com- munity did not take kindly to the matter in that shape, and it was a source of continual trouble and annoyance until the citizens made up funds the second time and purchased the property outright for the Agricultural Society, in 18Hfj, when the county commissioners made a liberal appropria- tion for improvements. Claudius Jones was president in the fall of 1877, and a fair was held in the fall of 1878, when William Gill was elected, and held the fair in the fall of 1879. In that year John Henderson was elected, and held the fair of 1880, when Wm. Redford was elected president. In that year we lind a record (the tirst) of their proceedings. The fairs were measurably successful as exhibitions, but the society was generally hard pressed for means, and frequently the more enterprising members were taxed be- yond endurance to keep life in the society. Among the more notable persons who always had a shoulder to the wheel were James A. Brown, Ed. Mclntyre, Wm. E. Gill, E. M. Hickman and Claudius Jones. These men, and i:)erhaps a few others, are entitled to much credit for untiring energy and a free use of their money in keeping the society alive through many years of adversity. We see by a record of a meeting held August 6, 1881, that Ed. Mclntyre was elected secretary pro tem. We notice that J. A. Brown offered a resolution that the offices of secretary, treasurer, vice president and three of the directors be declared vacant, on account of the negligence of these officers in performing their duties. Resolution adopted. Whereupon Geo.C. McKay was elected vice pres- ident, Ed. Mclntyre, secretary, J. A. Brown, treasurer, and Wm. Gill, J. B. Courtwright and Allen Price, directors, to fill vacancies. The fair was held Sept. 29th, 30th and Oct. 1st of that year. We notice in the report of their October meeting that the receipts were as follows: Total receipts, including $300 from county, were $1,135.10; total expenditures, $1,016.36; leaving a balance of $118.74. At their December meeting Wm. Redford was re elected president, and Ed. Mclntyre was re-elected secretary, and 348 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA R. S. Nerval was elected treasurer. The time fixed for the fair of 1H82 was Sept. 27th to 30th. J. S. Henderson was chosen superintendent. Wm. Gill was elected delegate to State Board of Agriculture It was resolved at this meeting to hold a farmers' institute in February, and the secretary was instructed to correspond with Gov. Furnas and Prof. Thompson, and they voted to tax themselves fifty cents each to defray the expenses. At a meeting of the board in August, 1882, $40 was ap- propriated to pay expenses of a county exhibit at state fair. Records of tlie meeting in July, 1883, show that there was received at last fair $1,407.50, and expended $1,374.10, leaving a balance of $32.67. Wm. Redford was re-elected president; also, Mr. Mclntyre was re-elected secretary by acclamation, and Wm. Gill was re-elected delegate to state board. At the August meeting, 18M3, Wm. Gill was employed to take charge of exhibit at state fair. At the annual meeting of January 5, 1884, the report showed $1,849.45 received from all -sources, and $1,744.20 paid out. E. M. Hickman was elected president, and C. S. Ailing was elected secretary and treasurer. Wm. Gill was again elected delegate to state board. At a called meeting in April the time for holding the an- nual fair was fixed at Oct. 1st, 2d, 3d and 4th. At a meeting in August the president was instructed to conclude a contract with C. Jones for sixty shares of the Driving Park Association stock at $1,000, and authorized to draw on the treasurer for $50 to bind the bargain. At a meeting in October an order was voted to Ed. Mclntyre of $50, to help pay expenses of exhibit at World's Fair at New Orleans. At the annual meeting in January, 1885, Geo. Pickerel was elected president, and C. S. Ailing was re-elected secre- tary and treasurer; Ed. Mclntyre was elected superinten- dent, and J. H. Culver was elected delegate to state board and instructed to cast his vote to re-elect Gov. Furnas as secretary of said board. Dates fixed for the fair of 1885 were Sept. 2d, 3d, 4th and 5th. We find no report of treas- urer, although it is recorded that report was approved. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 349 At a special meeting, February 6, 1886, Claudius Jones was elected president, C. S. Ailing, secretary, and H. T. Jones, treasurer. Here again we tind no report of treasurer, but a record that his report was approved. At a special meeting held in July, a resolution is passed accepting a donation of $2,000, secured by the Board of Trade of Seward, by its president, G. Babson, for the pur- chase of the Driving Park Association's grounds. A general meeting of the society was authorized to be called by the secretary for July 23d, we suppose to finish the purchase of the grounds, but the secretary is silent about that, and we tind no record of said meeting. At the annual meeting in January, Mr. Wm. Redford was elected president, and the secretary's office was left vacant, which was filled by the Board -H. T. Jones. J. N. Edwards was elected treasurer. Again we have no record of treasur- er's report. An invitation was voted to the citizens to plant trees on the fair grounds on Arbor Day. The fair was held in October, 1887, and was a very successful show. It was without doubt one of the best stock exhibits at any county fair in the West. The society met and overcame grave obstacles within the two previous years. First, a vast amount of money was raised to pay for the grounds and improve them, and during the last summer a heavy wind wrecked all the build- ings, which were rebuilt at great expense, but now the so- ciety has the grounds and they are fairly improved and meas- urably free from debt, and with bright prospects for the future. At the annual meeting in 1887, J. B. Courtwright was elected president, H. T. Jones was elected secretary, and George Dickman was elected treasurer. Treasurer's report showed: Total receipts of $3,200; toial expenditures, $3,400. Considering the valuable property and improvements, it is fair to say that the society is in a very prosperous condition. At the annual meeting Oct. 31. 1897, the following named persons were elected to fill the various offices: Pres- ident, H. F. Slonecker; vice-president, J. N. Anstine; treasurer, L. F. Shultz; secretary. Thos. H. Wake. Di- rectors appointed: John Zimmerer, John Dalton, E. C. 350 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Gerkee, Wm. Hartman and Wm. E. Ritchie. Treasurer's report for 1895 and 1806 shows total receipts of $2,334.66, total expenditures, 2.370.27; deficit, $35.61. At the annual meeting held Oct. 29, 1898, the following persons were elected to fill the offices:- President, D. Zim- merman; vice-president, W. C. Hartman; treasurer, L. P. Shultz; secretary, A. E Baker. The president appoint- ed as directors for the coming year; W. S. Williams, chairman; H. F. Slonecker, W. E: Ritchie, August Meyers and John Cowperwaite. The secretary's books show re- ceipts of $1509.82. There does not appear on the minutes the amounts of expenditures, but the auditing committee finds a balance in the treasury of $117.33. There was -no fair that year. The records do not show what the expendi- tures were for. At the annual meeting held Oct. 23, 1899, Philip Unitt was elected president; Wm. Smiley, vice-president; W. E. Langworthy, treasurer; and E. C. Holland, secretary. The president appomted W. C. Hartman, E. A. Lamdin, D. Zim- merman, Geo. Poster and Wm. Smiley as board of directors. At this meeting a most important move was made that re- sulted in selling the old fair grounds and purchasing the new location. It was moved by G. Babson and C. E. Holland that the officers of the association sell the old fair grounds and buy a new one. Amended to read thus, "That the officers are instructed to see what a new location would cost and also to learn what the old one could be sold for, and that the meeting adjourn to the third Saturday in January, 1900 for a report." This motion carried. At the appointed time January 20, 1900, there being no quorum, the meeting adjourned to January 29. At this meet- ing a new committee of three, viz: John Zimmerer, W. O. Dickenson and E. Mclntyre were appointed to assist the of- ficers in learning what the old grounds could be sold for and what the new one could be bought for. The committee was instructed to make a report to an adjourned meeting to be held March 17, 1900. In due time the committee reported that the old grounds could be sold for $2500, and that the new grounds in the vicinity, including the Roberts grove, would cost $3500. This meeting appointed a committee HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 351 to secure subscriptions and were required to report at the meeting to be held March 24, 1900. At said meeting report was favorably received and the president and secretary were instructed to sell the old ground, viz: nei of sei of section 29, town 11, range 3 east, and purchase the new, consisting of the Roberts Grove and grounds adjacent in section 20, town 11. range 3 east. Amount of ground not stated. At the annual meeting held October 27, 1900, Phil Unitt was re-elected president; E. C. Hollond was elected secretary, and W. E. Langworthy, treasurer. The old board of Directors held over. Decem- ber 1, 1900, the society authorized the officers to borrow money to pay balance on the grounds. We note amount cash on hand October 27, 1900, was $183.85 and October 26, 1901, there had been received from all sources $3,594.60 and paid out all but $88.01. In 1901 the following officers were elected, viz: J. F. -Goehner, president; Geo. Dickman, secretary; Dr. Diers, treasurer. February 10, 1902, we find the finances of the society in bad shape with many judgments hanging over it and a foreclosure threatened. However, there was a stipu- lation between all judgment creditors that all proceedings should be stayed until October 3, 1903. There was no fair in 1902. At an adjournment meeting held, January 13th, 1903, W. E. Ritchie, was elected president; H. Wolvin, vice president; Ed Mclntyre, secretary and J. L. Jergensen, treasurer We note that secretary's report. May 27, 1903, shows total i^eceipts of $5452.29 and expenditures of $5439. H6. A successful fair was held in September, 1903. Report of re- ceipts for the year 1903, ending December 4th, was $13243.38 and expenditures $12760.08 leaving a balance of $1483.90 but somehow the treasurer's report shows on hand a balance of $1568.44. October 31st, 1903, W. E. Ritchie was made presi- dent; E. Mclntyre, vice president and Thos. Wake, treasurer. Report of July 4th, 1904, B. & M. picnic, showed receipts of $1438.45. A successful fair was held in the autumn of 1904. Reports of receipts, for the year is $16020.04, expenditures, $15737.82, balance on hand December 19th, 1904, is $12S2.20. The society at this writing is in a flourishing condition, 352 HISTORY OF 8EWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA being entirely free from debt, and is the owner of the best, most beautiful and best equipped county fair grounds in the state. Tlie grounds are surrounded by a high substantial woven wire fence with a splendid race track. The grounds are beautifully shaded with native ash, walnut, elm and oak trees and the ground is carpeted with a fine blue grass sward. There are over a dozen finely arranged buildings for exhibits, etc. The grounds are in close proximity to the city and handy to the tracks where excursionists can reach the gates within a few steps. The beautiful river skirting the western and southern border of the grounds forms an attractive feature, whore the pleasures of boating are at command on gasoline launches. The grounds are picturesque and attrac- tive. Officers for 1905 are John Zimmerer, president; Phil Unitt, vice peesident; H. A. Graff, treasurer and H. S. Landis, secretary. Board of directors are F. Poore, J. S. Dillenbeck, E. Mclntyre, Geo. Davis and L. A. Rutan. Pres- ident of board, John Zimmerer and secretary, H. D. Landis. COURT HOUSE The struggle over proposition to vote county bonds to build a court house. The court house problem has been a most difficult one to solve. When the county seat was finally located at Seward in 1871, the citizens of the town and im- mediate vicinity chipped in and donated twelve hundred dollars to help build a court house commensurate with the needs of the young county. The building was built on a block in Harris Mottitt and Roberts' addition now occupied by the jail. The building was occupied some years until the business of the county out grew the quarters when appart- menls were rented in the Hedden block and other buildings, for the various offices. The need of a proper building has been felt for many years and propositions have been submitted at different times which were not favorably received by the peo])le and they were snowed undoi-. We give returns of an election held in 1898, when a bond proposition was unmerci- fully handled. 2198 votes were cast on the proposition and only 700 were for the proposition. Again in 1901 a special HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 353 election was held to vote on a proposition for court house and jail to cost $80,000. Only 1744 votes were cast resulting in a defeat. 704 votes for and 1040 against. A new proposition for court house and jail to cost $100,- 000, $88,000 court house and $12,000 jail, was submitted in the fall of 1904. This time the tide turned and the bond proposition, (ten year optional bonds), were voted as follows: 2406 for and 1228 against, giving a majority for of 1178. The vote by precincts was as follows: Precinct For Against A (0 24 B 127 45 C 109 120 D 69 67 E 199 66 P 122 82 G 148 24 H 186 29 I 100 76 J 137 32 K 113 42 L 85 59 M, Beaver Crossing 121 108 M, Cordova 62 58 N 55 93 138 152 0, east 11 42 p 42 87 Seward 507 22 Totals 2406 1228 This proposition was so very popular that even the south half of the county gave a majority for it of 96 votes. The new court house will now soon be built and will adorn the public square. The structure will be of stone and fire proof. The building will be 80x100 feet. It is expected that before many years the county will come into possession of the estate of the late Lewis Moffitt, consisting of lands supposed to be worth about $30,000, which will be applied in 354 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA liquidating the bonds. Before the corner stone of the struc- ture is laid, we hope to have this book complete and that a copy of it will have a place there, to be found and read in the far off ages to come, when the beautiful temple of justice may give way for another and grander one. ASSESSMENTS AND FINANCIAL CONDITION We append the following table showing the growth from year to year for many of the first years of the occupation. We trust the reader will appreciate these old tables and com- pare them with the new and thus be able to form a correct idea of the phenomenal advancements. ASSESSMENTS 1866 — Total number of acres of deeded land, 4,728. This was all or about all speculator's land. The assessment on land that year w^as $18,667, or nearly $4 per acre; personal assessment, $10,880; total assessment, $29,747; total tax levy for the year, $423, or nearly thirteen mills on the dollar for all purposes. We have no means of ascertaining just how much of the tax that year was collected. We now skip over to the year 1870, and find 33, 670 acres on the list, and together with the personal property (they were not divided) amounts to $120,160, or an increase of 28,942 acres of land, and a total increase of assessed value of $90,413 in five years, or an average increase of more than $18,000 per year. In 1875, we have assessed 275,204 acres of land, at $1,025,439, or about $3.72 per acre. This year town proper- ty begins to cut some figure, and we find it assessed at $92,091; eleven miles of railroad, $67,480; personal, $412,234, making a total of $1,597,244. In 1880, we find upon the assessment rolls 338,799 acres of land valued at $3.56 per acre, or $1,216,669; town proper- ty, $130,906; personal, $506,316; railroad (fifty-four miles), $183,447; grand total, $2,037,337. In this year we find that 155,193 aeres were improved, and the following acreage of crops reported: wheat, 53,877; corn, 67,294; oats, 7,824; meadow, we suppose it to be tame, but it is not so stated, 1,614; number of fruit trees, 53,176; forest trees, 1,053,853. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 355 1885- -We find the lands assessed at $4.01 per acre, and total land assessment. $1,391,385; town property, $197,175; personal, $805,610; railroad, $270,437; total, $2,664,607. 1887 — Lands were assessed, $1,489,287; town property, $234,651; personal, $805,311; railroads, $271,965; total, $2,801,214. These figures are sufficient to show something of the growth of property for the twenty-two years from 1865 to 1887, and that will answer our purpose without an ovesdose of tables, which are usually rather dry reading. We find that there was paid to the state treasurer dur- ing the year 1887, as our share of state tax, the snug sum of $21, 821. 74, and that there was paid in collecting our principal and interest on school and other state lands the additional sum of $11,380. 90. We are quite well satisfied with the showing. CENlLlLS RETURNS. YEAR. POP, 1st returns for the county . . 1870 2,953 2nd returns for the county 1874 7,429 3rd returns from co. , after grasshoppers, 1875 6,601 4th returns for the county 1876 6,875 5th returns for the county 1878 7,991 6th returns for the county 1880 11,095 7th returns for the county 1885 15,225 PRECINCTS BY CENSUS OF 1885 POPULATION NO, FAKMS FACTORIES A 394 76 B 571 112 C (induing Staplehurst) 1,076 139 11 D 777 140 E (including Utica) 1,335 160 10 P (including Tamora) 883 190 G (including Seward) 2,728 169 61 H 1,095 155 1 690 .131 J 776 149 K 672 130 L.. ..". 833 139 M 750 91 N 748 134 O (including Milford) 1,462 146 15 P 536 93 Totals 45,225.... 2,554 97 356 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA The reader will readily understand that our whole state suffered a series of backsets during the panicky years and the later census reports do not show very satisfactorily . We all understand full well that the bottom came well nigh fall- ing out and we really do not appreciate giving the tables of late date, but if it were possible to get the figures for 1905, we would have figures to be proud of. In 1890 the U. S. census showed a total population of 16,140, and somehow in 1900 these figures were cut downi to 15,690, but since that date the growth has been very satisfactory. We have never yet believed that we have lost in numbers, but we do believe that the habit of stuffing the census in 1890, that was uni- versal in the west had much to do with the comparative bad showing of 1900. Prom the present conditions throughout the county, in country villages and city, we feel safe in es- timating the present population at from eighteen to nineteen thousand. The manufacturing industries, as given in the census ta- bles, include every class of manufacturing, such as mills, creameries, wagon shops, blacksmith shops, shoe shops, tin- ners' shops, etc. We are sorry that it seems impossible to obtain the amount of capital invested in manufacturing in- dustries. The growth of such industries within the last year has been most remarkable. Of these we will treat ful- ly in another place. COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF WEALTH AND POPULATION. In 1883, Seward had $1,346,480, and was No. 13 in the list of counties of our state. 1884, $2,513,184 and 12th. 1885, 2,664,607 " 9th. 1896, 2,722,020 " 8th. POPULATION 1870 Seward 2,953 and was 15th. 1874 7,429 8th. 1875 6,601 10th. 1876 6,875 9th. 1878 7,991 nth. 1880 11,095 nth. 1885 15,225 12th. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 357 PROPERTY LISTED IN 1904 A^D VALUE We find the following items of interest: Cattle, 29,942 valued at $20 per head. Horses, 12,106, valued at $70 per head. Mules and Jacks, 829, valued at $91 per head. Sheep, 5,800, valued at $2.26 per head. Hogs, 37,225 valued at $6 per head. Hives bees, 1,665 valued at $2.40 per stand. Corn, 1,177,257 bu. valued at 35c per bu. Poultry, 110,197 valued at 28c each. Railroads, valued at $599,167.19. Diamonds and silverware, $1231. (Shame.) Threshers, 61 Corn shellers, 143. Dogs, 2,449. Wagons, carriages, etc., 5,548. Bicycles and automobiles, 336. Personal property, $H, 729, 395. 95. Land value, $17,801,780, an average of $45 per acre for farm lands. Total of tax collected in 1904 was $149,093.53. Paid to to state treasurer, $27,129.28. Total value of real and per- sonal property, $26,531,175, besides the railroad property. EGGS AND POULTRY Eggs and poultry have become a very important factor among the varied productions of Seward county. We very much regret that it is impossible to obtain anything like a complete count of either the eggs or the poultry produced. The manner in which they are handled precludes the idea of correct statistics. The amount consumed on the farm can never be known, and as the eggs are handled by the mer- chants and sold at retail to customers in the city and vil- lages, the amount of these sales can never be known, but we will do some guessing, and the reader can guess for him- self if not pleased with our guess. What we know is that one firm, John Fleener, paid out in checks for eggs and poultry (not divided) $87,916 during 1904. The average paid for eggs was 14i cents per dp^efi. Herewith we 3.ppend a 358 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA to table of amounts paid during each month from Jan. 1st Dec, 31st, 1904: January, $4,813 February, 3,879 March, 10,585 April, 14,164 May, 12,719 June, 9,986 July, 10,718 August, 6,196 ^September , 8,058 October, 5.822 November, 2,306 December, Total, 2,772 !11587,916 Eggs average 14i cents per dozen. Eggs shipped from B. & M. station at Seward, sixty car loads, or twenty-four tnousand cases; average value per case, $4.27, or a total of $102,480. We estimate that the total home consumption at one hundred dozen per family in city and country, or of four hundred thousand dozen at price named amounts to $57,000. TELEPHONE COMPANIES The Nebraska Telephone Co. has four thousand and thirty-four poles in the county and eight hundred ninety-five and a half miles of wire and twenty-three hundred feet of cable. They have four hundred forty-seven long distance phones in use. They have toll stations at Bee, Goehner, Beaver Crossing, Utica, Tamora, Germantown, Staplehurst, Ruby, Milford and Pleasant Dale besides the central ex- change at Seward, where they have in the city two hundred and sixty-seven phones in use. There are one hundred and forty-two farms connected with this system, and thirty-eight in the villages. Number of 'miles of poles about two hun- dred. Total valuation $56,091.25, Assessed value $11,218.25. The use of the wires to all parts of the county are free to all subscribers. Tolls to Lincoln and York 25c, to Omaha 50c. To towns in the county, to other than subscribers, 15c. Phones are charged from $4.50 per annum to farmers who HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA • 359 connect with their wires. Rates in town range from fifty cents to $3 per montli. The Seward County Telephone Co. was organized at Beaver Crossing in Marcli, li)08, with a capital stock of $50,- 000, and is chartered under the laws of Nebraska. It has at this writing, (May, 1905), one hundred and fifty-five miles of pole line in the county, outside of Seward. They have five hundred instruments, now in use, and the number is rapidly increasing. They have exchanges at Beaver Crossing, Utica, Tamora, Milfoid and Seward, where they connect with the Automatic from Lincoln. They have connections with all metalic lines in the state. The county is fast becoming a net work of wires. In the Central office at Seward, they have machinery of the latest and most improved pattern. The company have put up works in Seward that show that they have come to stay and do good work. The present officers are Jacob Gies, president; J. P. May hew, vice president; J. H. Ritchie, secretary and W. J. Orgon, treasurer. Directors are Chris Klemm, J. R. Lawyer, E. H. Strayer, Henry Gake and C. L. Swartz. The company is progressive and aggres- sive, using the best of material in every department. All that brains and money will do. is brought into requisition. It is quite an object lesson to step into the Central office and look over the plant. A LITTLE STORY John had his gun and he knew how to use it. The peo- ple that have known John D. Olney for so many years in Seward county, and then so many years at University Place, would hardly take him to be a fighter. John came to Neb- raska in 1865, just after serving Uncle Sam in the army, and like most old soldiers, he was ready for business. One day John was on his way from the Oak Groves to Nebraska City, ' and at eventide concluded to camp at the bridge on the t^team wagon road where it crosses Salt creek near the oldCadman ranch. John found the camp ground (now Epworth Park) occupied by three stalwart Missourians, father and two great strong burly sons. The old man was one of the most vicious old "rebs" that ever struck Nebraska, and the two young 360 • HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA men were not far behind him. For reasons known to our- self we refrain from giving their names, although we were personally acquainted with them. By some cut of his jib, the old fellow discovered that John was a union soldier, and met him in this cordial manner, "Sir, no d Lincoln hire- ling can camp on this ground and stay above ground," and made a grab for his rifle, John was "up to snuff," and in- stantly he drew a bead on the old fellow, and cried, "Hands up!" His hands went up. At that moment the young men approached, and John cried, "Hands up, or you will go to kingdom come in an instant." They obeyed, and John had three prisoners, with their arms stacked. About this time, two other travelers came along, and they proved to be union soldiers. The "rebs" begged like whipped puppies. John said to them, "If you can learn to behave, all right." They were fully ready. The old fellow became quite well acquainted with John after that and was always ready to take off his hat to him. Ever after that experience the old fellow and his boys were careful about insulting union men. CHAPTER XIX. SEWARD COUNTY BANKS STATE BANK OF NEBRASKA The state Bank of Nebraska was founded in the spring of 1H73 by Claudius Jones, with a supposed capital of fifty thousand dollars. It was run under his management very successfully until 1879, when he sold out to A. W. Ocabock and associates who sold it to John Cuttle Sr. in 1H81, Feb. 11, some time afterwards, his son John became a part- ner, and later his younger son Walter also joined the partner- ship. The bank was incorporated in 1889, June 29th, with John Cattle Sr. as tirst president; John Cattle, Jr., as first vice-president, and Walter second vice president; and C. W. Barkley, cashier. The bank now has a paid up capital of $H0,000 and surplus and undivided profits of $10,000. The present officers are John Cattle, Sr., president; Walter Cat- tle, first vice-president; B. E. Cattle, second vice president ; and C. W. Barkley, cashier. The bank has enjoyed the full confidence of the public since its first opening day in 1873. The venerable president is now past eighty-six years of age and is yet hale and hearty. Death removed the first vice- president in 1902. Mr. Barkley has been cashier of the in- stitution since 1879 except once (1892) when he was otf on a tangent in Oklahoma. John Cattle, Sr. , died in England last spring. At this date, Aug. 1, 1905, the deposits are $222,500. FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF SEWARD The First National Bank was an outgrowth of the Sew- ard County Bank w^hich was organized in the spring of 1876, with S. C. Lang worthy as president, and Miss Ida M. Langworthy. cashier; capital stock, $10,000; chartered as a national bank in 1882 with capital stock of $50,000: bills is- sued $11,250, and by a change in the law, the bills in circula- tion is $12,500. The first stockholders were S. C. Langwor- thy, Herman Diers, W. E. Chapin, Isaac Holt, John Zimmer- er, T. E. Sanders and E. Mclntyre. First officers were S. C, Langworthy, president: H, Diers, vice-president; T. E, 362 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Sanders, cashier. Present stockholders are Joel Tishire, Herman Diers, John Zimmerer, E. Mclntyre, S. R. and Jane E. Douglass, W. E. and Jessie T. Langworthy. The present officers are Joel Tishue, president; Herman Diers, vice-president; W. E. Langworthy, cashier; W. C. Tishue and J. F. Zimmerer, assistant cashiers. Deposits at end of 1904 were $280,000. Individual responsibility is over one- half million. The bank has been in good financial condition since the doors were first opened in the spring of 1876. Is one among the strong financial institutions of the state. JONES NATIONAL BANK The Jones National Bank is our strongest financial in- stitution, and we may well say it is one of the very strong banks of our state. It was organized in 1884 with a capital stock of $50,000. Claudius Jones was its first president and H. T. Jones its first cashier. Its present officers are, H. T. Jones, president; J. J. Thomas, vice-president; T. H. Wake, cashier; and A. D. Lewis, assistant cashier. The board of directors are H. T. Jones, J. J. Thomas, T. H. Wake, E. J. Wake and W. B. Thorpe. The bank has lately moved into their elegant new quarters north of the square where they have a building fitted up in the most modern style, with ev- ery convenience, with a safe that would try the mettle of the most expert burglar. They have put in fifty-six safety de- posit boxes for their customers. The last statement made in May, 1905 shows deposits of $425,000 and loans of $320,000. NEBRASKA STATE BANK OF MILFORD The Nebraska State Bank of Milford was organized in 1888 with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars, with six- teen thousand dollars paid in, and with five thousand five hundred dollars surplus and profits. F. S. Johnson, presi- dent and Geo. E. Salladin, cashier. Last statement issued, the bank has eighty-five thousand dollars deposits. The bank is just now completing a new brick block to be occu- pied as a banking house and post office at a cost of six thous- and dollars. The bank has from the first enjoyed first class credit. On the night of Aug. 19, 1904, the bank had some visitors who desired money without proper checks. With a HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 363 charj2:e of dynamite, they blew the outer door off the safe, but failed to get into the cash box. THE FARMERS AND MERCHANTS BANK OF MILFORD This bank was organized in April, 1903 with a capital stock of forty thousand dollars; deposits at last statement were eighty thousand dollars. John Englehaupt was presi- dent, Floyd Seybolt, cashier. The bank occupies a splendid new brick building erected in 1904. The present president is Mr. E. H. Strayer. MERCHANTS BANK OF UTICA This bank was founded in July, 1883 with G. F. Hurl- burt, president; C. S. Hurlburt, cashier; Thos. Standard, Geo. Ligget and John Wilkings, were stockholders. Capital stock was $10,000 and was increased later to $20,000. Mr. G. F. Hurlburt remains president, C. G. Hurlburt is vice- president, and Miss Mamie Thygenson, cashier. The con- cern now belongs to G. F. and C. G. Hurlburt. Deposits, $75,000. UTICA BANK This is one of the strong financial institutions of the county and the leading banking house of Utica. It was founded in 1883 by John Davies and Thos. Brant, with Mr. Davies as president and Mr. Brant as cashier. Jan. 1, 1887, it was reorganized with a capital stock of $20,000 with Fritz Beckard as president; J. E. Hibard, vice president; Joseph Jones, director and T. J. Brant, cashier. Mr. Beckard re- mains president to this date; G. G. Jones, cashier; andT. H. Beckard, assistant cashier. In later years the capital stock was cut down to $14,000. Deposits at this date, $95,841.29. The bank seems to be as firm as Gibralter and as strong as Togo's fieet. STATE BANK OF BEAVER CROSSING Was organized in March, 1887 with a capital stock of $25,000. F. M. Dimey, Isaac Holt, A, D. Ritchie, R. S. Norval and T. E. Sanders were stockholders. The first officers were R. S. Norval, president; F. M. Dimey, vice- president; and T. E. Sanders, cashier. Mr. Sanders resign- ed in 1889 and M, W. Warner was elected and has held the 364 HISTORY OP SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA position since that date. Mr. Norval sold bis interest in 1890 to L. E. Soutliwick of Friend, Nebr., wlio succeeded to tbe presidency and bas beld tbat position to the present time. In 1890 A. D. Ritchie was elected vice-president and beld tbe position until death removed him, and bis successor is W. O. Soutliwick. Tbe bank bas enjoyed a tirst class credit all these years. They are at this writing building a very substantial and beautiful brick building at an estimated cost of three thousand dollars. Tbe last statement shows $82,241.49 in deposits. TAMORA FARMERS EXCHANGE BANK The Tamora Farmers Exchange Bank was organized in 1903 with an authorized capital of $50,000 and a paid up cap- ital of five thousand dollars. Tbe stockholders are E. R. Gurney, Frank Anstine, Dr. B. F. Williams, J. W. Daily, F. W. Ruzicka. These gentlemen are also directors. Frank Anstine is president; E. R. Gurney, vice-president; F. W. Ruzicka, cashier. Deposits, seventeen thousand dollars and they are growing rapidly. Tbe bank seems to have plenty of money to accomodate all its customers, and is of great value to the village and farming community. GERMANTOWN STATE BANK The Germantown State Bank was established in June, 1904 as successor to the Bank of Germantown. The stock- holders ore E. R. Gurney, W. E. Daily, and J. W. Daily. Capital stock, $7,500 Officers: E. R. Gurney, president; W. E. Daily, vice-president; J. W. Daily, cashier. Accord- ing to statement of the cashier, deposits Sep. 1, 1904 were $50,000. FIRST STATE RANK OF PLEASANT DALE This bark was organized in tbe spring of 1902 with J. H. Merrill, president; J. H. Bishop, vice-president; A. F. Ackerman, cashier; H. K. Frautz and E. Bartlett, directors. Capital stock, $5,000; deposits at this date, fifty-eight thous- and dollars. The bank owns and occupies a very tasty and complete brick building. It enjoys the confidence of the community, and seems to be in a very flourishing condition, and ig of great value to tbe business interests of the village. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 365 STATE BANK OF BEE Organized Sep. 1, 1902; capital stock, $5,000; H. T. Jones, president; T. H. Wake, vice-president; W. B. Thorpe, cashier; deposits at this writing, $35,000. Bank owns a sub- stantial small brick building. Doing a very nice and satis- factory business. GOEHNER STATE BANK Was organized in Jan., 1903 with $5,000 capital, with A. G. McGrew, president and J. D. Hamilton, cashier. These with W. P. Niehouse were the principal stockholders. De- posits at present, $28,000. The bank occupies a nice brick building. The present officers are A. G. McGrew, presi- dent; W. F. Niehouse, vice-president; and A. E. Graff, cash- ier. The bank enjoys a first class credit. BANK OF STAPLEHURST Founded Feb. 8, 1886; capital stock, $5,000; L. Jorgen- sen, president; E. Jacobs, cashier; director, P. C. Nelson; in 1901 the capital was increased to ten thousand dollars, with $2,000 surplus earnings. The bank has an excellent brick structure. The institution is in a flourishing condi- tion and enjoys a splendid business. The present president is E. Jacobs; J. L. Jorgensen, cashier. CHAPTER XX. STATE INSTITUTIONS OF SEWARD COUNTY SOLDIERS AND SAILORS' HOME The twenty- fourth session of the legislature, which con- vened Jan. 1, 1895, House Roll No. 284, was passed and ap- proved by the governor April 9, 1895, establishing a branch of the Soldiers and Sailors Home within a mile of Milford, Nebraska, on conditions as follows: Provided a lease for two years to the state of thirty-five acres of ground and buildings, known as the Sanitarium Park and Springs. Situated on the nwi of nw^i of section 12, township 9, range 3, east of 6th P. M. in Seward county, Nebraska, together with the three-story brick and stone buildings thereon. This act carried an appropriation of eight thousand dollars. In due time the lease was executed and the state took form- al possession and the Home was dedicated September, 1895 with appropriate ceremonies. Capt'ain J. H. Culver was installed as first commander with his son. Lieutenant Elvin E. Culver, as Adjutant with- out salary. Isaac Brockin was the first soldier admitted October 1, 1895. J. P. Adams was next admitted same day. Up to November 19th, there had been received ten addition- al soldiers, as follows: Lorenzo S. Miller, W. Shultz, John S. Patton, J. A. Littlefield, B. P. Culp, John Resh and Felix Cornabe, (still members) David Daud, J. W. Cleney and Joy Wagner. On Christmas day Francis Jourden was admitted in time to partake of the feast of turkey. As commander, J. N. Fowler succeeded Culver and Charles Penn, the pres- ent commander succeeded Fowler. J. H. Perkinsen was the second adjutant, the first to receive pay from the state as adjutant, who was succeeded by Joseph Brooks, the present incumbent, who was appointed in 1901. There are one hun- dred and ten men and two women on the roll of membership. 368 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA The officers inform us that it is possible to care for one hun- dred and twenty-five in present quarters, and that when the building under construction is complete, the capacity will be sufficient for two hundred. The old building is in a good state of repair and everything has been done by the state to make the place a pleasant dwelhng place for the old boys. In our numerous visits to the Home we have sought in- formation from the inmates and officers as to the actual con- ditions. Nearly all of the boys express themselves as well satisfied. They are generally cheerful and as happy and contented as we could hope to see them, considering that many of them are very feeble and some almost helpless. We found most of them with smiles upon their faces, and our greeting among them has always been hearty. The boys about all agree that the officers are very attentive to the wants of all the inmates and that kindness rules every hour. We were pleased to sit at the table with the boys and then with the officers, and we found that all fared alike. The tables are supplied with all the necessaries and many luxuries. Am glad to tell the readers that our dear old boys are kindly cared for. The grounds of the Home are ideal. Situated on the crown of a beautiful little hill, furnishing iDerfect drainage, over- looking avast stretch of the Blue River valley, with its long line of timber forming graceful semi-circles up and down the broad valley, with the western slope of the plain to the eastward which is crowned by the buildings of the Industrial Home, with clusters of timber and orchards, with green fields and meadows, unsurpassed for loveliness, with the bustling village just at the northwest, forming a back ground too beautiful for my poor pen to describe. The grounds have a gentle incline to the eastward and southward. The grand river comes sweeping by around a gentle curve, rushing over riffles of rocky bed and the little creek joining it just to the southeast, all beautiful with native trees, what could be more delightful y The old building is stately and majestic and the new one is said to be the best specimen of architecture in Nebraska and will be fitted up with all mod- ern appliances for the care of the sick and disableed. They are now inaugurating a power plant to supply water, light HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 369 and heat to every part of the buildings. Have a new power house 27x45 fitted with a Kewanee boiler and splendid dina- mo. These have been constructed under the supervision of James Tyler, state architect and J. J. Butler, superintendent. The new buildings are so thoroughly substantial that it is possible for them to stand and be useful a thousand years. Many members of the Home testify as to the value of the mineral springs of refreshing water that comes gushing from the rocky banks of the river. Many cases of rheumatism and kidney diseases are reputed to be greatly benefited or cured by the use of them. The state and Seward county can justly be proud of the Soldier's Home at Milford. Rev. Dr. Joseph Presson was appointed conimander, Feb- ruary 6, 1905, and assumed duties of the office, March 16, 1905, and he appointed M. R. Persinger adjutant. Comman- dant Presson is making many valuable improvements in and around the Home. INDUSTRIAL HOME AT MILFORD By an act of the legislature this humane institution was established and the Home was founded in 1887. It was lo- cated on forty acres of beautiful land one mile east of Milford in a sightly location, overlooking the splendid valley of the Blue for many miles northward and southward and having in its front the handsome village with its great mill and the fine edifices of the Soldiers Home. For a back ground it has an array of farms magnificent, with the rail road skirting near its northern border. Under the guiding hands of the Board of public lands and buildings, two com- modious structures have been erected with all modern ap- pliances for the proper care of the inmates, each containing twenty-five neat and thoroughly furnished rooms besides closets, bath rooms, etc. A fine power house to furnish water, heat and light to every appartment. Beautiful trees furnish ample shade and the place would seem a little Para- dise. So far as we could see, it looks like a little Heaven below. The Home was dedicated in 1888 and the first in- mate was admitted May 1, 1889. At the present writing the number of women (rather girls) in the Home is twenty-eight. HISTORY OP SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 371 Present capacity is about fifty. In this enumeration children are not counted. Five hundred and seventy-six ^irls have been admitted to this date. Babes are furnished homes in respectable families as soon as possible, but are under the watchful care of lady managers, of whom Mrs. Thos. Gra- ham, of Seward, is one. In the first biennial report we glean the following facts: The first board of trustees consisted of sixteen ladies of high standing, as follows: Mesdames G. W. Clark, C. E. Cas- caden, W. B. Smith, N. W. Harlan, L. H. Russell, T. L. Norval, Todd, L. W. Roehne, M. M. Davison, G. McDowel C. H. Gere, O. N. Humphry, E. E. Brown, Dr. Froeder Lankton, M. I. Band, and W. S. Latta. First officers were Mrs. E. M. Perkins, superintendent; Mrs. E. Kent, matron; Mrs. E. L. Smith, teacher; Mrs. U. A. Whitaker, dress-maker; M. Williams, cook; Minnie Johnson, laundress; A. W. Patterson, engineer; Geo. Mar- greum, farmer. We scan from first report the following interesting facts: The whole number admitted up to November 30, 1890, was 57; of American parentage, 38; of foreign parentage, 19; number honorably discharged, 14; adults in Home, 21; num- ber of children born, 45; total number for whom homes were found, 16; number of children sent to Home of Friendless, 2. The institution is intended to be reformatory as well as charatable in character. Each inmate, when in good health, is required to perform useful labor, and are instructed in cooking, dress-making, general house work and nursing. A school is maintained in which the common English branches are taught. Religious services are held every Sabbath. The whole atmosphere of the Home is moral and the poor inmates are pointed to a higher and better life and many leave the Home with high resolves to lead noble lives, and we learn that many have gone out to become worthy and valuable women in the world. The last biennial report issued November 30, 1902, gives many interesting facts; we quote as far as our space will allow: Total number of adults at the Home Dec. 1, 1900, 29; number admitted to Dec. 1, 1902, 60. Average age of inmates is 19h years. Number returned to friends, 41; num- HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 373 ber married, 14; number placed in liomes to worli:, 28; num- ber in Home Dec, 1, 1902, 53; number of children in Home Dec. 1, 1900, 20; number Dec 1, 1902, 23; number born in the two years, 56; number transferred to Home of Friendless, 3; adopted, 5; total number of adults and children cared for each year, 82, at an average cost of 93 cents per week per capita. We note that the total appropriations for maintain- ance for the two years was $21,150, and the amount paid out was $15,426.29, leaving a balance of $5,723.71. The present advisory board consists of three ladies, as follows: Mrs. Cullen Thompson, president; Mrs. Dr. Towne, vice-president; Mrs. Burlingame, secretary. Application committee: Mrs. A. J. Sawyer, Lincoln; Mrs. Thos. Graham, Seward. Officers: Miss Margaret Kaely. superintendent; Edith Sanders, physician; Hariet Shoaf, matron. Em- ployees: Etta Brooks, secretary and teacher; Lydia Dillen- beck, sewing teacher; Carn Johnson, nurse; W. G. Beach- ler, engineer; J. O. Kent, farmer. The Home is truly answering the high object for which it was created; sheltering, protecting and helping to reform the wayward and unfoi'tunate girls that desire a better life. They receive, by moral teaching and training, that uplift that will tend to respectability and usefulness. May the God of love and mercy bless the Industrial Home! Mrs. A. J. Albright was appointed superintendent in March, 1905. 374 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA c o 0- CD CHAPTER XXI. CITY OF SEWARD AND HER INSTITUTIONS Schools — Post Office — German College— Water Works— Electric Light Plant — Fire Department— Rail Road Business— Cereal Mills — Flour Mills— Brick Yard — Building and Loan Association. THE CITY OF SEWARD IN 1905 Seward is not a great city and makes no pretentions in that line, but among the many beautiful cities of Nebraska that are doing nobly, Seward stands without a rival in its class as a city of bCciutif ul homes and of substantial wealth. Nearly every business interest of the city is housed in good substantial brick structures built on modern plans. The streets cross at right angles and are broad and clean. The drainage is as near perfect as nature could make it. The city stands upon a broad plateau sloping westward, south- ward and eastward. Blue river, with its beautiful fringes of timber forms the western and southern boundary, and Plum creek forms the eastern boundary. Lincoln creek, grand and beautiful, joins the river just at the west line of the city and materially helps to form a grand panorama. On this com- manding ground the city stands in a place of scenic beauty overlooking these streams as they meander through verdant fields forming graceful curves and semicircles. The city is nicely shaded throughout with handsome trees. Splendid brick sidewalks grace nearly all streets, there being now over ten miles of these walks that would be an ornament to a city of a hundred thousand people. Nearly all the resi- dence streets are neatly parked along the walks. About fifty commodious brick structures adorn the business streets where every mercantile interest is repre- sented. Three lovely parks furnish ample play grounds for the people where rest and shade are attractions. These, be- 376 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA sides the fair grounds, known as the finest and best improved of any in the west. These M'ith scores of palatial residences adorning every street; with gardens of transcendent beauty, with nine churches wiiere the good people may worship, with her splendid high school and growing college, with her great mills, and last but not least, her new grand court house that will adorn our public square. With her excel- lent water and water system, and her electric light plant, with her perfect telephone system. Her well kept public li- brary and thousand other conveniences, with ten daily mails and ten regular passenger trains, and ten regular freight trains reaching out in six directions, with twenty-five hun- dred prosperous and happy i^eople, making Seward like an "apple o£ gold set in a picture of silver." It is an ideal home place, growing more and more beau- tiful as the years roll on, surrounded by a farming country equal to the best on this green earth. She will grow in im- portance through all the years to come. She that was known in other years as the "sleeping beauty of the Blue valley" has thoroughly awakened and is now known as the most busy sparkling gem of these western prairies. SEWARD SCHOOLS OUR OLD LOG SCHOOL HOUSE Away back in 1866 when this land of our was yet new and while Seward had not yet been named, a few pioneers decided that a school was a necessity. Our district was yet without a number and its boundaries were quite indefinite. Its eastern boundary was the east line of the county, its northern and western boundaries were the channel of the Platte river and the southern boundary was a matter of con- tention between we people and the settlement at Milford. Some portions of our district did not take much interest in our school house or our school. The three or four ranch- men along the Platte seemed quite indifferent. The one settler at the Oak Grove, John Scott, had not heard of the arrangement, and those fellows away down the river were looking for something nearer home. So we only had help HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 377 from those livino- within a radius of about tive miles. The interested parties consisted of thirteen familes scattered aloni? Plum Creek, Lincoln Creek and the Blue. A school meeting: was called late in the summer of 1866. We met on the prairie near Mrs. Spears' present home. We had no school officers, no school fund, no money and no credit. The Old Seward School House We voted no bonds, but we voted a school house. We taxed ourselves each four round logs to be delivered on the ground. Lewis Moftit taxed himself one acre of ground, worth a dollar and a quarter, and we taxed ourselves with the necessary labor to construct the edifice. We searched our premises to find a few 8x10 window glass and a few rough boards to construct a door and a few benches. We made wooden hinges to hang the door. We used the virgin prairie sod for a tioor. We cut willows along the river to cover the structure, then we ploughed sod with which to shingle it, and soon we rejoiced that we had a place to send our children to school, and that we had a meeting house, a 378 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA court house, and an election booth all our own and not a cent in debt. This log shanty served* a noble purpose for several years and until the village was on a footing to grap- ple with something better. The first term of school was commenced in early No- vember and ended into a violent blizzard in January, 1867. There were thirty-two scholars in attendance. As a matter of curiosity we will mention their names as far as memory serves us. Miss Sarah Imlay, later Mrs. A. Anderson, Josephine Imlay, now Mrs. J. Williams, Addison and D. M. Imley, John Clark, .James Jasper, Marrian and Douglas Roberts, Mary Moffitt, now Mrs. D. P. Imlay, Elsie Clark, now Mrs. C. Boyes, Mirum Clark, now Mrs. Stubb, Moulton and Victor Clark, Leroy Moffitt, Fred Garner, Kate J. Cox, now Mrs. J. A. Ruly, Nettie M. Cox, later Mrs. F. Pingree, Rolla Cooper, Lucy Clark, two other Cooper boys, names forgotten. The balance of the little flock are lost to us in the hui'rying crowds of the world. Many of that company have gone to their long home, yet it is a source of pride and X3leasure that so many scholars that waded snow drifts across bleak prairies that dread- ful winter to that humble cabin, have made honorable marks in the world. Among them we count two ministers, four business men, two successful teachers, both gone to their reward, one doctor, some good farmers, some noble mothers and some grand mothers. We are glad that we had the honor of being the lirst teacher in the long line of honora- ble men and women who have led the youth of our communi- ty along the plain to higher ground. As stated in the above, the old log cabin served the people until the fall of 1870. Mr. Cox was succeeded by S. C. Ross and Miss Ella Tuttle, now Mrs. Martin Ligett. Then the old cabin was pulled down and moved away, and what was known for years as the old swaybacked house, which occupied the lot where H. Vanderhoof 's house now stands, was rented and Miss Mattie Boyes, now Mrs. K. 01m- stead, taught. Next L. G. Johns built a little building on Butler block corner and taught and was followed by Miss McKillip, now Mr. Johns' good wife. In about 1871, Dist. No. 9 was organized and built asmall New Se>ward High School Building 380 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA school house on the grounds now occupied by the high school buildings and H. M. Coleman taught the first term in it, and was followed by J. D. Messenger. About this time Prof. O. S. Ingham taught several terms of private school in the old court house, and was followed by Miss Ella Benson, now Mrs. C. L. Lewis. This lady was employed in various de- partments in our schools twelve consecutive years. The old high school building (brick) was erected in 1874 and Prof. Ingham was principal for two years with Mrs. A. S. Padock, Mrs. Merrill and Miss Benson as assistants. Since that time (1876) the following persons have superin- tended the schools: Mr. Phillips, H. H. Wilson, J. M. Scott, H. Cummins, W. J. Wise, N. F. Daun, J. F. Burkett, J. S. Van Eaton, W. W. Stoner and F. C. Williams. Among the noble teachers that finished their work and gone to their reward were, A. A. Dershimer, Miss Berge, Miss June Taylor and Miss Nettie M. Cox. The board of education soon found a lack of room for the growing school and added a large addition to the high school building, and added from time to time frame build- ings for the lower grades until they had five of these frame buildings in different parts of the city. In 1904 these frame structures were disposed of and a large new brick was erected at a cost of thirteen thousand dollars. It is a beauti- ful structure, built on modern plans with all useful furnish- ings. It contains one audience room with seating capacity for five hundred guests. It was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies in September, 1904. This is considered one of the finest school buildings in the state. In 1888 there had been ten classes graduated and at that time the cost of main- tainance was $5,000 per annum. In 1905 they graduated the 23d class. The present corps of teachers are 13; scho- lars enrolled in 1905, is about 500. Cost of maintainance in 1904 was about $9,000. The school is progressive and ranks high among the schools of the state. Among the many prominet members of the school boards of the past, Claudius Jones, H. L. Boyes, G. Babson, all now dead, and R. S. Norval, Mrs. S. C. Langworthy, Mrs. E. M. Spear, A. J. Calender, andD. C. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 381 Work. The present board is composed of Dr. P. A. Marsh, L. J. Anderson, R. E. Dumphey, H. M. Miller, William Moore and D. E. Holland. HISTORY OF THE SEWARD POST-OFFICE In 1864, 1865, 1866, the settlers of this vicinity got their mail in a sort of a hap-hazard way. Some of it was directed to Camden, some to Lancaster, some to Nebraska City, and perhaps some to Plattsmouth; and it was the custom for ev ery person visiting any of the offices to enquire for all the neighborhood. In the winter of 1866-67, the citizens met and consulted about getting a postoffice. It was urged that Lewis Moflitt ought to take the office as he lives on the prospective town site, but he declined the honor, and the settlement was non- plussed and did not know just what to do. During the winter the writer took it into his head that he would try to find a solution to the question, and wrote to our delegate in congress (John Taffe) and begged him to go over to the department and secure the appointment of Lewis Moffitt as postmaster for Seward, Nebr. , which he imme- diately proceeded to do, and aQ of a sudden Mr. Moffitt re- ceived his appointment. He felt sold, but it would not do to back square out, so he qualified and accepted the inev- itable; and when he fully realized the munificent salary of $1 per month or twelve dollars per year, he became fully reconciled. Now we had a postoffine but no mail route. The government allowed two dollars per quarter for mail service, but men were not quite so anxious for place then as now, and we had to hold out other and better inducements. So we made up a pony purse sufficient to pay one dollar and fifty cents per week, and hired E. L. Clark, a one-armed sol- dier, to make the trip once a week to Camden at the freight road. Mr. Clark made his trips on foot and carried the mail in an old haversack, so we were pretty well supplied with mail, but it cost many of us pretty dearly. Mr. Moffitt re- tained the office until July, 1868, when he resigned his lucra- tive trust to W. R. Davis. Mr. Davis held the office in the store of Beaty & Davis. His salary was twelve dollars per 382 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA year at first, but under fine manipulation an advance to twenty-five dollars was soon secured. At that time the pay of the postmaster was p^auged by the amount of postage sold, and friend Davis urged every one to take just as many post- age stamps as possible in the way of change, etc. He had to make a good showing, and he did. Postage stamps were good property and everybody had plenty of them. Our first government mail route was established in July, 1869, between here and Lincoln, via the Oak Groves. At first it was a weekly concern, and within the following year it became a semi-weekly, and finally a tri-weekly. Some said it was a tri-weekly because they tried every week to get mail through but frequently failed. Mr. Davis retained the office until the spring of 1871, when he resigned and E. L. Clark secured the appointment. The salary had advanced to fifty dollars per year under Mr. Davis' administration, and his last quarter had shown such an increase of business that the salary was raised to $240 per year, and in 1872 it was fiirther advanced to $320. L. G. Johns was appointed in January, 1873, and held the office until January, 1877. His salary was increased by degrees until it reached $1300 per annum and $240 per year for clerk hire. When he took pos- session, there was only one daily mail from Lincoln. Dur- ing 1873, railroad mail service was introduced. There were established during his administration, star routes as follows: to York, tri- weekly; Crete to Columbus, tri-weekly; Orton and Stromsburg, semi- weekly; Seward and Dorchester, tri- weekly. Money order office was established in July, 1872. The largest money order business was done in 1873, prior to the opening of our first bank. When Mr. Johns took possession, the fixtures of the office consisted of a desk and- a case of pigeon holes worth about $20. He placed $300 worth of fixtures in the office. Bedford received his appointment in January 1877, and held the place about four years, when Chas. Vanpelt re- ceived the appointment, in 1881. During Mr. V's tenure, the Morris keyless lock was introduced into the office. During his term the salary was at its maximum; or $1700 per annum. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 383 3 O IS o o 3 a- CD U 384 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA There were two semi -weekly star routes until 1<'~!S4, and there were during his whole term four daily mails by rail. John Kettle received his appointment July 1, 1885. Star routes all closed Six daily mails and arrangements nearly perfected for two more. Value of fixtures, about $2,000 hav- ing just put in a new and complete outfit of improved Mor- ris lock boxes, which is said to be one of the finest in the west. Box rent amounts to $170 per quarter. Money order business is about $2,000 per quarter. E. A. Polley succeeded Mr. Kettle in 1889 and C. S. Ai- ling succeeded Polley in 1893. Died in office and was suc- ceeded by Joseph Dupin in the summer of 1894, and in 1897, P. G. Simmons succeeded Dupin, and he resigned in Februa- ry, 1900, and Wm. Royer, the present incumbent, was ap- pointed in April, 1900. Seward is now' served with ten mails six days in the week and four on Sunday. There are at the present w^'iting six rural routes out of Seward. There are nineteen in the county. The county has twelve postoflices. Sew^ard is yet in the list of third class oftices, but almost ready to enter the second class list. Her showing of busi- ness during 1904 was $6,594.30, and only lacking less than $1,500 to place it on the second class list. Salary now paid the postmaster is $1,800, with office rent, fuel and lights fur- nished. The government pays $450 per annum rent with fuel and lights. Box rent collected in 1904 was $493.23. Money orders sold in 1904 were 6,595, aggregating approxi- mately $20,000. The rural routes have a tendency to cut down receipts from box rent. During the fall of 1904, the location of the office was changed to new and rnore commodious quarters. Nasby used to have much to say about the postoffice at the corners, but Seward can talk about her postoffice on the al- ley. The present quarters are quite an improvement on the old, yet it is nothing for our flourishing city to be proud of. The room is cramped and narrowly constructed to say the least: It is not up to the needs of a growing and pros- perous city like this. The office at Milford, probably less than half the patronage of this, maintains an office that would make any citizen of Seward ashamed of his town, or rather his postoffice at the alley. What Seward needs and HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 385 c o o 386 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA is fully entitled to is a government postoffice built on modern plans, with rooms and fixtures commensurate with the grow- ing needs of this wide-awake community, and we deem it high time for the citizens to take this important matter in hand and see that our congressman "gets a move on him- self. " The large towns have been most wonderfully pro- vided for. Now it is about time that the county towns of the country should have a hand in the creek. The amount, of money spent on that great castle in Omaha would put a very respectable office building in every county seat in Nebraska. The time has fully come when the country people should let congress know that they have some rights that should be respected. We cannot close this chapter without a word in regard to the postoffices of the county. The first office was established at the old Camden bridge just by the south line of the county, and at the forks of the river, at the old ranch, in 1863. Thus we have endeavored to trace as nearly as possible, step by step, our postoffice business and mail service through all its stages from the beginning of our settlement here un- til the present time. We would not have the reader understand that we are casting any reflection upon the owner of our postoffice build- ing, but the narrow policy of the postoffice department in dealing with small cities. GERMAN NORMAL SCHOOL German Evangelical Lutheran Teachers' Seminary of Seward, Nebraska, was founded in the spring of 1894. Some of the enterprising German American citizens, led by such men as Herman Diers, J. P. Goehner and O. E. Bernecker, determined that it was the right thing to do to build an in- stitution of learning where their children could have an op- portunity of a classical education, and especially an educa- tion as would qualify the young people for teachers. The school was organized under the control of the Lutheran' Synod of Missouri, Ohio and other states. Twenty acres of beautiful land was secured by the citizens of Se- HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 387 ward just to the northeast and adjoining; the city, where a very commodious and creditable brick building was erected and ready for the opening of school in the autumn of 1894. The first board of directors were Rev. J. Hilgendorf, John F. Goehner, Herman Diers and O. E. Bernecker. Herman Diers became treasurer. The present board con- sists of Rev. C. H. Becker, Rev. H . Miesoler, of Columbus, Neb., Herman Diers, J. F. Goehner and O. E. Bernecker, with Herman Diers, treasurer. German College Building The main building is of brick on a stone foundation, 43x70 feet and three stories above the basement. A dorma- tory annex 32x32, a substantial two-story frame structure. The school opened with an enrollment of but sixteen stu- dents, but it' was destined to grow and it has grown from year to year. In 1904, or in just ten years, it numbered eighty-four students, twenty-one of which graduated in the class of 1904. The students of 1904 came from the following states: Nebraska 96, Iowa 6, Kansas 5, Missouri 2, Colorado 1, Wyoming 1. Professor Geo. Weller has been principal from the be- ginning, and has associated with him for the last two years Prof. Geo. Ritzmann, and also for the last year. Prof. F. Strieker. Thus far the school has been preparatory to the "Adison Normal School of Illinois, but is designed in the near future to extend the course of instruction to that of a full normal course. Thus far the school has been ably con- 388 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA ducted and made very successful under the able corps of instructors and wise and generous management of the di- rectors. It is the design to expend about $35,000 in new buildings within the next two years. There is much here to encourage a rapid growth in this institution whose foundation has been so well and firmly laid in this rich soil. The denomination has a very strong hold in Nebraska and especially in Seward county, where they have twelve large congregations of thrifty people. We can see in this institution in the years to come, one of the great rich institutions of which our country is so proud. We are informed that the English language holds the most prominent place in the course of study. German and Latin take next rank. All the branches of the normal course, also music, are taught. We are proud of this good beginning and have abiding faith that it will, in the years to come, grow and prosper and be a great blessing to our people, shedding beams of light to brighten the lives of our young people and prepare them for honorable positions in life. We hope that every good intelligent citizen of the county may at all times lend a helping hand and words of encouragement to this grand undertaking. We have the pleasure of placing before our reader a fine view of the beautiful structure that now adorns their grounds. SEWARD CITY WATER WORKS At a meeting of the city council, held July 25, 1889, no- tices were ordered of an election to be held on the 19th day of August, 1889, for the purpose of voting for or against a proposition of issuing thirty thousand dollars of six per cent twenty year bonds, payable at option of the city at any time after five years from date of issue, and to bear date of Sep. 16, 1889. The proposition also provided that the city authorities should levy an annual tax upon the property of the city to pay the interest upon the bonds and also to pro- vide a sinking fund for the liquidation of said bonds; the money obtained from the sale of the bonds to be used for HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 389 390 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA the establishment of a system of water works to supply the city and its inhabitants. The election took place on the 19th day of August, 1889, and resulted in a majority for the bonds of two hundred and seventy-two, there being only forty-seven votes against the proposition. The bonds were issued bearing date of Sep. 16, 1889, sixty in number of $500 eacli, with twenty, six per cent coupons attached. They were sold to StuU Brothers for a premium of eighty-one dollars. Now with $30,081 cash cai^ital, the council proceeded to business and made contracts as follows, all within a few weeks. First contract was let to A. F. Cook for the sink- ing of two two-hundred-foot wells for $1200 each, with a proviso that contractor was to have two dollars per foot for each additional foot. He guaranteed one hundred thousand gallons of water for each well every twenty-four hours. Next was let to Tamaqua Mfg. Co. for forty-eight hydrants at $29 each. The third contract was awarded Brownell & Co. for two boilers at $1380. Fourth was let to J. P. Dunam for the construction of an engine house at $1425. Fifth, a contract for a standpipe was let to Porter & Jackson Co. at $3800. . Sixth was let to U. S. Engine Co. for twenty-nine valves at $448.50 Seventh was let to Pond Engineering Co. for steam pump at $1550. Eighth contract was with the Gutta Percha Rubber Co. for two hose carts and twelve hundred feet of hose at $1400. Ninth was with Bullock & Co. for stone at $450. Tenth was with Goering to haul stone from cars at $3 per car of twenty tons each. Eleventh was contract with A. A. Richardson to super- intend construction of standpipe. Twelfth was contract with J. J. Cummins to superintend the general construction of water works at a salary of $100 per month. Now the real trouble begins. Many attempts to secure an ample supply of water failed. A deep well was put down near the standpipe, six hundred and ten feet deep, but no HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 391 3 o CO VI c !2 o o ea 3 O" CO 392 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA water supply was obtained. Then a well was sunk down near the F. E. & M. V. tracks, which for a time promised well. Good buildings were erected there and all the machin- ery was set in motion; but soon the water failed. Then ex- periments were resorted to by sinking many wells and draw- ing the water to a common center. The standpipe was com- pleted and four and one-half miles of mains were laid, and a mass of first class machinery was placed, and the water works were very complete, but where, Oh, where was the water! After many years of trouble and vast expenditure of means, the present great well was sunk in 1901, and happily at last an abundant supply of most excellent water was reached. The water works proper have cost the city some- thing over thirty-three thousand dollars, but the water has cost over forty thousand dollai's additional. The system is now very complete with a capacity of over a million gallons of the best water per day. The sale of water to citizens now pays running expenses and very nearly pays the interest on the outstanding bonded indebted- ness. Two thousand dollars of the bonds are taken up, and between forty and fifty thousand dollars additional expendi- tures are all paid. Seward now is proud of the magnificent plant and its supply of clear cold water. ELECTRIC LIGHT PLANT OF SEWARD In 1888, an electric light plant was first installed in our city, and was probably an up-to-date plant for that day. It was a private corporation, and like all such concerns, it ran the machine for the money in sight and did not render satis- actory service. This caused a deep seated feeling on the part of the more progressive citizens that the city should own and operate its own plant in the interest of the people. This culminated in a proposition to issue city bonds in the sum of seven thousand dollars. This action was ratified by the voters of the city on the 28th of August, 1903, when three and one-half per cent bonds were issued. At the same time there was a fund of thirty-five hundred dollars in the treasury and it was found entirely practical to utilize the HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 393 city water plant so far as the buildings, boilers and pumps were concerned, and thus save something like five thousand dollars of outlay. The plant was so far completed that the new plant was installed in the spring of 1904. The total cost of the plant aside from the machinery of the w^ater works was twelve thousand three hundred dollars. They have at this writing twenty-five miles of wire in use, with twenty-three arc lights in the streets, and three thous- and incandescent lamps in operation; of the latter, the num- ber is rapidly increasing. A one hundred and twenty horse power Westinghouse dynamo of the latest and most improved pattern is in use, and it is a "dandy." So far the plant is furnishing the street lights, paying the running expenses, earning interest on the bonds, and saving the ten per cent per annum on tlie total cost of the plant and from the earnings the city was prepared Jan. 1, 1905, to take up one thousand dollars of the bonds. The pa- trons are well pleased with the servica, and are receiving this most excellent service at greatly reduced cost, so the system and management are' most satisfactory. It w^ill soon pay the entire debt and be an important source of rev^enue to the city. In this Seward is a leader among young western cities, and has set a pattern that other cities will gladly fol- low. Much of the success of this important undertaking is due to our most efficient electrician and manager, Mr. Martz. SEWARD FIRE ASSOCIATION The Seward Fire Association was organized March 20, 1885, with H. Diers, J. C. Mulfinger and L. J. Simmons as a board of trustees; articles of incorporation w^ere filed in the county clerk's office. Before this date the records ai-e in- complete, but it is known that the association had existed as the Seward Fire Department and was organized about 1879, with three companies. Some think it may have been at an earlier date, but the earliest enrollment we can find in the records is Herman Diers and J. J. Blodgett, dated May '29, 1879, and the next date found in records is B. L. Krouse, May 30, 1881. March 6, 1885, we find a list of six honorary and exempt 394 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA members: Wm. Pratt, J. A. Campbell, J. H. Betzer, J. W. Dupin, J. A. Kilpatrick and S. B. Reed. In 1886 we find on the list of honorary and exempt members, Herman Diers, who had served six years and nine months, and J. J. Blod- gett, with equal honors. Jan. 2, 1885, we find the first recorded list of officers : Chief, G. Babson, third term; assistant, F. Wooley, second term; secretary, L. J. Simmons, first term; treasurer, Her- man Diers, first term; trustees, H. Diers, L. J. Simmons and J. C. Mulfinger; J. J. Blodgett, secretary to trustees. At this date, Feb. IU05, we find the department has six- ty active members, twenty-four in the hook and ladder com- pany, and eighteen in each of two hose companies. The last treasurer's report shows a cash balance in the treasury of $1011.38. The present officers are L. H. Diers, chief; J. Goering, assistant chief; and Harry Graff, secretary and treasurer. We copy the following from an address at a firemen's banquet held at Seward some years ago (date not given) by G. Babson: "In 1878, the only fire appai'atus was a three gallon Bab- cock extinguisher, owned by Thos. Wolf, editor of the Re- porter. In April, 1879, it did excellent service in putting out a fire in the basement of Kribler's furniture house. In the following spring the council purchased two three-wheeled Babcock extinguishers and a hook and ladder truck. They were stored in Marshall's livery barn. Our first call one night we had an awful struggle to get the apparatus from behind carriages and buggies just to find a pile of brush and weeds on fire. The department was organized May 20, 1879. J. C. Henderson was appointed chief by the city council; Ed. Polly was appointed foreman of Company No. 1, Wm. Ash- ton, No. 2, and Geo. Blodgett, No. 3, hook and ladder, with Jack Hanly, assistant. Our drill practice was regular for a time. Once we had a small fire, but the engines had stood idle so long that they refused to woi^k. Later th-e company was re-organized with J.C. Henderson, chief: G. Babson, as- sistant; John Mulfinger, foreman of No. 1, Dick Sampson, No. 2., and H. Diers, No. 3. From this time drills were held regularly, and the department became efficient and ready for HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 395 business. Gus. Babson was chief from 18H3 to 1887 and F. Wooly assistant for most of the time, and in 1887 he became Babson's successor. We had many liard runs and were usu- ally fortunate in being able to stop tires before much dam- age was done. In Feb., 1883, we were all frost bitten in a long run to the northeast part of town when the thermome- ter registered thirty degrees below zero. We had many fires, such as Stillwell's barn, the old skating rink. Grand Central hotel, and in 1886, the Park hotel. In 1890, Feb. 20th, the department established a reading room and library and at the end of that year had 274 books in use. Five years later this was turned over to the city with about six hundred volumes. It was the nucleus of the present city li- brary. At the first firemen's tournament held at Lincoln in the fall of 1884, our department attended with fifty men in uniform, with Gerke's band. We won the hook and ladder race and Mr. Mulfinger's company won the ladies' silk banner for the best drilled company. We came home happy. Jan. 12, 1886, the state association met at Seward, which was a pleasant time for all the boys." Stillwell's barn burned in 1884, and in April, 1885, the rink burned. Dec. 12, 1885, the Grand Central hotel burned. It has been a pleasure to know how etficient and self- sacrificing the Seward fire boys have been all through the years. Their work is entirely voluntary, but somehow they are always ready at the tap of the bell. They run like wild cats and work like tigers. They have saved many disas- trous conflagrations and are entitled to the gratitude of all our people. All the consideration they receive is they arc freed from poll tax and exempt as jurors, and after five years' service they are entirely free from poll tax. Some of the boys have now served ten years or more. We are ready to vote the fire department any reasonable favor they can ask for. BURLINGTON RAIL ROAD BUSINESS FOR 1904 The Burlington's part in the business of Seward in the year 1904. 396 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA The tickets sold at Seward station in the year each month are as follows: January, number of tickets, 1505 cash received, $2352 48 February, 1458 2204 35 March 1561 2134 96 April 1487 1877 70 May 1762 2015 97 June ( 1818 2125 72 July 1484 2194 19 August 2292 4641 81 September 2061 3854,17 October 1963 3342 02 November 1740 2377 75 December 1744 2698 06 20875 $31819 18 There was shipped from the Seward station during 1904 178 cars of live stock, 119 cars of wheat, corn and oats, 60 cars of eggs, 169 cars of products, (products of flour and of the cereal mills) 25 cars uf brick, 37 cars of miscellaneous arti- cles. Received during the year, 64 cars of lumber, 215 cars of coal, 16 cars of implements, 311 car of miscellaneous articles, and 3,970,697 pounds of general merchandise, equaling 260 car loads. Total freight collected, $75,000. Trains passing Seward daily; Passenger — 8 trains six days in the week and 4 on Sundays. Freight — 8 daily except Sunday and 6 Sundays. Some seasons of the year when grain and stock moves freely, the number of extra trains is surprisingly great. One noticeable feature of the out-going freight is the eggs. Sixty car loads, or twenty-four thousand cases, or seven hundred and twenty thousand dozen. Freight business reported by Utica for the year 1904 is as follows: Shipped out 389 cars of gram, 68 cars of live stock, 14 cars of merchandise, total 471 cars. Received 71 cars of coal, 27 cars of lumber, 91 cars of merchandise, total 179 cars. Freight in less than car lots, 1,648,575 pounds. Freight charges collected, $16,423.31. Other stations re- fused to report. Let the responsibility rest where it belongs HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 397 We did all that was reasonable to give the reader a correct idea of the rail road business from every station. C. N. W, RAIL ROAD The Northwestern Rail Road company received at Se- ward station during the year 1904, 224 cars of freight of all kinds and shipped out 357 cars of stock, grain and other merchandise, including 47 cars of poultry. The passenger traffic by months was as follows: January Local $401 12 Coupon $72 72 February 475 31 " ., 28 55 March 353 97 90 90 April 250 07 228 76 May 355 52 111 26 June 572 95 38 71 July 2544 73 209 16 August 638 36 398 95 September 550 54 360 18 October 582 31 181 85 November 482 86 93 60 December 477 61 382 65 Grand total, $9,882.64. The N. W. is a branch road SEWARD CEREAL MILLS This is certainly an institution that we may all feel proud of. The present plant was erected on the ruins of the one destroyed by fire in the Autumn of 1895 and was ready for business in April of 1898. As it now stands it cost about twenty-five thousand dollars. It is owned by Seward people exclusively. The builders and principal owners are John Mulfinger, Geo. Harrison, John Zimmerer and Charles Barkley. The principal structure is 36x68, three stories above the basement and filled throughout with the latest and most approved machinery known to the trade for the manufacture of oat and corn products. Beside the main structure are the engine room, kiln room, grain ware house, storage building and office, each under separate roofs. The capacity of the mills is one hundred and forty barrels of 398 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA U HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 399 rolled oats and two hundred barrels of corn products per day, or three hundred and forty barrels per day, and gives em- ployment to from twelve to twenty persons at good wages. We are informed that pay checks are always ready for the workmen Saturday evening. It is a noteworthy fact that this institution can and al- ways does pay the farmers for a good article of oats or corn much better prices than the shippers can possibly pay, and it is safe to say that the farmers of Seward and surrounding counties are many thousands of dollars gainer by the existence of this grand plant. The company enjoy a large trade in ev- ery state and territory west of the Mississippi and is extend- ing to our island possession in the Orient. The trade mark, the "White Dove," is known far and wide as one of the best brands of rolled oats in the markets of the world. The bus- iness men of Seward and the laboring people as well as the farmers all have great reason to feel a great interest in the Cereal Mills of Seward. SEWARD MILLS The history of this valuable property is a part and a very important part of the history of this city. It was with great difficulty that the title of the water power was secured as an old land shark at Cincinnati, by the name of Geo. Hilton, had at an early day entered a large tract of timber land just near the mouth of Plum creek which included the forty acre tract where the mill now stands. The old iellow steadfastly refused to sell the property for a long time and seemed very obstinate in the matter until some of the neigh- bors took a hand, and wrote some letters to him that would not look well in print, which brought the old fellow to his senses and he concluded to sell the forty acre tract at ten dollars per acre to H. L. Boyes and the tirst work on the mill site was done in 1867. A brush dam was built and a saw mill was started, without shelter or roof, on the river bank in the spring of 1868. For a time this was a scene of great activity, as logs by the thousand were hauled long distances and the log yard, covering quite a space, was a sight to all beholders. In 1870, the company started the first mill to 400 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY. NEBRASKA grinding grain. This little affair was known far and wide as "Banner Mills." It was draped in red, white and blue, like the star spangled banner. It did good work and was run at its full capacity until an evil day came in 1871, when it became overloaded with farmer's grists. One night the w^hole bottom of the mill fell out and dumped the machinery and grain into the river. It was a woeful looking mess that we beheld one bright Sabbath morning. The river was strewn with grain in bursting sacks, loose grain, flour, feed and wrecked machinery all tangled in a heterogenious mass. This was a sad blow to the owners and to the community but, it must be rebuilt and the courageous owners immediately set to work and in due time all was set to rights and the mill wheels began again to turn. Some years later the little mill was torn down and a much larger one built in its place and as the business expanded, that one had to give way for a larger one. Then in 1H91, the third one was replaced by a large roller merchant mill, and in 1893, that great beautiful structure burned, but that will power and energy of its own- ers knew no such word as fail and in just one hundred days after the cruel flames had destroyed it, another and grander mill was ready for business. At that time Mr. Deane was associated with Mr. Carlos Boyes & Co. and remained a val- uable partner for a number of years, when Martin Hulsizer and Burdette Boyes, a grandson of the founder and son of Carlos, became partners. Size of the present mill is 40x72 feet and five stories high, with the best modern machinery throughout, having six double standard rollers for flour and three set for corn products, working capacity, one hundred and fifty barrels pel' day. Storage capacity, sixteen thousand bushels, water- power capacity, over one hundred horse power. Water gage of river at low water stage, four thousand cubic feet per minute. The company at this writing are engaged in filling a government contract of one million pounds of flour or forty car loads. BRICK YARD Seward's new brick yard, employing about forty hands and turning out 30,000 excellent brick per day, is something 402 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA to be proud of. It is what is known as a draw kiln, where the fires never go out. With its great smoke stack tow^er- ing one hundred and ten feet, makes it conspicuous. Under the ab)e management of William Worthman and son, it is destined to add greatly to the business of our city. We are pleased to present to our readers a splendid picture of this valuable plant. BUILDING AND LOAN ASSOCIATION Sew^ard Building and Loan Association was organized late in 1893, and early in 1H94 articles of incorporation were filed. February (ith the first officers were elected as follows: J. J. Blodget, president; John Zimmerer, vice president; Geo. Merrium, secretary and J. P. Goehner, treasurer; J. P. Dunham, J. H. Erford, W. H. Debolt, W. E. Longworthy, S. D. Atkins, J. J. Thomas and O. C. Reynolds, directors. Object of the association is to encourage people of moderate means to secure homes on easy payments. The plan con- templates the loan of means to assist in building or purchas- ing homes on payments about equal to the rent of like prem- ises, with low rates of interest. Each payment is divided so that the interest is kept up and part of the principal paid and thus in a few years the party has a home paid for. Under the faithful administration of the present presi- dent, John Zimmerer, the association has been quite a fact- or among the financial institutions of our city At the last report its assets amounted to $52,954.47. It is accomplish- ing much good in the community and has already helped scores of poor men to secure pleasant homes of their own. MUTUAL PROTECTIVE FIRE ASSOCIATION OF NEBRASKA The Mutual Protective Fire Association of Nebraska was organized at Seward, January 14, 1894. First oflicers were as follows: E. PoUey, president; Geo. Merrium, sec- retary; directors, Dr. J. T. Potter, H. C. Atwood, G. W. Meeker, I. L. Dermond, W. C. A. Hartman, J. M. Calder, J. F. Guss, E. J. Hartman, and Thos. Bishop. The business of the association extends to all parts of HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 403 the state. The business is confined by the charter to risks in cities and towns except such risks in country as churches, school houses, factories, etc. Had to July 4, 1904, issued 5886 policies and to same date, paid in losses $23,608, and have $10,000 in the reserve fund and not a dollar of indebted- ness. The highest amount ever collected in premiums is 75 per cent of old line rates, and are writing policies at same rate now. The amount of insurance now in force is one million three hundred and forty-five thousand dollars. The present officers are, John Kribbeler, president John Zimmerer, vice-president; J. F. Goehner, treasurer Geo. A. Merrium, secretary; Landis & Shich, attorneys directors, J. M. Calder, Seward; Dr. J. T. Potter, Seward F. W. Rodenbrock, Nebraska City; T. J. Rademacher, Crete H. C. Atwood, Milford; I. J. Dermond, Beaver Crossing; D. J. Hartrum, Utica; Wm. Grabe, Wahoo; and Delevan Bates of Aurora. The company enjoys a splendid reputation for prompt- ness in the adjustment of all claims, and the business is rap- idly growing. CHAPTER XXII. MILFORD, ITS FOUNDING AND GROWTH Post office— Cereal Mills— News Papers— Pleasant Dale Schools— Utica, its growth and progress— Post Office— Village of Bee— Germantown Creamery— Germantown Post Office— Tamora Post Office— Grover Post Office— Early Railroading (story)— My first ride on a Rail. Milford was tirst settled by J. L. Davison in the spring of 1864. He built a log house on the site of the present hospital and opened a ranch on the steam wagon road. One of the first things he undertook was improving the ford be- tween the present bridges and the mill. For about two years Mr. Davison was "monarch of all he surveyed." In the winter of 1865 he built a substantial bridge. A few set- tlers had located on claims in the vicinity . In the spring of 1866 Wm. H. Reed, of Weeping Water, became interested and a partnership was formed, and the mill from Weeping Water was moved and the nucleus of the village was formed. Soon thereafter, Henry Wortendyke became interested in the mill. Doom and Etherly opened the first store in 1868. It was the second store in the county. Milford soon took the lead as a business center and secured the location of the county seat. The first attorney resident of the county, Hon. D. C. McKillip, located in 1868 and soon Geo. B. France located in the new town and was ready to take a hand in the legal battles that ensued. L. D. Laune located by the new town in 1864. These matters are quite fully treated in an- other place, and we will not dwell on them here. Suffice it to say that the brave men that laid the foundations worked to build Milford with one hand and fought the enemy with the other. The place grew apace and prospered as the settlers came and occupied the lands adjacent. The great freight ]-oad and the mill were drawing cards, and the coun- ty seat, although held by an uncertain tenure, was a great HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 405 help. Soon the irrepressable J. H. Culver came and he knew how to use the quill, and he used it effectually in help- ing to boom the town. Unfortunately the geographical po- sition was not quite as favorable as desirable to hold the county seat and Milford had wily foes to contend with; and with no fault of her energetic citizens, the county seat was wrested aw^ay from her in 1871. Still she liad a good fight- ing chance and the village continued to grow. However, in 1872, the good people of the locality made a fatal mistake in not grasping the opportunity offered when the Midland Rail Road Co. offered to build the road from Lincoln to Milford and up the valley to Seward. This opportunity lost, placed the thriving village in the back ground and she must wait weary years until 1879 for a rail road when the Atchison & Nebraska was built. Then, at once, the village began a vig- orous growth and from that day to this it has been prosper- ous. It is a great grain center and with the help of the great cereal mills, it commands a trade of prodigious proportions. Prom the first Milford has been a popular resort and this has been a source of profit. For many years the peo- ple have taken an interest in public institutions, and by dint of perseverence two state institutions have come to them, (Soldiers' Home and Industrial Home). The village occu- pies a sightly position upon a commanding hill, overlooking the great valley away to the northward and southward in curves and semi-circles. The town is embowered in shade. The streets are broad and crossing at right angles and lined on either side with handsome homes. As the eye wanders up and down the long avenues it makes the heart glad to look upon these pleasant homes. The village, at the pres- ent writing has near eight hundred souls. At the last elec- tion there were 168 votes cast and the school census shows 277, and from this we conclude that there are eight hundred people. There are eleven brick business houses in three blocks. The main business places are as follows: 4 general stores, 1 grocery house, 2 drug stores, 3 hardwares, 4 restaurants, 2 hotels, 2 lumber and coal yards, mill and vast elevators, 2 shipping elevators, 1 printing office, 2 millinery establish- ments, 2 implement houses. 2 banks, 2 livery barns, 3 406 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA churches, town hall and. opera house, tirst-class graded school and a good system of water works and tire depart- ment. They have a nice park in close proximity to the busi- ness. The state institutions are outside the corporate limits. They have the best arranged third-class post office in the state. The saloon had to go in 1905, but they have an am- ple supply of excellent water. MILFORD POST OFFICE Judge J. L. Davison opened a post office. The office at first was supplied by a Star route (with several stars in the route) from old Camden. Part of the time the judge sent his son, Marcenas, on horseback, and sometimes he sent one of the girls. JVIr. Davison held the office until the advent of Etherly and Doom, who opened a store in the embryo town, and the office with all its honors and emoluments were turned over to Mr. Etherly in 1868. By this time a regular star route was established from Lin- coln via Pleasant Dale to Milford and Beaver Crossing. This was a tri- weekly, and many times the weekly trials were too much for the driver and failed to connect. A little later a route was established from Crete to Columbus via Milford, Seward and Ulyses, which was continued for a number of years. J. H. Culver succeeded Mr. Etherly in 1871. It has always been a conundrum why Cap. Culver 'did not become a millionaire, running that post office in con- nection with the Blue Valley Record. During Culver's term, in 1871, the money order office was established. That was certainly a prominent event and one of great value to the people because all the banks of that day in this region were sand banks and not very reliable. April, 1873, Hon. Thos. A. Healy received his appoint- ment. The date of his first money order was April 30th. His wife, Mrs. Kate M. Healy, was his successor in 1876, when he was elected representative. S. D. I. Emerson suc- ceeded Mrs. Healy in 1879 and held the fort until 1885, John A. Cockron was appointed and succeeded by J. H. Cul- ver in December, 1889, and he run the office until the appoint- ment of Thos. Mustain, in 1894. Mr. Mustain died in office HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 407 and the unexpired term was held by his widow in 1898, when the present incumbent, Hon. Tlios. A. Healy received his ap- pointment from President McKinley, July 31. Up to Janu- ary 1, 1904, two hundred and twenty thousand dollars of money orders had been sold during his administration. Post master's salary now amounts to twelve hundred dollars per annum. The office has just, at this writing, been placed in a new brick structure. This most elegant room has the reputation of being the best and most thoroughly equipped third-class office in Nebraska. By dint of persever- ence Mr. Healy secured the first two rural routes in Central Nebraska for Milford July 15, 1899. At that time the most westerly route was a trial route at Tecumseh. The first carriers of these routes were Chas. W. Punk on No. 1, and H. J. Matzke on No. 2. The third route was established November 1, 1900, and the fourth November 1, 1904, with Wm. Smiley as carrier. At first the patronage of the rural routes was very small, but has steadily grown from month to month until the business has become a very important factor in the busi- ness relations of the country. The rural routes have come to stay. The present management of the Milford office is so entirely satisfactory that we could heartily wish that Mr. Healy could remain at the head of it until his salary would reach five thousand dollars per year and then enjoy it a good long term. MILFORD MILLS J. L. Davison, one of the very first settlers of Seward county, came to Salt Creek, (the Lord only knows when) and to old Camden ranch in 1862, where he learned most thoroughly the ways of the "wild and wooly West" as a ranchman. He was a venturesome and restless pioneer that was ever on the lookout for a new enterprise. In the spring 1864, while exploring the upper Blue Valley, found a rocky ford at a point below the present mill. John Cadman and William Fields of Lancaster county had determined to open a new road for freight and general traffic across the plains to be known as the steam wagon road, which road 408 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA left the old Camden trail about twenty miles east of Salt Creek and crossed that stream at Yankee Hill (near the in- sane hospital) and to intercept the old trail just east of Walnut Creek. It became the privilep^e of Mr. Davison to find a suitable crossing (by ford) of the Blue and he was quick to see just where to locate. He, with indomitable perse- verence, went far out into the prairie to the westward and interviewed train masters and induced them to try the new trail and soon secured enough travel to break the road, and it was not long until thousands of immigrants and emigrants were winding their way over the steam wagon i-oad. But now about the steam wagon? Well some ingenious fellow had gotten the idea that has led up to the present traction engine and he made an engine which he thought could be made successful on the Plains and had determined to run it over this trail. It succeeded in getting out about three miles west of Nebraska City in the summer of 1865, but it failed, got tired, and in that summer we saw it resting by the road side. The road was a perfect success, however, if the wagon was a failure. The travel increased so that Mr. Davison determined in the winter of 1865 to build a bridge and wdth a crew of hardy frontiersmen, he scored, hewed and hauled timber from every section (thirty-seven) on the river up and down for ten miles or more, and built a strong substantial bridge (the first on the river north of old Camden bridge at the forks). In the spring of 1866 many new settlers came and among them was William Reed, of Weeping Water Falls, who owned a litte mill. The people of that aristocratic commu- nity wanted a larger one so Uncle Billy formed a partner- ship with Mr. Davison, and they were a well matched and strong team and they moved the mill and placed it by the ford, and thus we have Milford. Most happy were the peo- ple of that part of the valley, that there was a mill by the ford. The mill wheels turned in due time and many were the glad hearts that secured the grinding of a sack of corn. That grand little old mill was not quite so large, neither was so filled with the latest improved machinery as the pres- HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 409 ent great structure, but, somehow, we can't help but think that the biscuit and Johnny cake coming from the little mill were sweeter and better than any of the present. Perhaps a ten mile drive through a blizzard for a sack of meal made the cake sweeter. Well, the old mill performed duty well and truly until the fire fiend came and destroyed it in 1881. Some time during the early days of the mill Henry Wor- tendyke held an interest in the plant and also W. J. Thomp- son was interested for a time; when later J. L. Davison bought the entire plant. In 1877 J. H. Culver bought an interest and in 1879 F. S. Johnson and H. D. Perry and Mr. Johnson's brother bought an interest. This partnership continued but a short time. F. S. Johnson & Co. bought the property in 1880 entire, and built the present great mill in 1882 and 1883 and soon thereafter, the company built the capacious warehouses with holding capacity of two thous- and barrels of finished product besides one hundred thous- and bushels of grain. The machinery is run by a combina- tion of water and steam power of one hundi-ed and twenty- five horses. The present capacity is five hundred barrels of meal and one hundred thousand pounds of feed stuffs every twenty-four hours. The mill was run as a combined plant, manufacturing flour, meal and corn products up to 1900, when the flouring machinery was all taken out and replaced with the most ap- proved machinery to manufacture corn products. The .mill is a massive brick structure five stories in height and all filled with a labyrinth of machinery that is bewildering to a novice. MILFORD NEWSPAPERS From the time that the Record ceased to exist, in April, 1873, which able and valuable paper has already been fully noticed, Milford had no paper until February, 1882, when the Seward County Democrat, a seven-column folio, was is- sued by Alexander Brothers. It was true to its name, a straight-out democrat paper, and had a successful business for two years, when its proprietors sold it out to Prof. Geo. F, Burkett, of Michigan. The professor changed its nam© 410 HISTORY OF riEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA to that of Milford Ozone, and its political career thencefor- ward was republican. A few months later, the editor having been elected principal of the Milford high school took in as partner an erratic individual by the name of Horace Boyle, who played a brief engagement of three months, when his interest was purchased by H. C. Hensel, of Omaha. An amicable partnership of two months ensued, when Prof. Burkett's interest was purchased, and then the name was changed to that of Milford Nebraskan. Its politics remained republican. Mr. Hensel continued the publication for some years. L. O. Howard bought the plant in 1900 and has con- ducted it up to this time. PLEASANT DALE SCHOOL, DISTRICT 21 BY F. H. BLACKER Was organized in 1870, by Geo. B. France, County Su- perintendent. The district comprised twenty sections of land in the northeast corner of "I" precinct. April 9th a school meeting was held at the house of M. Steinhilber and J. T. Priest was elected moderator, W. A. Higgins treas- urer and J. A. Raymer director. The first school was taught by J. Latler in a soddie built on Steven Brown's homestead. In 1873, a frame house was built on section 26, and May H. Frisbee taught two terms at $25 per month. Fifteen pujDils made up the school. The next term w^as taught by Miss Mary E. Skorey with nineteen scholars. In 1890 the present two story frame building was erected in the village of Pleasant Dale, the district having been di- vided and W. C. Dunten was elected director. The first eighth grade class to graduate took their degree in 1899. It took its place in the ranks of the high schools in 1901 and 1902, through the generous help of citizens who raised by subscription $250, as the 25 mill limit of tax was insufficient to carry on the school. F. H. Blacker was elected principal with a salary of $50 per month, which was later raised to $60 per month, with Miss Mable Hensen as assistant at $40 per month. At the time Henry Oxley, S. Vanandel and E. J. Newton were the school board. The enrollment was about ninety for the years 1902-1903. The next year the HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 411 term was made nine months. Miss Lulu Mitchel was in charge of the lower rooms. Total enrollment was HK. The school year opened September 5, 1904, and closed May 19, 1905. Present board are John Mitchell, E. J. Newton and S. Vanandel. The commencement exercises were held in the M. E. church. Class sermon was preached by Rev. H. G. Clay- comb. Blanch Vanandel, Grace Dunten and May Best grad- uated in the tenth grade. The class motto "Upward and On- ward." Guy Pool has the honor of a grand record. Four terms without a tardy or absent mark. The district is free from debt with a present valuation amply sufficient so that eight mills levy furnishes plenty of funds. UTICA A beautiful bustling village of near six hundred people is situated on the Burlington rail road near the west line of Seward county and was founded in LS77. It- is surrounded by excellent farms, and has from the beginning enjoyed a good trade. It is well built with many substantial business houses. Some very good two-story bricks. There are a host of cozy cottages. The stocks of merchandise in every line are large and has the appearance of thrift and enter- prise. The shipping facilities seem to be adequate as there is a freight train in sight nearly every hour, day or night. They maintain an excellent high school and have four good churches. The fraternal orders seem to have a strong hold and we note a fraternal hall of vast proportion. Along the streets we count about forty business houses of various kinds, representing all classes of business of our westei-n towns. It is a noticeable feature that the village has fairly awakened upon the sidewalk question and the village has its complements of excellent brick walks. There are num- erous buildings in the course of erection among which we note a very extensive grain elevator being erected by Fritz Beckard . Utica has many real live men that mean to keep Utica to the front, but there are some clogs in the wheel. Some of her most wealthy citizens that have made their money off the people are more of a hindrance than a help. 412 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA UTICA POSTOFFICE Established in the fall of 1H77 with T. E. Standard as post master. Money order office was established soon after- wards. The next post master was Rev. C. E. Phinney, suc- ceeded by H. M. Colman and he was succeeded by Rev. C. E. Phinney in 1880. In 1885 Wm. Nevins was appointed and in 1889 R. C. Ragan held it one year when Hon. G. A. Der- by had it and was followed by D. S. Hardin; he was suc- ceeded by Geo. Debolt, then Charles Greenwood was ap- pointed and died in office in 1899, when the present efficient incumbent, J. H. Casler was appointed December 15, 1899. He is now enjoying his second term. Busines of the office for 1904, $1494.68; post office order business for 1904, $11,094.21. The office is almost ready to enter the third class. There is one rurul route. BEE On the Northwestern railway, eight miles northeast of Seward, is a neat little village well situated in the midst of a splendid farming community and commands the grain and stock trade from quite an extensive area reaching well into Butler county on the north. The village has two hundred and thirty inhabitants. It has two capacious, elevators, a large lumber yard, two general stores, two grocery and con- fectionary stores, a bank, good hotel, two churches, a sub- stantial graded school, with a commodious building. The Modern Woodmen have a large hall, the second story of the only brick block in the town. The village was laid out in the fall of 1887, when the railroad was completed. Michael Dunigan was the founder. His daughter, Minnie, was the first postmistress and held the I)lace until 1889, when the old veteran pioneer, E. H. Noxon, received the appointment at the hands of President Harri- son's Postmaster General and he has held the fort now six- teen years to the satisfaction of the people. We could not learn just when the money order office was established. The money orders sold and paid amounts from six to eight hun- dred dollars per month. One rural route runs out of Bee, with a mileage of twenty-eight miles, From the gentlemanly HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 413 agent of the railroad company, we are able to give the number of cars of freight received and sent out during the year 1904. The showing of shipments of grain and stock shows up well. The incoming freight was, coal, 15 cars; lumber, 13; cement and brick, 5; imigrant cars, 2; stock 7: total in car lots, 40 cars. Cars shipped out, grain 184; stock, 72; miscellaneous, 33; total, 289 cars. Stuff shipped as lo- cal freight not noted. The village is a nice home place only a few minutes ride from the city. THE GERMANTOWN CREAMERY Was incorporated, Api-il 9, 1892, with a capital stock of five thousand dollars. There were issued one thousand shares of five dollars each, one half the amount was paid in before business was commenced. May 1, 1892. First direc- tors were E. M. Olney, J. A. Ohlwiler, Henry Hans, Jr., and M. B. Palmer. Louis Meyers was first secretary and Cyrus Fetterman first treasurer. The articles of incorporation provided for the manufacture of dairy products and handling and feeding of live stock. The stockholders consisted of sixteen citizens. From the start the business has proved profitable to both stockholders and the community. They immediately erected a plant and put in all the necessary ap- pliances for the manufacture of butter and under the excel- lent business management of W. W. Higman, the manager for years, the creamery took high rank and the products found a ready market at prices very satisfactory. The com- pany have kept pace with the times and have added new ma- chinery as the wants of the institution demanded and at this time the plant is a most thoroughly equipped factory with all modern machinery. They receive milk from the farmer and return him the skimmed milk and buttermilk, with a good paying price for the butter fat of the milk. The products of tiie concern for the year 1903, footed up to the neat sum of twenty-nine thousand eight hundred and seventy-one dollars. It is an important factor as a wealth producer in the community round about Germantown. Pres- ent board of directors, Hon. Henry Beckman president, John 414 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY. NEBRASKA A. Oliwiler, Henry Hans, Jr., John Sunderman and Wm. Shultz; August Beckman, treasurer; G. L. Petri, manager; Ottoe Smith, butter maker. GERMANTOWN POST-OFFICE Germantown established in March 1873. John Wester- hoff first postmaster, salary twelve dollars a year. The prominent citizens that have been in turn postmasters, are Benj. Walker, Charles Petterman, Charles Hans and L. S. Callaghan. The present incumbent has held the position for eight years. The office is fourth class in rank. TAMORA POST-OFFICE In the ancient days, nobody can tell just when, but it was in the Seventies, a country post office was established and named Lafayette and was presided over by Mr. Welden. Of this little office we can learn but very little, but it was supplied — semi-occasionally- -a star route supplied with a buck- board and one horse. The town was located shortly after the rail road was ex- tended west from Seward and P. G. Tyler was the first post- master of the town in about 1H80. Mr. A. Wolf succeeded him and he was followed by Henry Cross in 1883, the first date obtainable. We find W. W. Rogers held the position in 1884. J. A. Norin succeeded him -January 1, 1886, was appointed and held the place until October 1, 1887, when R. E. Marshall was appointed and he was followed by Chas. Emerson in 1889. R. E. Marshall was again appointed in 1893 and held the fort until January 1, 1898, when the pres- ent incumbent, C. D. Alexander, was appointed. Money order office was established in 1886. It is a fourth class office and up to the present there are no rural routes eminating from Tamora. GROVER POSTOFHCE Just by the Mil ford station was established in 1884, and the money order office in 1900. J. J. Briggs was the first postmaster aud was succeeded by Mrs. E. C. Funk, who has HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 415 now held the place eighteen years. This post office is a pe- culiar exception to the rule, it being located only about half a mile from the Milford post office; but it seems to hold its footing pretty well and more than pays the expenses of the same, and is quite an accommodation to the people near the depot and the settlement to the eastward. When Dr. Converse was superintendent of the old Mid- land Pacific a little incident occurred of which Hon. Henry Beckman, of east "H" township, tells. In 1874, when the rail road was in its infancy and there were few trains and less business, Mr. Beckman and some of his neiglibors had a lot of wheat to market and as stations were few and far between they made arrangements with the superinten- dent to leave a car from the train going to Seward on the main track. While the train was going to Seward and back the men doubled teams and loaded the car, and when the train came back the engine pushed it to Lincoln. At that time any citizen wishing to board a train could flag it and the accommodating conductor would stop the train and take on the passenger. These were accommodating trains sure enough. THE FIRST ENGINE TO PRESS THE SOIL OF ILLINOIS IN 1848 In October, 1849, the author had his first "ride on a rail" hauled by this primitive engine. There was only twenty-one miles of old fashioned strap rail leading from the foot of Kin- sey street, Chicago. We were landed in a desert prairie west of Des Plains river where an old stage took us in. CHAPTER XXIII. CHURCHES OF THE COUNTY It will be noticed that some of the churches are not noticed. It is not because of our sectarian sentiments but because the church officers have been careless and the data was not furnished. SEVENTH DAY ADVENT CHURCH Was organized May 23, 1875, near RuVjy station and was named Seward church. Local elder was M. Hackvvorth ; first deacon, Alex Hackworth ; first secretary, Ella L. Hackworth. Other organizing members were Francis and Drucilla Morton, Martha and Alice Rider, Rebacca Hackvvorth, Abiatha Kennison and Anginette Morgan. In 1902 they built a neat and substantial house of worship in the west part of Seward. Membership at jjresent is about thirty. They hold regular services every Saturday. Many changes have occurred through the years, death has called many home, others have moved to other fields. Yet the church grows and prospers. AMISH MENNONITES A small colony of these people settled two miles west of Milford, April 3, 1873. Eight families constituted the first settlement. Their first communion was held October, 187;"), by Rev. Christian Ruff of Mc- Lean county, Illinois, who was sent by the conference held in Illinois that year. Membership at that time was eleven. In the spring of 187(5, Rev. Paul P. Hershberger came from Henry county. Iowa, and that spring a church was organized with twenty-three members, and Rev. Hershberger became pastor for the .season. Late that fall com- munion was held by Rev. Nafziger and Rev. Zoder from Woodford county, Illinois. Three converts were baptized on this occasion. In the spring of 1877, Rev, D. C. Miller, of Howard county, Indiana, vis- ited the church and held communion when two new members were re- ceived into the communion. Rev. Hershberger conducted services until the spring of 1878 when Rev. Joseph Cxarsho came who assisted Rev. Hershberger and that season the church was built. It is situated in Section 9 in "O" pre cinct. At that time the membership was fiftj^-five. Rev. Samuel Zoder conducted the first service in the new church. In the fall, Bishop Joseph Schezel bought a home with us. He held communion and baptized five persons. He took up his residence here in the spring HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 417 of 1879, and has been pastor to the present time. We have enlarged the church and it is now 28x56 feet. This peculiar sect of Protestant people had its origin in Zurick, Switzerland, in the early part of the 16th century. They are baptists. Meno Simmons was a chief exponent of their peculiar doctrines al- though not the originator. Within the communities evangelical life means separation from the world and this law forbids marriage outside the church. They refuse to take an oath or to use the sword. They were content to live as strangers upon the earth. The pursuit of holi- ness is the chief end of their lives. In all parts of Europe they were ostracised and persecuted in the early days. Large numbers under a peculiar guarantee took up their abode in western Russia but under later sovereigns these guarantees were withdrawn and large numbers migrated to America and settled in Pennsylvania. They do not recog- nize a salaried ministry. For many years they eschewed the use of buttons and the use of the razor. Their settlement in Russia l)egan under Empress Catharine in 1783. They now number near two hundred thousand in the United States and Canada. Their oldest settlement in this country was founded in 1683, at Germantown, Pennsylvania. These people are noted for sobriety, industry and frugality. They are almost universally prosperous and it can truthfully be said that in their Seward county community, they own one of the finest blocks of farms in the entire west. Their houses, barns and orchards are beauti- ful beyond description. They maintain no parocial schools but take a great interest in the public schools. School District No. 73, in the midst of their settlement is the largest in the county outside of the principal villages, having 124 scholars. They are wonderfully loyal people to their church and it is a sight to behold the gathering of the people on Sabbath mornings, as they come in droves from every quarter to worship. One feature worthy of notice and commendation is the care they take of their teams. They have long rows of sheds to shelter their teams while they are at worship. The congregation, the largest in the county, has now outgrown their ciiurch edifice and a much larger one is to be erected during the season of 1905. Present membership about four hundred. CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH By B. F. Thompson. Of Beaver Crossing was organized in about 1871. A young gradu- ate from Andover Seminary by the name of Smith (other name un- known) came and gathered together such of the scattered settlers as were religiously inclined and organized a church with the following named members : ]Mr. and Mrs. E. Taylor, Wm. Livesly and wife, Al- fred Livesly, Mr. and Mrs. J. T. Pinkerton, Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Thompson, Mrs. Sarah Foster, Mrs. Mary E. Nichols. The oragniza- tion continued about ten years. They worshiped in the school house. Ministers in charge so far as is possible to learn were : Rev. Fred 418 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Alley, Rev. H. A. French, Rev. Clark, Rev. Winslow, Rev. L. E. Benton, Rev. Warren Cockran, Rev. Moore and Rev. Chase. At one time the church was in a flourishing condition and had a good influence over the community but in 1881, or about that time, other churches oc- cupied the field and the Congregationalists gave way, after breaking the ground and preparing the way. The first Sunday School was organized as a "Union" Sunday School in the home of Daniel Milspaw during the summer of 1869. Mrs. Mary E. Nichols was superintendent. This was before the advent of the International lessons and thfe lesson was assigned weeklj' in ad- vance, generallv requiring upon the part of the juvenile members, the committing to memory of a chapter from the Testament or one of the Psalms. The hymns used the first year were generally selected from the Pocket Edition of the M. E. Hymnal. The next summer the school was re-organized in our new school house, a new set of hymn- books. The "Happy Voices" were purchased. The membership greatly increased. From this time there was almost always preaching service in connection with the Sunday School. Well filled w^agon loads of both young and old coming from their newly located homes for miles around. EMANUEL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH Was organized April 19, 1891, with sixteen members, as follows: V. Minor, J. Westerhoff, John Westerhoff, C. E. Hans, J. Koehler, P. Kil- zer, F. W. Westerhoff, Henry Hans, Sr., H. Hans, Jr., P. Zillig, F.Witt, N. Black, John Kilzer and Wm. Westerhoff. First deacons : John Kil- zer and Henry Hans, Sr. Pastor Rev. H. J. Neubaur. Present mem- bership sixty. Second Pastor, Rev. Fred Worth, eight years. Third Pastor, Rev. C. Rickbert, two years. Fourth Pastor, Rev. B. Hoppel, one year. Fifth Pastor, Rev. G. L. Brakemager in charge since Jan- uary 4, 1904. The congregation have a very creditable house of wor- ship, a frame structure. SEWARD CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH Was organized May 9, 1887, with thirty-five members, mostly those were connected with the Presbyterian Chui'ch and had withdrawn. The first officers were : Rev. A. M. Darly, Pastor ; J. C. Bradley and A. Bemis, deacons; F. H. McLain, clerk; S. R. Douglas, treasurer; trus- tees, S. R. Douglas, Edmund Mclntyre, L. R. Cotrell, Henry Morris and R. P. Anderson. Soon thereafter the congregation built a fine two story brick church edifice with a belfry, which at the time was the best church edifice in the county. We are indebted to Rev. F. W. Leavitt, the present pastor for the following historical facts. The second minister, Rev. J. A. Dobson, died here during his term of service in September, 1890. Revs. George Ray, G. B. Carlisle, T. W. C. Cheesman, Paul C. Burhans successively filled the pastoi'al oftice. The present incumbent, Frederick W. Leavitt, began his labors, July 15, 19U3. The membership now stands at seventy-five and some HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 419 sixty families look to this church for pastoral services. Auxiliary to the chvirch are a Sunday School, Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor, Boy's Club and Ladies' Association. During the year 1904, the organization expended |1500 for home expenses and benevolences. The official board at present is constituted as follows : Deacons, Dr. D. D. Potter, Alfred Hiller, W. H Moore; trustees, Dr. J. T. Potter, S. R. Douglas, W. H. Moore, R. P. Anderson, F. C. Williams; clerk, E. H. Koch ; treasurer, Alfred Hiller. Sunday School superintendent, Mrs. M. D. Carey; Y. P. S. C. E. president. Miss Minnie Cole; Ladies Association president, Mrs. D. D. Potter. MILFORD CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH Was organized, April 10, 1869, with the following members, viz : William H. Reed, Patrick Davidson, A. J. Waterman, Lee H. Smiley, Nancy C. Reed, Sophia David.son, Elizabeth J. Waterman, Mary J. Smiley, Ester Smiley, Sallie M. Smith, Marion Hooker and Sophia D. Hooker. The first deacons were A. J. Waterman and Patrick David- son. Lee H. Smiley was first clerk. During the first year nine new members were received. In 1870 ten were received and two removed by death. In 1891, four were dismissed. In 1872 five were received and two dismissed. In 1873, eleven were received and four dismissed. Up to January 1, 1875, fifty seven had been placed on the roll of mem- bership and sixteen dismissed. Rev. T. N. Skinner was fii'st pastor and continued till February, 1872. May, 1872, Rev. H. A. French became pastor. At first the church was without rules of government except such as were found in the Eclesiastical Society of the church. January, 1870, it adopted a code of laws. In 1873, a constitution was formed and in 1874, it revised its polity and became incorporate. The first year 1869, a trame church edifice 24x36 was erected at a cost of |1600, on lots one and two on block one, Milford. Twelve hundred dollars were paid by citizens and |400, from the church building fund. Rev. S. G. Lamb was pastor from 1884 to 1888. Rev. Geo. Bisco to 1890. Rev. R. M. Tra- verse from 1892 to 1895. Rev. G. A. Monroe from 1895 to 1900. Rev. John Jeffreys came March 1, 1901, and remained one year. Rev. G. R. Martin came February, 1903, and remained to June 1, 1904, when Rev. Francis Wrigley took the pastorate and is with the church at present. The present membership is seventy-six. A flourishing Sabbath School is maintained. Mrs. M. M. Salladin has been their very efficient clerk for many years. In 1884 the present beautiful church was erected at a cost of $3500. The building is of red brick and is a very creditable and substantial edifice. CATHOLIC CHURCHES Of Seward county and immediate vicinity. About the year 1876, a settlement of twelve Catholic families from Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, New York, Connecticut and Wisconsin had located near Salem school 420 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA house in the northern part of Seward count}'. This little settlement comprised the following families, John McGowen, Thos. McGowen, John Ward, Michael Gray, Thos. Reynolds, John Reynolds, Daniel Driscol, Daniel Kennedy, Jacob Scherseberger, Thos. Grant, Adolphus Mantry,John McGinnis and Mrs. Wills. A Lincoln Priest, Rev. Father Seward Catholic Church Smith began visiting the settlement in 1875 and gathered the little flock together in private homes for religious worship. He continued his ministrations for some time. In 1873 and 1874, several Catholic families had found homes at Seward and vicinity. Among these pio- neers may be mentioned Anthony Carey, Richard Conway, VVm. Ma- roney, Patrick Coneley, John Kribeler, August Guthman, James Fallon and John Zim merer. Rev. Father Smith also looked after their spirit- ual welfare and gathered the little flock together in private houses for a time and later they held services in the old court house. In 1879, the congregation had grown somewhat and it was determined to erect a house of worship and a little frame edifice was built which in later years has been reconstructed into the present neat and beautiful edifice that is shown in the above cut. It is well to note that the member- ship at the Salem school house united with the Sevpard congregation and from this time forward a Priest was sent to reside among them at Seward. Rev. Father O'Brien was the first regular pastor. He was succeeded by Rev. Father Wallace and he by Rev. Father Lysaught. In 1881, the Salem settlement had so increased that they thought it HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 421 wise to make a change and at a meeting of the members of that locality it was determined to erect a place of worship that would be more con- venient and better serve their wants. This meeting was held in the school house. Jacob Schneberger proposed to donate land but as the A. N. railroad had been completed to Ulysses, it caused a material change. The Rt. Rev. James O Conor was Vicar Apostalic and in 1885 Rev. Wm. Murphy, Pastor Catholic Church became Bishop of Omaha and had jurisdiction over the churches of Ne- braska and Wyoming. He determined that the church should be built near a railroad station. So the congregation determined to erect the church edifice at Ulysses. A neat building for the present needs was erected in 1881, but the congregation soon outgrew the building and in 1892, the present commodious structure was erected. This congrega- tion has been up to the present writing served by the resident Priest of Seward. While the Ulysses church is in another county its membership is 422 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA largely made up of citizens of Seward county, and are justly entitled to proper notice in tiiese pages, as the birth place of the church was within our borders. In about the year 1876, a few Catholic families had settled in the vicinity of Utica and were visited at irregular per- iods by the Seward pastor. A small chur(!h was soon built which the congregation is using at the present. Recently a church was organized at Beaver Crossing and a church edifice and parsonage were built. Some years ago some fifteen families had settled at and near Milford and were attended by the Seward Priest, but they have never erected a church and the membership have scattered. About ten or twelve years ago a wealthy lady died leaving a bequest in her will for the erection of a church edifice in Milford but by some means the bequest was di- verted to other purposes. The Seward chui'ch owns a beautiful and valuable property with a nice church edifice and parsonage. Rev. Father Wm. Murph)' has been the popular and efhcient pastor for years. EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION OF NORTH AMERICA Away down just one mile north from the south line of the county in section 26, town nine, range two east, stands a beautiful church and parsonage. The church was dedicated August 18, 1891. It cost |1362. The congregation was first known as Pleasant View class and was organized as an attache of the Beaver Crossing church, in 1889. The class was organized with forty-six members. The first pastor was S. H. Pontiers. In 1891, the church was recognized by the conference and set upon its own footing. The jjresent membership is made up of fourty-four families. Pastors that thus far led the flock are as follows: Rev. J. P. Ash, Rev. S. H. Pontius, Rev. A. H. Zilmer, Rev. I. A. Young, Rev. U. S. Crane, Rev. E. H. Kiefer, Rev. J. A. Adams, Rev. H. E. Shumacher and Rev. G. B Bancroft. Present board of trustees are R. B. Parks, J. C. Boye, A. Conell, A. J. Miller and J. N. Pate. The church maintains a flourishing Sabbath school, including offi- cers, teachers and scholars, it numbers fifty-one. Its first superinten- dent was A. J. Miller. He was succeeded by J. C. Boye. Arthur Mc- Cracken is now superintendent. The church is a well built structure and is accompanied by a neat parsonage occupying a beautiful tract of ground surrounded by a splendid lot of well improved farms. GERMAN EVANGELICAL FRIEDEN'S CHURCH AT SEWARD This is a branch of the German protestant church. The church at Seward was organized September 22, 1878, by Rev. Christian Bek, with the following members, John Schmidt, Geo. Goetz, Mathias Schmidt, Heinrich Meinberg and Carl Maier. Soon thereafter the congregation bought a (juarter block where the church edifice now stands and built a neat little church which is now used for the parocial school. In 1885 they built the parsonage at a cost of |1000. They established a flour- ishing Sibbjith school aad also an elementary day school and prepara- HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 423 tion for confirmation is maintained. The charities consist of general church work, supporting the pastor. Home and Foreign Missionary work Seminaries, Orphan homes and other benevolent institutions. Pastors in their order have been Rev. C. Bek from 1878 to 1881, Rev. J. P. Welch from 1881 to 1883. Jiev. P. Speidel from 1884, June 1st to 1895, eleven years. Rev. Carl Snider from 1896 to 1899. Rev. C. H. Hanck from 1899 to 1901, when the present incumbent A. Woth be- came pastor. The new church edifice was built nnder the pastorate of Rev. Speidel in 1888, at a cost of 12700, and with a seating capacity of about 400. It is a very creditable frame building, with a fine belfry. Present membership is forty-eight families. The Sabbath school has an enrollment of fifty. The parocial school has thirty-five pupils. The parsonage is neat and commodious . The congregation is free from debt. A Ladies Aid Society with thirty-six active members does much charitable work. Present church officers are V. Rocker, secretary ; Henri Busche, treasurer, and trustees W. M. Bar- thold, G. Tempel, H. Weinberg and John Goebel The church is in a very prosperous condition. Church at Goehner was organized by Rev. A. Woth in 1903. They have a membership of thirty families and a Sabbath school of fifty- eight scholars and a parocial school in summer of forty-seven pupils. They built a neat frame church in 1903, at a cost of $2500 with a seat- ing capacity of about 400. Their ofticers are : Geo. Bauer, secretary; F. Shultz, treasurer, and H. Bluhm, Wm. Vogt, F. Imig and Chan. Gembler, trustees. The church is served at present by the Seward pas- tor. Rev. Woth. These churches belong to the German Evangelical Synod of North America. MILFORD EMANUEL EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION Was organized, September 13, 1903. Their first church was built in 1880 but moved to the present site in 1903 and greatly enlarged. The beautiful frame structure is 3')x40 with a nice belfry and cost about $2500. It is by odds the finest church edifice in Milford. It is heated by a furnace. They have forty-five communicants. They have a flour- ishing Sabbath school. The organizing members were sixteen. The denomination also has a neat and prosperous church northeast of Mil- ford. The present pastor is Rev. F. W. Schulzky. SEWARD EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH Was organized at Seward, December 10, 1877, by Rev. Father Karl T. Gruber. Its first trustees were Herman Diers, Oscar E. Bernecker and Chas. Kroeger. Among the first members were J. F. Goehner, Wm. Shultz, H. Kimmel, Herman Bernecker, Mr. Kortge and Grand- father Bernecker and their families. Other names connected with the organization are lost to us. A little frame church edifice was erected in 1879 and was dedicated November 9th. Father Gruber served as pastor of the little flock up to 1880, when, in 1881 Rev. C. Bode took the 1 424 HISTORY OP SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA pastorate and served for a time and was succeeded by Rev F. Koenig, who served the church till 1891, when Rev. A. Miller held the pastorate till 1895, when the present incumbent was called, Rev. C. H. Becker. In 1888, a very creditable parsonage was erected. The present ele-gant house of worship was erected in 1893. The old edifice has been used since that time exclusively for school purposes but two years ago, another frame school building was erected at rear of the church and two schools are maintained with an attendance of eighty pupils where both English and German are taught. The new Seward Lutheran Church church has a seating capacity of five hundred and cost about thirty- eieht hundred dollars. The present number of communicants is threo hundred and fifty besides the unconfirmed children. In 1904, the congregation procured and placed in the church an elegant i)ipe organ at a cost of $l(iO(). The congregation has grown to the extent that a large addition is now in contemplation for the near future. The present trustees are Herman Diers, .1. F. Groehner and H. Gerkenmeyer. 'Deacons are O. E. Bernecker and Peter Goehner. The church school board are Henry Krueger and Paul Beck. The pastor is chairman of these boards. The present teachers are E. F. Rolf and HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 425 Louis Rewinkel, both graduates of the Adison normal school of Illinois. The teachers lead the church choir and play the organ. GERMAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH, LINCOLN CREEK The German Evangelical Lutheran Immanuel congregation on Lincoln Creek, Seward county, Nebraska. This congregation was or- ganized in the fall of 1878 by the following members: John Suhr, Carl Heitman, Fred Suhr, Joeachin Gierhou, Dietrich Erks, Eilers Erks and Carl Gierhan. Four of these gentlemen still live : Carl Heitmann, Fred Suhr, Eilers Erks and Carl Gierhou. The first officers of the congregation, who were, however, not elected in the first meeting, were: John Suhr, Carl Heitmann and Henry Neujhr, trustees; Albert Klebe, secretary ; Carl Heitmann, treasurer. In the fall of 1874 the congregation bought ten acres of railroad land in "D" town, five miles north of Utica.and built their first church out of sod 16x20 ft. In 1877, the first frame church, 20x30 ft. , was built. This structure, enlarged and renovated, is still in use as a parochial school of the congregation. The present church building, 32x48, steeple 14x14, 75ft. high, bearing a 2100-lb. bell-metal bell, was erected in 1887. In 1902 the congregation bought five acres more of land and erected a teacher's dwelling, they having called Mr. H. Beels as teacher of their parochial school. Three resident ministers have served the congregation as pastors: Rev. G. Gruber, Rev. H. Bohl and Rev. M. Zagel, the last named being in charge of the congregation for the last fourteen years. The congrega- tion today has a membership of (54 voting members and 445 souls. The present officers are: Carl Heitmann, Fred Suhr and Dietrich Dey, elders; William Pozehl, Fr. Meinke and Fred Fischer, trustees; D. C. Martens, treasurer ; Gustave Irmer, secretary. GERMAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH The German Evangelical Lutheran Congregation at east line of "H" precinct was organized in November, 1872, by the following per- sons: Johann Heinrich Beckmanh, Sr. , H. Friedrich Beckmann, Hein- lich Beckmann, Fritz Beckmann, Johann Beckmann, Heinrich Brune, Karl Koch, Heinrich Niebuhr, Fritz Gahle, Friedrich Sieck, August Sieck, Ernst Sieck, Heinbrich Sieck, Friedrich Lange, Sr. , Heinrich Lange, and Hermann Goecke. During the summer of 1872, a district school house was built on the northeast quartei' of .section 14-11-4, in which Rev. Theo. Gruber, pas- tor of the Middle creek congregation, Seward county, Nebraska, preached every third Sunday, if possible. In September, 1881, Rev. Friedrich Koenig accepted a call as pastor of the congregation and remained until 18»4, when he followed a call to Seward and vvas succeeded by the pre- sent minister. Rev. W. Brakhage. In 1884, a church was built. This building (30x50 ft. ) cost about |2100 not including the work done gratis by the members of the congregation. The church as well as the par- sonage, costing about |800, stands just across the line in Lancaster 426 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA county. The voting membership at the present time is 49 ; total mem- bership 329. The members of this congregation, like all the congregations of the Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and other states, consider it their duty to not only educate their children in the secular branches of know- ledge but also to give them a thorough instruction in the great truth and undefiled doctrines of Christianity pertaining to the salvation of ther immortal soul and for this reason have built and are maintaining a congregational school with a special teacher in charge. The present teacher, Jos Dietrich, is well qualified to teach English as vpell as German. He lives a few hundred yards west of the church, in Seward county. The membership are citizens of both Seward and Lancaster counties. OLD STONE CHURCH The old Stone church was one of the oldest land marks of Seward county, being erected in 1872. It was one of the first church edifices ever built in the county and is deserving of more notice than our space will allow. It was a most substantial stone structure with a seating capacity of about two hundred and cost one thousand dollars. It served the congregation for thirty years but in 1902, it was torn down to give place to a more modern and much grander edifice; but it almost seemed like sacrilege to tear down that old landmark of christian civilization. It had stood through so many storms and had sheltered so very many worshipers Where thousands of people had chanted anthems of praise, where so very many children had been confirmed in the faith of the fathers and where so many of our young people had taken their solemn vows at the sacred marriage altar — where so many sweet memories of the past were centered and from whose portals hundreds have been car- ried to the silent grave. Dear old house where God had met with his people so often ! It is indeed a sad thing to say farewell to thee. But like all earthly things thou in thy time served thy purpose and now must be numbered with the things of the past. The church was founded by that erand old veteran of the cross, Father K. T. Gruber in 18(59, when he gathered the scattered families of his faith in eastern Seward county. Nine families were gathered into the fold, viz: Diedrick Brant, Louis Liebrock, Conrad Grotz, Fred Roep- kee, Conrad Roerkasse,Wm. Lubbie, Frank Thomas, Andrew Shultz and M. C. Miller. Most of these old people are novy sleeping in the church yard and a great multitude of other people occupy their places. In 1902, the present great new structure took the place of the old. It has a seating capacity of five hundred and cost thirty-six hundred dollars. This is the parent edifice of the great Evangelical Lutheran church of Sewaid county in western H town. Its present membership is sixty families and is the mother church of that denomination in this county which now numbers twelve congregations with several thousands of communicants, HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 427 SEWARD M. E. CHURCH By Rev.Dr.J.H.Presson The history of Methodism in Seward county commences with its first settlement. It came with the first camp-fires that lit up the groves and prairies, it was found in the hearts of many of the rugged iiioneers, who sang the songs of the Wesleys while they followed the jilow that broke the virgin soil. The Methodist itinerant, with his saddlebags. Se^vard M. E. Church bible, hymn book, and discipline, helped to lead the advance of civili- zation, and to establish in this beautiful land the gospel of the Son of God. Some of this number — preachers and laymen and devoted wives and mothers— have passed over and are numbered among the redeemed. Others are still with us, and are rejoicing in their well earned victories. They see and enjoy this beautiful land which they have helped rescue from the wilds of nature, and have transformed into a paradise of christian civilization, a land of home and plenty, where God dwells in the hearts of many people, and where all may enjoy the benefits of our 428 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA blessed Christianity. The first minister visiting this locality was young Rev. Skaigs. In the year 1870 Seward was the head of a very large circuit. It was then a place of two or three hundred inhabitants. The preacher was the Rev. C. W. Comstock, his charge consisted of the north half of Seward, west half of Butler, all of Polk, and the north half of York counties. Milford at this time was the head of another large circuit, embracing the south half of this county, part of Saline and York counties. The Rev. A. Blackwell was the pastor. The entire mem- bership reported living within the bounds above mentioned was (85) eighty-five, except a few who lived in the extreme southwest corner of the county under the pastorate of Rev. Mr. Oliver. In the spring of 1871 the Rev. Josiah Burlingame was appointed to Seward charge, then a mission, embracing the northwest part of Seward, southwest part of Butler, and all of Polk counties. The society at Seward at this time was the possessor of four lots situated just west of where our high school building now stands. These lots were the gift of Louis Moffitt, the original owner of the town, for the use of the so- ciety for a church and parsonage but were subsequently disposed of in order to secure a more suitable location. Rev. A. J. Combs, now de- ceased, filled the pulpit in 1873. Milford this same year, was supplied by the Rev. D. C. Bannon, under whose labors a great revival took place, and many of the best families of the town were converted and became members of the church. In 1872 Seward was left most of the year without a shepherd. In 1873 Rev. A. L. Folden was the pastor. During his administration the old church, a brick structure, was completed and dedicated. The Rev. Bishop Andrews, who was master of ceremonies, found it a hard task to provide for the debt, but through the liberality of a few of the members, some of whom are yet living in this vicinity, the amount asked tor was subscribed, and the first M E. church of Seward county was dedicated to the service of God on the 29th day of December, 1874. Some of the trustees are still living in Seward. Too much praise can not be given the men and women who did so much for the cause of Christ in those early days. This same year there was a church built at Milford, under the pas- toiate of the Rev. John Gallagher. The Rev. T. L. McLean, who will be kindly remembered by many of the old residents as a man of ability and fine social qualities, served as pastor at Seward during the years 1875-6-7. In 1878 Rev. J. W. Shank was appointed to Seward. Utica was made an appointment, and attached to Milford, with Thos. H. Worley as pastor. At the close of that year there were reported 184 members in the county. The parsonage — the main part of it — was built that year. It is amusing now to hear the ladies tell of the various methods used in order to raise money to pay for the home of their pastor. The following preachers have been from time to time appointed since at HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 429 Seward: Rev. J. P. Roe, Peter Van Vleete, E. J. Willis, G. W. Selby, Geo. M. Morey. (From this point the history was written by the Author. ) Rev. J. H. Presson commenced his pastorate with the church in the year 1886, and served three years and during his last year, 1889, the church determined to erect the elegant edifice of the present. In this great undertaking Rev. Presson threw all the force of energy he had in store. He worked unceasingly until the completion of the edifice was assured and the corner stone was laid under his pastorate in the autumn of 1889. The church was completed and dedicated June 1, 1890. The first committee on subscription secured 15184.00. At the time of dedi- cation 15458.00 had been paid and at dedication |4U46.00, including former pledges, was raised leaving a balance unpaid of $4,000, which under the pastorate of Rev. J. S. W. Dean was raised and paid off in Sep- tember, 1891. The total cost of the edifice was $13504. It is now en- tirely free from debt. The church edifice and parsonage are centrally located on the southwest corner of 3d St. and Jackson Ave. , facing south on a hundred foot street and west on 3d street. A most beautiful and valuable location. The building is of red pressed brick and is so well constructed that should no calamity befall it, it will stand for cen- turies. It is heated with a hot air furnace. The main audience room overlooked by a neat and commodious gallery, has a seating capacity of seven hundred including the lecture room which is connected by sliding doors. The edifice has three entrances. One, the main entrance is at the street corner, and one on 3d St. near the north end and leading to both main audience room and lecture room. The third entrance is on Jackson Ave. near the southeast corner. At the rear of the pulpit is an alcove ready for a great pipe organ which will in the future have a home in the church. This space is now used by the choir. The build- ing is well supplied with vestibules and cloak rooms. The seats are strong yet beautiful. The aisles are broad. The windows are of stained glass and well decorated, several of them memorial windows. The building is lighted by electric torches. The building is most com- plete and beautiful. The architecture is grand. As we have gazed at and admired this lovely house of God, we have often thought that in all the hundreds of cities great and small reaching from ocean to ocean, that it has been our privilege to visit, among all the grand church edi- fices that we have seen, none so completely fills the bill for beauty as our little church at Seward. One other feature we should mention is the dining room in the basement, where the ladies have all the para- phanalia for giving sociables. They have stove, tables, chinaware, etc. The pastors of the church since 1889 have been Rev. J. W. Sea- brook, one year ; Rev. J. S. W. Dean, two years ; A. B. Whitmer, two years ; Rev. T. A. Hull, two years ; Rev. J. F. Kemper, three years ; Rev. John Galliger, four years ; Rev. L. W. Grigsby, one year and the present incumbent. Rev. H. G. Wilcox. The parsonage is rather old and hardly in keeping with the grand church, but the property is quite valuable, worth about $1500, and the present value of the entire church 430 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA property is now about $17000. The present membership is one hundred and fifty, and is in a prosperous condition. The church is of great value to all the citizens of the comnmnity. It is always open to great meetings of the proper character. It is a great blessing to the entire community. A large and flourishing Sabbath school is maintained also a pro.s- perous Epworth League and a Junior League is in good flourishing condition. MILFORD M. E. CHURCH By ]\rrs. E. J. Wortendyke Was organized in the summer of 1866 or rather it was a class with four members, viz : Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Brown and their two daugh- ters, Mrs. E. J. Badgley and Miss D. E. Brown. Our first minister was Rev. Skaigs, who preached every two weeks when he could get here. He served us one year when Rev. Olliver and Blackwell were here alternately during 1867, and then Rev. Win. Worley assisted Rev. Olliver. After this 7iev. Bryant was with us three months, when Rev. John Galliger took charge. Rev. Skaigs helped organize a Union Sab- bath school in the spring of 1866. Our preacher was superintendent when with us and J. L. Davison, Wm. Reed, Patrick David.son and others officiated at times. The Sunday school was held at the Jiome of J. L. Davison where preaching service was also held. We all enjoyed the Sunday school very much, as we could all take a part in it and it gave us a place to go and all get together and perhaps we would get in- vitations to dinner for that was the fashion those days. Then we could see all the neighbors and talk over all the news. Those were happy days but they soon passed. When winter came our school closed as many went away to work or spend the winter in other parts of the state. In the spring of 1867, our school was reopened in the home of Rev. Harrington, a United Brethren minister who settled near where the Industrial home is now located. Our school had its days of pi'osperity and its times of adversity. We lacked a supply of books. The Con- gregational and Presbyterian churches of Nebraska City, gave us a small lot of books which made our hearts glad and we laid then the foundations for more thorough and better work. Much of the time the river and creeks were high and impassible as there were no bridges, BEAVER CROSSING M. E. CHURCH The society was organized in November, 1888, in the hall over Eager's store by Rev. Geo. Abern, the blind evangelist. Later the^' oc cupied the old store building now occupied by F. Hunkins, then later they moved to the upper story of Dimerzy's store that stood where D. E. Campbell's store now stands. This building was burned and under the leadership of Rev. G. L. Hasford the old school house was bought in 1895. The society had a long and hard struggle with debt on the parsonage, but it was all paid off in 1901. For some years the church HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 431 has prospered and grown rapidly, so that more adequate room was re- quired and the society determined to erect the present beautiful modern structure. It is up to date in every way. The auditorium is ;iGx46 feet, with incline floor. Lecture room 18x32, and class room 13x16, with a splendid belfry 10x10 and 58 ft. high. The windows are of leaded glass and will add greatly to the appearance of the edifice. The church will be heated by a furnace. It is placed upon a commanding site and is an ornament to the little city. With the exception of the church at Seward it is the finest and best edifice in the county. It will cost 15000 when completed. Beaver Crossing has a right to be proud of this grand temple of worship, is the opinion of the author. UTICA M. E. CHURCH Was organized in 1880, Vjy Rev. W. H. Tibets. The records are lost to us and we can learn but little about the member.ship of the early days. Rev. A. J. Mar.sh was second pastor, in 1882, when H. Clover, B. F. Bosworth, A. T. Cougill, H. M. Colman., VV. W. Woodward, M. Cross, T. J. Brant and G. W. Miller were trustees. From that time the i^astors have been as follows: Rev. D. Z. Black, 1883; Rev. A. M. Ogburn, 1884 to 1886 ; Rev. G. A. Hobson, 1887 ; Rev. Enock Holland, 1S8S ; Rev. H- C. Harman. 1889 to 1892 ; Rev. J. M. Darby, 1892 ; Rev. C. E. Rouse. 1893; Rev C. E. Givels. 1894 to 1897; Rev. L. Morrison. 1897 to 1899 ; Rev. D. P. Cline. 1899 ; Rev. M. C. Smith, 1900 to 1902 ; Rev. O. T. Moore, 1902; Rev. I. C. Lemon, 1903; Rev. E. S. Burr the present incumbent, 1904 to the present. The church edifice was built in the early 80's, can't tell just the year. Cost near |2000, seats 250. Very creditable building. Present membership eighty-six. Have a fairly good parsonage. They main- tain a flourishing Sabbath .school of 135 pupils. UTICA PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Was organized, June 9, 1889, by Dr. T. L. Sexton with thirty-six members. Rev. A. H. Ewing was the first minister to supply the charge. The first session was comi^osed of the following members: elders, Wm. Close, now deceased; R. R. Williams and J. W. Scott. Services were regularly held in a hall. A Sunday school was organized and prayer meeting maintained. The present church edifice was built the same year. Rev. W. R. Adams was installed pastor in 1890. He also had charge of church at Tamora. Three years later was followed by Rev. J. C. Giffer, then Rev. Shaii^, Rev. W. H. Parker, Rev. \V. Watson and Rev. F. A. Mitchell as supplies. In 1897, Rev. W. H. Parker was installed pastor and remained two years, when Rev. J. B. Cherry located in February, 1900, who remained until the fall of 1904. During his pastorate the manse was purchased at a cost of $1200. Rev. N. W. Larimer was installed pastor in December, 1904, who is now in charge. Present membership is eighty-five and is in a flourishing con- dition. 432 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA GERMANTOWN UNION CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH It seems for some years dating back to the early settlement, a Methodist Episcopal church had occupied the field, but death and many removals had so descinated their numbers that it was deemed wise to disband and their chiirch property was sold to the Congregationalists, September, 10, 1900, who had organized with a membership of twenty- nine. We are not able to find the records of the organization. The present membership is thirty-six. John A. Ohlwiler and Henry Hans are among the leading meraliers. The church was without a regular pastor until January 1, 1904, when they joined with Immanuel church and .jointly employed Rev. G. L. Brakemager. They have a neat church edifice with a seating capacity of about 200 and costing four- teen hundred dollars. They maintain a flourishing Sabbath school. A church was built in 1890 by the M. E. people. UNITED BRETHEN CHURCH The first organization was effected in 1872, at the Slonecker school house ])y Rev. E. W. Johnson. Seward church was organized in 1878 by Rev. Johnson. The church edifice was Ijuilt and dedicated by Bishop Wright in 1880. The class at Slonecker school house removed their membership to Seward in 1882. Rev. Johnson was pastor from 1872 to 1875 ; Rev. Henry Lohr, from 1875 to 187(5 ; Rev. P. P. Landen was in charge from 1876 to 1877 and was followed by Rev. E. L. Austin ; Rev. Johnson was in charge in 1878 to 1881 ; followed by Rev. M. Wal- temire and he was followed by Rev. J. M. Eads in 1882; Rev. O. D. Cone had charge in 1883 and was followed by Rev. J. M. Dufiield in 1884; In 1885 Rev. Cone had charge and died in the harness; Rev. J. J. Hamer completed the year 1885 ; Rev. J. eT. Lohr served in 1886 ; fol- lowed by Rev. F. W. Jones; followed by Rev. Mr. Olliver; succeeded by Rev. Mr. Horner, who was followed by Rev. E. F. Bowers; suc- ceeded by Rev. Mr. Strainyer; then Rev. J. M. Higgins; followed by Rev. H. E. Myers; then Rev. W. S. Lynde; followed by Rev. G. W. Shrader ; who was followed by Rev. T. S. Swan ; then Rev. A. G. Mc- Vey ; followed by the pi'esent pastor Rev. D. W. Davis. Present membership is about sixty with a flourishing Sabbath school of seventy-five pupils. There is a flourishing young people's so- ciety. Present class leader, Mrs. John Metz; S. S. superintendent, Miss Cora Smith, president Young Peoples Society, Ernest Figard ; class steward, Geo. Baless ; presiding stewart. Levy Hafer ; treasurer, Calvin Anderson; pi'esident Ladies Aid societ.y, Mrs. Levy Hafer; junior sup- erintendents, Mrs. E. Metz and Augusta Wullenwaber; trustees, Lewis Anderson, James J^'airbrother, Levy Hafer, Geo. Lefel and J. F. Metz. In the death of Rev. O. D. Cone the conference sustained a great loss. He was a most worthy and intelligent minister and was honored wherever known and was dearly loved by his parishioners. The church of his choice and where he labored so faithfully mourns the loss of a faithful servant and able defender, the community lo.ses one of its most highly honored citizens. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 433 GROVER UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH Was organized in the autumn of 1889 by Rev. J. Sliattuck with fortj- five members. About the same time a Sundaj' school was organ- ized, with Ada Hill as superintendent with about thirty-five scholars. Kev. Shattuck was pastor tor about five years and was succeeded by Rev. J. W. Dunn ; followed by Rev. Curtis ; then came Rev. M. Falk- ener; followed by the pre.sent incumbent, Rev. W. D. Morgan who is both pastor and Sunday school superintendent. The school is in a prosperous condition with thirty members. CHAPTER XXIV. CIVIC SOCIETIES Officers of several of the lodges have neglected to place the data in my hands and are left out, and the reader must not blame the author. MASONIC FRATERNITY Oliver Lodge No. 38, A. F. and A. M. was organized under dis- pensation July 29, 1871, by the following members, to-wit: C. J. Rich- mond, W. H. Tuttle, J, W. Dupin, Samuel Manley. A. W. Sperry, L. W. Manning, Thos. Corr, H. S. Faucett. In September, 1872, it seems there was a new dispensation or a re- newal of the first granted to the members: Thos. Corr, William Haj'es, H. C. Page, T. L. Norval, L. «. Johns, S D. Paddock, Samuel Man- ley, Wm. Leese, John Helms, James Hackney, J. W. Dupin and W. H. Tuttle. June 18, 1873, a charter was granted which bears the following names of members and officers : William Leese, W. M. ; T. L. Norval, S. W. ; Aurelius Roberts, J. W. ; J. W. Shields, Treasurer; J W. Dupin, Secretary ; Thomas Corr, Nathan Clough, O. P. Cope, M. Dunigan, James Hackney, Wm. Hayes, L. G. Johns, J. C. Langton, Horace Lester, Samuel Manley, L. W. Manning, Geo. Miller, S. D. Paddock, H. C. Page, C. J. Richmond, Madison Rogers, Robert RowT)ottom, W. T. Shields, I. B. Sorter, Sam. Stevenson, J. C. Sullivan, Joel Tishue, A. B. Sutton, Joseph Whitson, and O. T. B. Williams. The first Worship- ful Master was C. J. Richmond ; first Sen. Warden, W. H. Tvittle ; Hr.st Jun. Warden, Sam.. Manley. We regret that our masonic brethren were so careless as to neg- lect to furnish data to bring history of their lodge up to date. QTICA LODGE NO. 96, A. F. AND A. M. By C. S. Swartz Asst. Sec. On the 14th day of July, 1882, a dispensation was granted by the Grand Lodge of Nebraska to Joseph Jones, E. J. Porter, Thomas E. Standard, Stephen H. Hobble, Lyman Calder, Robert Mailer, Samuel H. Beaver, James G. Hibbard, Joseph J. Pounder, David M, Roland, Geo. A. Verbach and Edmund L. Blanchard, all Free and Accepted Masons, to assemlile as a lodge of Free Masons at Utica, Nebraska. Having passed the proper term of probation, on the 19th day of June, 1883, to the aliove mentioned petitions together with the following members: Thomas C. Allen, Andrew Austin. John C. Bicount, Cyrus Black, Thomas E. Standard, Thomas J. Brant, William Dingman, Ira Tapham, James E. Murphj-, Calvin E. Phinney, Prisley Pindell and Harvey Robinson. They were organized as a regular and constitu- HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 435 tional lodge of Master Masons under the name of Utica Lodge No. 99, with the following officers: Joseph Jones, W. M. ; E. J. Porter, S. W. ; Lyman Calder, J. W. ; Samuel H. Beaver, Sec. ; Robert Marler, Treas. ; Stephen H. Hobbie, S. D. ; .- my work to a close, I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to a great host of friends not only in Se- ward county but throughout Nebraska and other states for the kind interest manifested in words of cheer and encour- agement. This has been a great help to me. My work has been pleasant. I wish to express my thanks to the press of the county and also the state press, and especially the State Journal for the many favors extended. The state and county officers are also entitled to kind remembrances as they have extended to me many courtesies. We would remember with gratitude the printing house of Jason L. Claflin, for the beautiful work they have done and where we have received from the beginning, every cour- tesy from all connected with the office from devil, composit- ors, pressman, foreman and proprietor. Then we would re- member the folks at the bindary, Messrs. Gillespie & Phillips, at 1524 O St., who have taken such pains to do even a better job than the contract called for. We are sure our patrons will appreciate the mechanical work of the book in every department of the work. But above all are my most grateful thanks due our Heavenly Friend and Benefactor that has prolonged my life and kept me in such good health and given me strength to complete the work and to- him shall be all honor and praise while we live. Now in conclusion, we would ask the Bene- diction of Heaven upon all the people of our good county and upon every home in all our great commonwealth. PART TAYO BIOGRAPHICAL To understand our history we should know the people, and we take delight in introducing to the reader representative people from the ground up : the plow boy and the merchant, the man that carries the hod and the man of capital. This volume, written of the people and for the people, knows no distinction. Any man, woman or child that has helped to build Seward county was entitled to honorable mention and if they are not noticed here it is no fault of the author. We are proud of the grand array of men and women whose lives have been devoted to the development of the wilderness (wild and drear) until it is now one of the garden spots of our great country. They are, as a whole, a noble band of men and women. Please read every one of these sketches and you will find much to inspire you to grander achiexements in life. AARON ANDERSON Among the everlasting hills of the Old Keystone state at Newberg in Huntington County, the boy first saw the light, March r2th, 1843, where he grew to manhood, where he had the usual experience of a boy in that rough region, piling and burning brush, navigating a stone boat, etc. He found the way to Nebraska in 1867, March 23, and located in "F" Precinct among the first, and homesteaded the west half of southwest quarter of section twelve, and in time added to the home by purchasing three eighties. In 1873, March 8, he had won the hand and heart of Miss Susie McFeely, a young teacher that found the way with her parents to the frontier. She was born in the city of iron and steel, with clouds of smoke (Pittsburg), July 15th, 1851. There were born to them four children, viz: Thomas E., Annie McFeely, died April 3, 1877. Eva V. died March 21, 1888, and Arthur. Mr. Anderson lived on the homestead thirty -five years. In 1887 he took a fit of western fever and moved to Araphaho County, Colorado. He remained there two years and then returned to his first home in Seward County where he remained until he was called home on March 1st, 1904, leaving his wife and two sons to mourn his loss. He was brought up in the faith of the Church of God. 2 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Mrs. Anderson, the elder daughter of Isaac McFeelj-, came to Ne- braska in 1870. Tttey settled in "F" Precinct on a homestead. Susie began her Nebraska career as a pioneer teacher in three different dis- tricts of the county. Her fir.st two terms were in district No. 11 known as the Imlay district, and was employed by the writer as director. We can testify that Susie was a good teacher. The patrons of the school w^ere Wm. Imlay, D. H. Figard, J. F. Duncan and W. W. Cox. Her next school was the Dr. Evans school. It was their first term. This was seven miles south of Seward. In the mean time Mr. McFeely with the co-operation of Geo. B. France, county superintendent, suc- ceeded in getting district No. 37 organized, embracing a vast stretch of wilderness reaching to the York County line. Susie was the first teacher and as the school house was not yet completed the first term .was taught in the sod house of Mr. Grant. The school board was Isaac E. McFeely, Lafayette Welden and ]\Ir. Larson. Children of that school were Wm. Calder, Frank Phelps, Wm. Baljcock, Lyman Bab- cock, John Larson, George Larson, Moses Wheeler, Eunice Larson, Dora Calder, Ada Weldon, Alice Weldon, Celia and Ida Tiittle, Herbert Tuttle, Ida McFeely, Laura B. McFeely and S. Wheeler. Miss Sarah Bushnell was the next teacher. That noble pioneer teacher has been dead many years. With her two sons she continues to reside on the homestead and at this writing they are building a new farm house. CALS'IN ANDERSON Was born in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, January 3, 1854. Came to Seward County in 1867, and worked on the farm with his father dur- ing boyhood. Married to Miss Sarah E. Ford in 1882. Have two chil- dren, Walter W. and Albert S., both yet at home. Mr. Anderson is a painter by trade and is a very worthy citizen. An active member of the U. B. Church. Is a degree member of the A. O. U. W. , and the degree of Honor. HARRISON R. ANDERSON A carpenter and builder that came to Seward County when a young boy in old pioneer days. Was born in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, May 19, ISHd. The old folks Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Anderson came to Seward and settled two miles west of the City in the summer of 1867. Here Harrison grew uj), and had the usual experiences of a pioneer boy. He chased jack rablnts, plowed corn and went to school. Married Miss Carrie Hughes. September 16, 18()8. She was born in Fulton County, Illinois, and came to Seward in childhood. They are parents of seven children, viz., Chesley M., Lawrence, now dead, Olive M. , Claud, Alma and Alice all at home. Mr. Anderson is a good car- penter and worthy citizen. (GEORGE W. ANDERSON One of the old soldier boys that heard the drum beat in the time of war and rushed to the rescue, was born April 5, 1837, in Bedford HISTORY OP SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 3 County, Pennsylvania. , where he remained until he enlisted. Married to Miss Anna R. Kes.selring, March 21, 1861, in Huntington County, Pennsylvania. She was born in Fulton County, Pennsylvaia, Febru- ary 5, 1844. They were the parents of fifteen children, twelve of whom are living. Their names are as follows: McLellan, Lorenzo B. , Sadie O. died in infancy ; Emma, now Mrs. F. Ashton, Edward died at eight, Florence also died in infancy, Magie E. , now Mrs. B. Prine, Bertha B. , now Mrs. J. W. Cox, Harry W. , Ida M. , Laura E. , William, Alfred, Nellie and Rufns. The family came to Seward County, February, 1874, and settled on section thirty, "G" Precinct. Mr. Anderson enlisted in Co. F, 56 Pennsylvania Vol. Infantry, September 1, 1864. His scene of operation was in the Potomac Valley, and was at second battle of Hatchie run South side Railroad, Five Forks, Belfield raid and at Lee's surrender. Mr. Anderson died, January 24. UH»4. The U. B. Church at Seward was the family church home. Mr. Anderson was a very worthy and vahiable citizen. The widow yet resides on the old farm that they occupied when they first came to the county. McLELLAN C. ANDERSON Was born among the stumps and stone fences of Fulton County, Pennsylvania, Janu ary 14, 1862, where he was an engineer on a stone boat iintil he was twelve, when he tried the western trail and found Seward County in 1874 and learned to farm where it is both an honor and a pleasure to be a farmer boy. After awhile Mac found his best girl, Miss Mary Botts, and they were married May 10, 1885. She was an Illinois girl born in Mc- Dounah County, June 4, 1862. They were married at Seward. They have four children, viz: Ethel L., George E. , Ray A., and Clara May. ISIr. Anderson is a carpenter and builder and we expect that more than a hundred buildings in the city and country have sprung into being under hi.s guiding hand. He is a member of the M. W. A. J. TEMPLETON ANDERSON One among the oldest established merchants of Seward. Was born in Guernsey, Ohio, October 20, 1849. Don't know .iiist how he found the western trail when so young, but at five we find the lad in the wilds of Iowa, where he grew to manhood, commencing his education in the log cabin school houses of that frontier. In 1873, April 10, he married Miss Electa B. Bean, a Pennsylvania girl that came to Iowa in her youth. Seven children were born to them (five now living), viz: Mertie E. , now Mrs. F. P. Henderson, Mary H., Florence M., Lucretia T. , now dead; Gray and F. Paul. Came to Seward in 1880, and was for a time employed in Adler's 4 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Dry Good House. In IHHB helped to found the grocery house to which in later years he became sole proprietor. Mr. Anderson is now one of the leading and prosperous merchants of our City. Is at this time a member or our Boar 1 of Education and is its Chaii'man. Is a leading member ot the Presbyterian Church, a member of the A. O. U. W. , and a wide awake, energetic and enter- prising citizen. BOSS P. ANDERSON Was an Ohio boy that strayed west in his youth under the advise of Greeley and landed in Warren County, Iowa, where he grew to man- hood, when he again struck the trail that led to Seward. Ross was born in Guei'nsey County, May 4, 1854 In 1881 've find the young law student fresh from school in the little new town and gazing upon the boundless prairie. His first clients were the school children of the An- derson district, where he learned that generation of youngsters the "idea how to shoot. " Then he stuck up his shingle as attorney. Two years later, September 9, 1883, he was mairied to Lydia A. Boyd at Washington, lovva. Mrs. Anderson was born at York, Pennsylvania, January (i, 1859. Two children came to brighten their home. Elizabeth W. and Russell B. , both at home. Miss Elizabeth is now a teacher in our city schools. Mr. Anderson has had an honorable part in the official history of Seward County where he has served six terms or twelve years, as county attorney. In his legal career he has had a hand in many important cases. As an advocate of republican principles his well timed speeches have been heard on everj- political stump of the county for the last twenty years. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., M. W. A. and A. O. U. W. Church home is with the Congregational people. Mr. Anderson was a graduate of Simpson Centenary College, Indianola, Iowa. LEWIS ANDERSON One of the oldest settlers, who came to Seward before Seward was born. Settled on his homestead .just west of the city in the spring of 1866, and knows all about the ups and downs of fi ontier life just about as well as anybody. He was born in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, in 1884, April 15. Married to Miss Sarah A. Edwards of Huntington County, Pennsylvania, April 7, 1858. Moved to Fulton County, Illinois, in 1864 and remained there until he took a second attack of western fever, when he struck for Nebraska. There were born to Mr. and Mrs. Anderson seven children. Edison and Lewis both died in early childhood. Susan, who became Mrs. Norman Smith, died in 1880. Wilson, who had bei»n a cripple for many years, died in 1887. Lizzie, now Mrs. John Metz of Seward; Clara, now Mrs. E. A. Butler of Ansley, Nebraska, and Bell of the dry goods and millinery house of Seward. Mr. Anderson joined the I. O. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 5 O. F. the day he was twenty-one years old and has always taken a great interest in the order. Mrs. Anderson was long a member of the U. B. Church and was a most worthy Christian lady. She died, December 28. 1899. Barn of Dr. J. S. Anderson DR. JOHN S. ANDERSON. Came within an ace of being a Seward County boy and we are going to claim him, as he came to the wilderness in his fifth year in 1867. The lad was born in Bedford County, Pennsylvania in 1862, Mai-ch 10. Worked on the farm and received his ediication in the country schools, but in his mind this did not iill the bill. So in his early man- hood he hied away to Chicago and took a full course of study in the Veterinary College and graduated with honors. But still there was more to learn so he crossed the border and at Toronto, Canada, he grad- uated in the Veterinaiy Dental School, yet he was not quite satisfied, so he took a course in Miles' School of Special Surgery at Charleston, Ill- inois in 1894. Then he came to Seward, his old home, to try his hand at the work for which he had been so long in tiaining. Is a marked snccess in his profession and soon attracted wide attention and his field of usefulness widened. 6 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA He was appointed twice as State Veterinary Surgeon, and is now frequently called to distant points to assist in the diagnosis of the more difficult diseases of stock. His reputation far exceeds the bovindaries of his state, and that reputation has been fairly and squarely earned. The Doctor married one of our estimable young Seward girls, Miss Myrtle Boyes, March 3, 1902. Mrs. Anderson was born, raised and edu- cated at Seward, and that means that her opportunities were good, and she has improved them. The Doctor has built one of the finest barns in the state for his busi- ness and has it thoroughly equipped with all modern appliances. William Ahlsch^vede and wife WILLIAM AHLSCHWEDE. Was a German born boy that crossed the great water when but four years old. His parents settled in Allen County, Indiana, near Fort Wayne, where William gi-ew up. William was born June 12, 1844. In 1878, February 24, Mr. Ahlschwede married Miss Eva Petzold in Allen County, Indiana. She was born January 6, 1859, in Allen County. They have nine children as follows: Herman F., George F. , William H. Mary K., now Mrs. F. Freeman, Emma, Martin C, Elizabeth, Alma and Elsie. Mr. Ahlschwede came to Seward County in May. 1871, and settled at HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 7 the present home on Section 27, "J" Town, where he has improved the farm until it is an elegant home place with every convenience. He is a farmer of high rank and a man of energy und great value to his neighborhood. Church home is with the Lutherans in which lie takes great interest. LAWRENCE R. ALPIN In the land of muddy roads and hazelbiush at Augusta, Illinois, Lawrence was born, March 24, 1875b, ut had to come to Nebraska to be raised. Away out at Ansley, Nebraska, he ran across Miss Ada Kindree and in due time he captured her in INIarch ly'Jlj. She was a Seward County girl that had strayed away from Cordovia. She was born in 1878. They have one little girl, Fern. Mr. Alpin came to Utica in September, 19U0, and purchased the Sun plant of Mrs. W. D. Compton, and most of the time since that has been raising "Suns" that shine all over the prairies around Utica. Long may the "Sun of Utica" under his guid- ing hand "dispense a serener light" to brigthen the pathway of the peojjle. Mr. Alpin is a member of the I. O. O. F. and the Royal High- landers. HERMAN F. AHLSCHWEDE On the old Ahlschwede farm a mile down the river from Ruby, Herman was born June 3, 1879. He spent his youth helping to develop the farm of his father, and after a while h°: and Miss Elizabeth Birky, a neighbor girl, concluded a splendid bargain and they were married February 16, 1904. She was born in Livingston County. Illinois, Febru- ary 1(5, 1880, and came with her parents to Seward County when a young girl. These young people have a bright future open liefore them. He is a farmer. They are niembers of the Lutheran Church. EARL R. ANSTINE An Iowa boy, born in Mills County, October 23, 1880. The folks brought Earl to Tamora when two years old, so he is a boy of our prairie. Worked on the farm and attended the country schools. Mar- ried Miss Ethel Dapin, a Sew^ard burn girl, November 7, 1900. Edu- cated in the city schools. Two children have come to bless the home, Lawrence A. and Irene. Mr. Anstine is a thrifty young farmer. CHARLES D. ALEXANDER Was another of those New York l)o\s that tired of navigating a stone boat among the rocky fields and grubbing blackl)erry briars out of the fence corners. Charley was born in the town of Sanford in Broome County. October 12, 1844. At twelve he caught sight of the star of promise and found the western trail which led him to Iowa County, 8 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Wisconsin, and there among the badgers he grew up and was so fortu- nate as to get acquainted with Miss Albina Stevens and they married, October 18, 18(59, in luwa County, town of Miflin, her native place. She was born April 23, 1847. Four children came to brighten their home ; Lawrence S. , Horace G. , Eliza, now Mrs. D. C. Showalter, Amy, now Mrs. L. L. Emerson. The family came to Seward County Angnst 28, 1883, and settled in "F" Precinct on Section 32. Mr. Alexander is a member of the A. F. and A. M. Mr. Alexander did not forget to go to the war. He heard the bugle call and enlisted in the 19th Wisconsin infantry, January 6, 1862. He is a wide awake citizen and has helped in every way to develop his county and his village. He has been postmaster of TMmora (or many years. LAUREN S. ALEXANDER A young merchant of Tamora who has grown from his youth among us, was born in Iowa County, Wisconsin, October 26, 1870. At thirteen he came witn his parents to the prairie home near where Tamora now stands. Here Lauren had the usual experiences of boys on the frontier. When not at school, he worked on his father's farm, chased cattle, hunted prairie chickens and rabbits. In 1894, November 13, he and Miss Jennie Francis were married at Seward. She is a native of the Hoosier State, born in Laporte County. October 11, 1875 One child was born to them but it died in early in- fancy. Mr. Alexander came to the county in August, 1883. The parental home was in "F" Precinct. He has a membership in the A. F. and A. M. What is very striking about the career of this young lad is his phenominal success as a merchant. Five years ago, he opened a little store with about a wheelbarrow load of goods and commenced his mer- cantile career. His business has grown to vast proportions. He now has a store worthy of a place in a city. His sales for the current year exceed twenty thousand dollars. It is truly a surprise that in .so small a village, such a vast amount of Imsiness could be transacted by so young a merchant. DR. FREDERICK M. ANDRUS Another Nebraska boy that cut a figure in the world. Born among the everlasting hills at Plattsmouth, July 29, 1872. In his youth he climbed hills, rolled stones down just to see them tumble down the steep hillsides, and went to school at the high school. He then went to the Lincoln Medical College and graduated with honors in the class of 1900. Took post-graduate courses at Chicago in surgery with Dr. Pratt and also at West-side Surgical Institute. Dr. Andrus is now Professor in Physical Diagnosis at the Lincoln Medical College. August 27, 1898, he closed a bargain (and a good one too) with Miss Emma Ladd, of I HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 9 Weeping Water, Cass County. She is a full lilood Nebraskan, born June 27, 1878, right in sight of those piles of white rocks at Weeping Water falls. The doctor came to Pleasant Dale, March 25,1900 and stuck out his shingle. He now has a large and growing practice, owns a hospital and rides in an automobile. The church home of the familj' is with the Methodists. He is a member of the A. F. and A. M., of the K. O. T. M., the M. W. A. and is examining ph^'sician for each of the above orders. He is one of our growing doctors. 10 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA EDWARD C. ARCHER Was one among the noble band of early pioneers that penetrated the great wilderness in the northwestern part of the county in 1869. Edward wasboin July 7, 184(3, in Harrison County, Virginia. His parents saw bright light in the great west when Edward was a babe and tound their way to Illinois, but a little later made their home in Grant County, Wisconsin, where they remained till their removal in 18(59 to Sew.ird Gmnty where they homesteaded in Section 8 in "C" Precinct. In his y(mng manhood, Edward enlisted in Company C, 2nd Wis- consin Cavalry, but as the war was so near over the company did not get to smell much burnt powder. He also homesteaded on the sume section and opened a farm. No- vember 2(j, 1872, Mr. Archer married Miss Mary A. Compton at Seward. There were born to them ten children as follows: Sarah E. , died in childhood, Maud, Nettie F. , late wife of John Slenecker. , Frank O. , died in childhood, Jessie M. , now Mrs. A. W. Noxen, Daisy D. , now^ Mrs. L. K. Varner, Jnlia W., now Mrs. M. H. Norwood, Curtis E. , Edna W. and Arthur. Mrs. Archer was born September 1, 1849, in Indiana and died at the family home near Staplehurst, April 2, 1901. Mr. Archer is a successful and progressive farmer. Is a member of the United Workman and the M. W. A. FREDERICK J. AHLSCHWEDE Another Nebraska born boy. This time Beatrice claims the j^rize. Fred was born September ;5, 1871), but came to Seward County near Milford when two and a half years old. Susi)cct the old folks had some thing to do with his coming at so early an age. Fred worked on his father's farm and performed his duty so well that Uncle Jetf Cox raised no objections and one bright June day aboiit the 8rd. 19(U5, Fred led Miss Pearl E. Cox to the marriage altar, at her father's home. Pearl was a Seward County pearl, born on our soil, July 3, 1885. They are the proud parents of one bright baby boy, Ernest D. The young people now live on the Wortendyke farm near Ruby. He is a young farmer. The Presbyterian Church is their church home. HON. SILAS. S. ATWOOD Another of the old soldier boys who came to find a home in the old times, was born in Prel)le County, Ohio, in 1842, March 12. His parents moved to Washington, Iowa, in 1844. There Silas grew to manhood and when he heard his country's call to arms, he straightway enlisted in Company K, 13th Iowa Volunteer infantry and served three years and eiirht months. Was in the conflicts at Shilo, Corinth, Vicksburg siege and was near there at the time of the surrender. Was with Sherman from Atlanta to the sea, and from Savannah to Washington. Was mus- tered out at Louisville, Kentucky, in July 18(55. Located on a home- stead two and a half miles west of Milford in 1807, and had a part in HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 11 the county seat war. He t-aine throngh both vvarfs without a scratch. Helped to organize Major Keenan Post No. 187, Gr. A. R. and was once its commander. Was at one time town treasurer and once supervisor from his town. Elected to the Lower House in 15)02, and is at this writ- ing candidate on the republican ticket for re election. Mr. Atwood is a staunch republican, and helps the party greatly by his genial natuie and good judgment. Mr. Atwood has been a farmer all his Nebraska days and did his fl^ll share in developing this new land and making it what it is today, such a garden spot. Mr.' Atwood sought and found a splendid wife in the person of Miss Dorotha E. Brown, daughter of Samuel Brown, one of the pioneers at Milford. They were married in IHiiO. To them have been born four children: Delia A., Gilbert C'. , Amy L. and Cathie P., all yet with the parents. Mrs. Atwood is a member of the M. E. Church at Beaver Crossing. Mr. Atwood did all he hoaorably could for his town, Milford, at the time of the county-seat contest, and helped to fight its battles through bravely just like any patriotic citizen should do, but when the war was over, then he laid down his arms and thence forward he was for Seward County and all her interests. He made an excellent representative and Is very i)oj)ular with his party. He was elected in November 1U04 by a good majority. CHARLES H. ADAMS A good old fashioned democrat rhat was elected three times Sheriff of Seward County although it is a republican county. Was born June 28, 1848, in Cincinnati, Ohio. When the drum beat to arms, Charley enlisted in 18(ii. Was in the first battle at Bullrun and we expect he made a bully- run. Was under the command of Alex McDowel McCook. Was at Stone River and other battles. In 1868 we find him in Beauro Co., 111., where Sept. 20, 1873, he married Miss Cary M. Crownover. She was born in Henderson Co., Ill , Sept. 20, 1850. They have three chrildren, viz: Iva W. , now Mrs. E. A. Moore; Glenn C. and Clyde O. Mr.Adams came to the county in 1888 and located in"0'" precinct. First elected sheriff in 1885. .Appointed Register of U. S. Land Office in 1894 at Broken Bow and served four years. Mr. Adams has large landed interest yet in Seward county althoiigh he at present resides in Lincoln. Church home is with the Presbyterians. MISS MARY STANDISH BANKS. This distinguished teacher came to Pleasant Dale in her early youth and has seen much of pioneer life. Born at Salem, Indiana, and with her widowed mother came to Seward County in 1880, where the family purchased railroad land. Here on the farm Mary grew to womanhood. She completed her high school 12 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA education under Processor Buikett at Milford. Then she graduated at the Peru Normal school. When she commenced her long and successful career as a teacher, we find her at the head of the grammar department, where she remained for two years. Then she pursued the scientific course at the State University. Next, she was two years principal of the Trumbull Schools. Then in the grammar schools at Uma Colorado for two years, also at Milford two years, and then in her home district for two years on. account' of the poor health of her mother. In 1902 she opened a millinery store at Milford where she has had great success. She is an earnest and faithful worker in the M. E. Church and Sabbath school. She became connected with the W. C. T. U. at Utica and was a most efficient member. The widowed and aged mother resides on the old farm. Mary saved of her own earnings to complete her education, buy and pay for forty acres of valuable land and also to open her nice store. Now Mrs. M. S Raw Is. VOLNEY BRANT Born among the stony hills of Erie County, N. Y. , October 8, 1841. He took the western trail in early boyhood and landed at Whitewater, Wisconsin, where he grew to manhood. In 1801, September 20, Mr. Brant enlisted in the 13th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and was discharged November 20, 1864. In 1866 Mr. Brant crossed the plains to Salt Lake, from there he went to Idaho and engaged in mining and stock raising for sixteen years. In 1883, January 1. he married Miss Addie Johnson Ambrose, a Whitewater lady. Four children were boin to them, two of which are now living: Ray, born August 13, 1885. and Hazeldell, born June 3, 1891. The young people came to "L" precinct in March, 1883, and located on a farm. In 1884, he rented the farm and was in business at Utica in the grain trade with Mr. Boone. He was Vice President of the Utica Bank — in 1883 he went to Louis- iana and was not quite satisfied. So in 1898 he went to Kalkaska, Michigan, where he is in business, but we expect him back to Seward County soon, where a man can make some headway. We are ready to welcome him. Mr. Brant has his standing with the G. A. R. and the I. O. O. F. GEOaCxE BAUER, JR. A German lad born in Louisa County, Iowa. January 11. 1872. Came to Seward County in 1875 and settled just east of Seward, whei"e he grew to manhood as a farmer boy. When George got old enough, he wooed and won Miss Mary Felines. Apirl 18, 1895. She was born at Minar, Illinois, January 21, 1873. They have four little folks : George H , Katherine L. N., Annie N. and Edward C. Mr. Bauer now lives a mile south of Goehner in "K" precinct. Church home is \vith the Evangelical people. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 13 CHARLES C. BACON Wisconsin boy, born at Fondulac, January 24, 186H. and at ten years of age he found his way to Nebraska. Spent his youth in Hamilton County, but somehow there was an attractive lode stone at Milford and we find him a resident of Seward County in 1900. October 10, 1900, he captured one of our Seward County girls, Miss Diantha Wortendyke of Milford, who was to the manor born daughter of Judge Henry Worten- dyke. Born March 15, 1872. They now have two children. May E. and John W. They own a beautiful farm near Ruby. Mr. Bacon takes great interest in fine pigs and has a very complete pig house in connection with other good improvements. Was unfortunate in losing an arm some years ago while in the employ of the R. K. Comi)any. He is quite a rustler. Is a member of the republican county central committee and throws his whole soul into the work. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. and of the Knights of Labor, also of the American Federation of Labor. REV. CHRISTIAN BEK A boy raised in Germany, born July 5,. 1829, at Aichelberg, whei'e he remained until twenty- six, when he decided to breathe the purer and freer air of America. He began his ministry at twenty-five and nas now upheld the banner of the Cross full fifty years. He married Miss R. Muenzenmaier at Herman, Missouri, Septem- ber 13, 1857. She was a German girl, born February 20, 18;}0, and died Maj' 6, 1878. There were born to them eight childien : Lydia, now Mrs. E. Blanchard, Theophalus, Chistian, now dead, Charles, Paul, Emma, now dead, Theodore and Fred. Mr. Bek married in 1874, April 30, to Miss Pauline Maier at St. Louis, Missouri. She -was also a Ger- man girl born July 16, 1843. There were born to them six children: Pauline, Jane, Christian, John, Houth and Dora. Rev. Bek came to Seward County in October 1877 and locateol on a farm in "B" precinct, biit has for some years resided in Seward. He organized the Evangelical church at Seward. WINDFIELD S. BEEBE Was born in Grant County, Wisconsin. October 4, 1848, and there spent his early childhood days. In 1862 the home was made in Johnson County, Iowa, until he had an attack of Nebraska fever which brought him to Seward County in 1880. A little later he pre-empted land in Hamilton County but soon proved up and returned to his first love, and located on a farm in "J" precinct where he still resides. While in Iowa, he became acquainted with the daughter of Julius G. Brown of Johnson County and in 1873 he found an excuse to return to Iowa and made Miss Annette his bride, on February 2 (Ground-hog day) and he returned home in triumph with her. She was a native of 14 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEARASKA Johnson County where she was educated. Born August 23, 1847. She being the older, it was said that she took Windfield to raise. It is un- derstood that she performed her task pretty well. They have four children: Jennie L., now Mis. Phil Maner, Harriet, Mildred E. and Jared (J. , all at home. Mr. Beebe is a member of the I. O. O. F. Was elected in 1895 sup- ervisor for "J" precinct. He is an ardent populist in politics. Is a prosperous farmer and has a nice home. JABES BERRY Was an English born lad of four years when his parents crossed the briny deep and settled in Illinois. He was born November?, 18G2. He came to "J" precinct in 1S81. Here Jabes found Mary, the daughter of our old pioneer friend, Job Reynolds, and after due consideration, they were married September 1), 1800. She was born November 4, 1861, in Indiana and came to Seward County in 1868. so she is a pioneer set- tler. They have three children: Naomi F. , Arthur J. and Clee W. Mr. Berry was raised a farmer boy and sticks to his trade like a good fellow. He belongs to the I. O. O. F. ana the M. W. A. HIRAM L. BOYES Just at the opening of the war of 1812, Mr. Boyes was born, Janu- ary 9, 1812 at Hillsborough, New Hamphhire. His parents were of a peculiar mixture. Scotish, Irish and French. In 181o, his father moved to CataruugUH County, New York, where the lad grew to manhood among the rocks and hills of that rugged region. In 1886, the young man strayed away to Erie County and there met Miss Esther L. Hibard and married her. The young people had heard of the glorious west, and straightway made their way to the wilds of Michigan and settled in St. Joseph County in 1844. In 1849 Mr. Boyes had an attack of the gold fever and made his way to California around Cape Horn in a sailing vessel. Spent four years in the mines. Upon his return home they moved to Story County, Iowa, and were among the first to penetrate that new region. Here the family resided until their removal to Seward in 1867. Thus we see that Mr. Boyes life was large- ly that of a frontiers-man. He helped to redeem four different new lands and to bring them up from the wild wildernesses which he found to be rich and prosperous communities, besides spending four years in the mountains of California. At Seward, Mr. Boyes and family found .iust the place the}' had so long looked for, a goodly land where he was willing to live and die. He first built a saw mill which proved a great blessing to the jieople of this vallej'. In 1869 they erected the Banner Mills and commenced to grind grain. The mill was a small affair but it dirt good work and was highly appreciated by the people. The full history of the mill is given in other pages of this book. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 15 Mr. Boyes early became interested in the schools of Seward and was foi years a member of the school board. He was a wide-awake and enterprising citizen. He labored long and hard in the interest of the city and county. His son Carlos became interested and identified with the mill when its foundations were laid, although he was but a boy, and he has been closely identified with it to the present. There were born to Mr. and Mrs. Boyes eight children, seven yet living as follows : George, Harrison, Carlos, Martha, now Mr.s. O. K. Olmstead of Orleans, Nebraska, Hiram of Oklahoma, Ethel, now Mrs. Doane Tremain of Perry, Oklahoma and Thomas, now of Seward. Mrs. Boyes died some years ago. Mr. Boyes died at the family home June 19, 1900, at the advanced age ot eigthy-eight years and will long be remembered as a kind neighboi- and a very worthy and valuable citizen. HARRY H. BRADLEY' The first colored boy born in Seward was born IMarch 12, 1875. Was educated in the city schools. Harry has had a wide experience as a traveler. He has visited London. Glasgow, Liverpool and Paris at the World s Exposition. Has held many ])laces of trust at the great expositions at Chicago, Buffalo, Omaha and St. Louis. Was chief stew- ard of the Nebraska sod house at Buffalo. He had charge of the roller- chair stoiage house of the Clarkson Concession Company. He was also an exposition guide. Harry has through all his eventful career earned the respect of the people wherever employed and stands high in the. e.stimation of the good people of Seward. HENRY M. BROOKS Was born in Ohio, February 22, 1844, but found the western trail in childhood and landed in Peoria County, Illinois, and there learned the carpenter trade and there he found Miss M. J. Erfoi d and was mar- ried December 27, 1866, in Peoria County. She was from the old Key- stone state and born in Columbianna County, March 18, 1842. They have had four children : William Irving, Anna Myrtle, now Mrs. C. C Sackett, M. D., Mary G. and Deane H. Mary G. died October ^3, 1878. The famil> came to Seward Col^nty and settled in "B" precinct in 1872, near the Oak Groves. Mr. Brooks enlisted at Peoria in 1862 and .served three years, having a chance to smell much liuint i)owder. Was mustered out at Selma, Alabama, in 1865. Mr. Brooks belongs to the A. 0. U. W. and is a long time member of the Seward Presbyterian church. Miss Myrtle was married to Dr. C. C. Sackett June 5, 1901, and resides at Laurel, Nebraska. Irving has a good position at Lincoli.. He served seven months in the Cuban war. The family moved to Seward in 1879. where Mr. Brooks has been engaged as a carpenter and builder all these years, and the buildings that show his handiwork may be numbered by the hundreds in city and county. 16 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEARASKA WALTER BEST Son of Uncle Tommy Best, one of the pioneers of "I" precinct, was born among the stnmiDs and stones of St. Lawrence County, New York, October 27, 1856. The family came to Seward County in 1872, and here Walter helped make the farm and when he grew to be a man he formed an attachment for Miss Elizabeth Lynch and they were mar- ried at Milford October 8, 1885. She was born at Monticello, Wiscon- sin, September 10, 1856. They have six children: Maud J., Mary. Hazel, Ethel, Stewart R. and Shirley. Mr. Best now owns a farm in Section 35 of "I" Town, just beside Pleasant Dale. He is a membei of the Knights of Macabees and of the M. W. A. The Baptist church is the family home. GOTTLIEB BENNINGHOVEN Was a native of the Province of the Rhine in Germany, born June 13, 1836. Was married June 27, 1861 to Henrietta Kreiger. Although Mr. Benninghoven was a man of affairs in the old country, he longed for the freer air of America. He was at that time an officer of high rank, being mayor of his district. In 1876, they bid adieu to the old home and came straightway to Seward, where he purchased one of the best farms which has been the family home to the present. They had a large family of boys, many of whom have made their marks in the world of letters : Ernest, Otto, Oswald, Leo, Enwald, Paul, Herbert, William and Daniel. The young- est was born in Seward County. Mr. Benninghoven was a bright scholar and was a writer of great ability. Was for a long time corresponding editor of the Illinois State Zietung. Later was commercial editor of the German American Press Association. After a life of valuable labor, he died January 16, 1899. Mrs. Benninghoven who survives him is a lady of great intelli- gence, having received a liberal ediication in the old home and seems to have increased her knowledge with the passing years. JOHN M. BENDER A Canadian boy that got sight of the stars and stripes across the lake and yearned to take shelter under its ample folds. John was born in Ontario July 28, 1861. Came to Indiana when six years old, and to Iowa at twelve, and at twenty-one he continued the march westward and landed in Seward County in the spring of 1882 and settled on Sec- tion 8 in "O" Town, among his jieople, the Arnish Mennoriites were he wooed and won the heart and hand of Miss Barbary Miller and was married October 5,1884 at her father's home in the same neighborhood. Miss Miller was born in Holmes County, Iowa, November 27, 1863. and came to Seward County in childhood. They have six children: Ida May, now Mrs M. R. Bender, David E. , Franklin J., Gertie M., Lydia B. , and William J. B. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 17 Mr. Bender owns a beautiful farm in a most splendid locality. The church home is with the Amish Merronite. DR. GEORGE W, BRANDON The oldest living practitioner in Seward County, whs born in Lee County, Illinois, June 22, 1847, and was third son of B. F. and Marga- ret Brandon. These old people died at the doctor's home in Milford. George was a wandering boy from the time he was six years old. Com- Dr. George W. Brandon menced his school days at Dixon, Illinois, and completed his studies at the seminary there. Then he went through the Chicago Medical Col- lege, also the medical department of the University uf Michigan. He graduated at Rush Medical College in 1871. Spent a year in Soublette, Illinois. Full of life and ambition, Illinois could not hold him. He saw the rising star in the west and hither he came in 1872. He found just the spot to his liking in the Blue Valley at Milford and put up his shingle, nailing it so thoroughly that it has not blown down in thirty- two years. The Doctor took a liking to Miss Laura A. Haverstock, and they were married. Laura was the eldest daughter of John V. and Rebecca Haverstock, near Milford. She was an Ohio girl but now an old time resident of Seward County. They have but one child, IdaM., yet at home The Doctor was appointed coroner of the county a long time ago, and has been elected several times to the same oftice. Has been a pen- sion examiner for eight years. Was coroner and officiated in the Bates 18 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA murder tnal, and took a hand in the famous Henigan and Astor trial where the sheriif was a party. Doctor has been a Mason for twenty-nine years and has taljen the thirty-second degree. Has been their Secretary for fifteen years. Is also a member of the A. O. CJ. W., the M. W. A. and the Knights of Macabees. Doctor says he is and has been a republican from "away back. ' " In his long career he has traversed these prairies through storm and sunshine. He knows all about night rides in blizzards, of worrying through snow drifts v\ ith jaded horses. He knows something about In- dian war dances, of which we will tell more on another page. LOUIS T. BOUCHARD Was a Canada boy. born in the Province of (Quebec, January 15, 1847 of French parentage. At eighteen he crossed over where the stare and stripes float in Vermont, but there were too many rockj- hills there to suit the boy, and upon the western horizon he saw the bright star that had recently found its place on the flag, and in 1874 he found Ne- braska and located ,iust we.st of Tamora in Seward County, and made settlement in 1875. In 1876, November 5, he married Miss Mary A. Oleson, a Seward County girl. They were the parents of two children, one who died in infancy and Mary A. who is now completing a course in music at Des Moines, Iowa. Mrs. Bouchard died September 9, 1893. August 16, 1896, Mr. Bou- chard married Miss Roxie Evarts, an Ohio lady, born at Mansfield, Novemher 10, 1867. She came to Nebraska in childhood, 1872. Three children were born to them: Norval E. , Marie A., and Louis T. Jun. Mr. Bouchard has accumulated a handsome fortune in Seward County. Now owns four hundred and twenty-five acres of valuable land with up-to-date improvements. HIRAM A. BRISBIN Began to snuff Nebraska blizzards in 1869 when all the region around him was an unbroken wilderness. Hiram was born among the rocky hills of old Clinton County, New York, February 9. 1847. Says he was a happy mixture of English, Ir- ish and Dutch (pretty well mixed we judge). He was left an orphan at a tender age and had to ' ' paddle his own canoe. ' ' In 1855 he struck the western trail and landed in Indiana. He halted but a year when he pursued his westward way to Illinois. Here he was bound out to a farmer, but the bonds were broken when Hiram heard the bugle call to arms, for he ran away and enlisted in the first Wisconsin cavalry in August 1863. Was discharged in July, 1865. That year he again took the trail and we find him in Alamakee County, Iowa, where he mar- ried Miss Josephine Davis in 1868. The next year they found Nebraska and were satisfied. Located six miles west of Milfoi'd where Mrs. Bris- bin died, January 18, HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 19 In 1889 was married to Miss Frank Pyatt of Seward. They have two children. Marshall Ney and Ruth. Mr. Brisbin is a charter member of Blue-river Lodge No. 30, A. F. and A. M. Was one of the war horses in the county-seat contest. He has had a hand in many political contests. Was greenback candidate for both House and Senate but could not count votes enough. Has held several tow iship offices, and with his neighbor, Ely Courtright, cham- pioned the first rural routes in Seward County. Mr. Brisbin, the orphan boy, soldier, homesteader and good citizen has seen all sides of pioneer life but he has got here "all the same" and now enjoys peace and plenty, surrounded l)y a host of friends in the county and state he has helped to redeem from the "desert wild and drear. ' ' ALBERT E. BAKER Grew to manhood in his native town, Manchester, Indiana, where he was born September 18, 1848. After the usvxal course of study in the common schools of that early day, he took a course in the Grundy Com- mercial College at Cincinnati. Came to Seward County in 1882 and located near Tamora on a farm, and farm work has been his calling in life. He loves his work and makes a succe.ss of it. He is a man of ability and enterprise. Has been twice President of our Agricultural Society and twice its Secretai}'. Was elected county assessor in 1903, and has served the people well. In politics he is a democrat, and is very popular with the party. And he has plenty of good friends outside of his party. October 24, 1867, he married Miss Sarah J. jJunn of his native place and there were born to them children as follows : Lucinda, now Mrs. Morrill Underbill, two died in infancy, then Albert E. , at home, and Margaret, now Mrs. Carl Nelson. Mr. and Mrs. Baker have most of their lives been members of the M. E. Church, where Mrs. Baker was an earnest worker in all matters of charity and other church duties until her poor health compelled her to retire irom these duties. Mr. Baker has for many years been an honored member of the A. F. and A. M. HON. HEINRICH BECKMAN. One of our valued and most useful German American citizens, born in Hanover, Germany, September 14, 1844. Grew to manhood in the Fatherland and served in the army in the war between Hanover and Prussia in 1866. At the close of that war he concluded to seek a home in a better and freer land. He fir.st made his home in Cleveland, Ohio, but in 1867 we find him in Clayton County, Iowa. While there his heart was made glad when he heard that the girl whom he had left behind him had found her way to America, and was living at Milwau- kee, Wisconsin, and on February 23, 1869, he claimed Miss Eleanor Eg- gert as his bride, at Milwaukee. She was born in Hanover, February 15, 1846. 20 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA The young couple had heard of our beautiful Isebraska and that Uncle Sam was ready to give all his children a farm on our broad acres so they came to Seward County and took a homestead on Section 12 in "H" Town, on May 14, 1870, it being one of the very first homesteads in the east part of "H" Town. Here among these beautiful hills have come to bless the Beckman home, eight children, two of whom died in infancy. Beside these are: ■ H. Frederick, a farmer, J. Heinrich, a professor in Lincoln High School, Herman F. , a farmer, Annie M., Ernest F. and Martha C. E. Three last yet at home. Mr. Beckman served Seward County as representative in our Legis- lature in 1889. He owns a beautiful home consisting of 818 acres of land all nicely improved. Church home is with the Lutherans. WILLIAM T. BRINKMEYER Is another of the home lads, })orn April 6, 1878 and was raised on a farm in ''J" precinct five miles south-west of Seward, where he yet re- sides. He belongs to the United Workmen and is a member of the Evan- gelical Church. The story of his marriage must be told by the future historian. We trust it may be a most successful marriage and well told. Seward County boys generally do well when they have half a chance. ADAM BECHTEL Was born in Germany, July 18, 1845. At ten years of age came to Chicago where he remained five years. The city with all its charms could not longer hold him and he went to Iroquois County where he re- mained twenty-three years. In 1869, February 21, he returned and claimed the girl he had left behind him, and was married to Miss Hulda Timm. German girl, born in 1849. Children that came to the home are as follows : Lena, now Mrs. H. VVullennaher, May, Clara and Walter. Mr. Bechtel came to Sewaid County in 1884 and settled in "K" precinct. Sold that farm and now owns one in "L" precinct. He has lived in the city for about fourteen years and is engaged in the feed and flour business. Owns a very commodious and complete ware house. HENRY F. BUSCHE Our skilled and most competent worker with the fragrant weed, (tobacco) was a native of Westphalia, Prussia, born March 24, 1866. Spent his youth and early manhood in the Fatherland, but somehow Henry had a yearning for the great land of promise beyond, the ocean, and at twenty-six he took leave of the old home and landed in Lincoln in 1892, but before he came, he wooed and won the heart of Miss Kate Meyer of his native home. She was born December 9, 1865. They have four children : Mary, Elsie, Henry and Arthur. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 21 The young couple came to Seward in 1896, where he is engaged in the manufacture of cigars. His "Seward Special" has become known as an extra good article of cigars and is very popular. Mr. Busche is a member of the A.O. U. W. Church home is with the Evangelical people at Seward. CARL BOYES February 14, 1841, in old Cataraugus County. New York, among the rocks, everlasting hills and Cataraugus Indians, Carl first saw the light. He can't tell just how he got oui of those hills, whether he came "a foot or on horseback. Says he is no "injun" although born on their reserve. Like most of the bright New York boys, he wanted to get out of that tangled mass of brush and briars, and by easy stages he wan- dered westward and in 1867 we find him working at the dam by the mill site on the Blue, where he threw dirt, cut brush and fished ; then rolled logs and did all kinds of work in helping to lay the foundations of the great mill. July, 1872, he married a pioneer girl. Miss Elsie Clarke, who was born in New York among the icebergs near the St. Lawrence river, and came to Seward County in the spring of 1866, and was one of the class that attended the first school in the old log cabin. Children of the house hold are as follows : Burdette, Eugenie, Myrtle, now Mrs. J. Anderson and Don C. Mr. Boyes is now the oldest mill man in the county having been connected with the business for over a third of a century, and has grown rich and gray in the work. EDWARD C. BETZER An Iowa boy that made his way to Seward County when but a lad of twelve. Was born at Pella, Iowa, March 30. 1874, and came to Seward County in 1886 where his parents settled on Section 2, "F" Town and where Edward still resides with his widovv-ed mother, and runs the farm. Ed is an indiistrious farmer. He belongs to the Royal Highlanders. REV. CARL H. BECKER Pastor in charge of the Evangelical Lutheran Church at Seward, was born at Evansville, Indiana, September 7, 1858. Was educated at Fort Wayne and later took a full course in the Theological Seminary at St. Louis. Commenced his ministerial work at the age of twenty-one and has now been a laborer in the Master's vineyard for a quarter of a century. He came to Seward in January, 1895, and has been the pastor here since that date. Married Miss Louisa Schnute, November 29, 1883, at Evansville, the native place of his bride, who was born November 23, 1861. They have born to them seven children: Louise, Walter H. W., Karl F. J. Paul, Hugo, Esther and Erwin. 22 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Rev. Becker is a highly respected Christian gentleman, of fine attainments. THOMAS H. BISHOP One of the many old veterans of the union army, was bom at Troy, New York, Augvist 23, 1842. His parents took a siege of western fever when Tom was a babe, and landed in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, where the lad grew up. August 16, 1863, he enlisted in Company H, 33d Wisconsin regiment. Was at the siege of Vicksbvirg, with Banks up the Red river; was at Franklin in two fights, at Nashville and old Spanish Fort and at Mont- gomery and in a fierce battle at Tuplo, Tennessee. Discharged August 13, 186.-). Returned home and found Miss Annie C. Smith, who was. waiting for a brave soldier boy. They were married February 11, 1874. She was a Wisconsin girl born at Salem April 3, 18.')2. They have nine children as follows: Carlton O., Clarence P., N. Edward, Julia M.. now Mrs. O. Burd, Ema M. , Florence E. , Rufus A., Maud M., and Ralph R. Mr. Bishop came to Seward County in 1873, took a homestead on Section 10, Town 9, R 4 East, in "P" precinct, then went after his best girl. He is a long time member of the Gr. A. R. and the A. F. and A. M. , also of the Modern Woodmen. WILLIS D. BADGLEY Was born in Pike County, Illinois, August 25, 1861, but did not remain there very long as his enterprising wndowed mother took the western fever and found her way to Seward County in 1866, where she homesteaded the land near Milford where Willis now lives and which he owns. Willis helped his mother like a good boy, and went to school as soon as there was a school. In 1883, December 13, he married Miss Edith E. Bundy. She was born at Salem, Wisconsin, August 7, 1863, and came to Seward County when a child. She died October 17, 1903. They had two children Myrtle L. and Lee W. Mr. Badgley found a young widow lady at Juniata, Nebraska, and married her September 10, 1904. Mrs. Lydia Ball was born at Russell, New York, February 11, 1862. She has two children Myrtle and Vernon. Mr. Badgley owns and operates his mother's old homestead near the Industrial home east of Milford. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. and Modern Woodmen. Church home is with the M. E x^^ople at Milford. LUDWIG J. BENDER Was a Hoosier boy, born of German parents in Allen County, August 28, 1864. He spent his young days learning to farm, and in 1886, when a young man, he struck the road that led to Seward County. In 1891 he discovered that he had left his best girl behind him, and he HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 23 returned to the old home and married Miss Eva K. Kaiser, January 29. Then he came back happy and made his home in "•J" precinct near Ruby. Mrs. Bender was born in Allen County, Indiana, April 2, 1872. They have four children: viz., Araan, Hedwig, Ottomar and Rein- hart. Mr. Bender owns a good farm and is a good wide awake citizen. Church home is with the Lutherans. HERMAN J. BERNECKER Is one of our leading and among the most respected German Ameri- can citizens. Was born in the Fatherland, April 13.1852, and got on the American trail with his honored father in 18(30, and landed in Grant County, Wisconsin, where he remained until he found that better place, Seward County, in 1873, when he bought the old farm where be expects to spend his days, surrounded as he is with all the comforts of life on his beautiful farm. At his new home, Mr. Bernecker found another prize. Miss F. S. Goety, and was married at the old stone church near Middle Creek, November 8, 1876. She was born October 15, 1854 in Beauro County, Illinois, and came to this county in childhood. They have had five children : Minnie and Emma died in 1884, Bertha, Alma and Albert. Mr. Bernecker has been school treasurer of his district since it was organized. He has also been treasurer of the German Mutual Insurance Company since its organization. He has also occupied many places of trust and honor in his church. Herman is what we all consider a first class citizen. The chux'ch home of the family is with the Lutherans. CHRISTIAN C. BIRKY Was born in Germany, May 27, 1852. He crossed the Atlantic when eight years old, so we take it that he is a pretty good American by this time. He was raised in the sucker state and there he found Miss Elizabeth Roth, and they were married February 13, 1876. at Washington, Illinois. She was born in Woodford Coiinty, Illinois, January 26. 1859, where she was educated. They have only twelve children: Mary, now Mrs. A. J. Welsh, Millie, now Mrs. C. I. Morefield, Lizzie, now Mrs. H. F. Ahlschwede, L ma and Christian died in infancy, Henry, Emma, Fannie, Minnie, Lydia, Anna and Esther. He came to the present home three miles north of Milford in 1887. Has a nice farm and knows how to take care of it. Is a wide awake citizen. Church home is with the Lutheran Evangelical. ISMA BOWKER A genuine Nebraska boy, born in Sutton, Clay County, September 19, 1873. He lived when a child at old Camden with his maternal 24 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA grand-parents, Mr. and Mrs. Malick. They were among the earliest settlers of that old historic ground. Mr. Bowker is yet waiting f )r a good wife. He is a partner in one of the largest mercantile houses of Pleasant Dale, and is a thorough young buisness man. Is a member of the I. O. O. F. and also of the Maccabees. / JOSEPH BLACKBURN One of the old soldier boys, who was born under the flag of old England in Yorkshire, March 8, 1831. In his young days, he learned of the better land beyond the sea, and came to America, and at Rockford, Illinois, he found a young war widow, and he followed the scriptures injunction to "visit the widow" and it resulted as such visits fre- quently do. They were married November 5, 1862. There was a little son that he became heir to under the transaction, Frank J. Crowel. The union brought eleven children, five of which died in infancy. Those yet living are: Ella, now Mrs. Wm. Hallet, Alice E. , now Mrs. J. W. Helm, Harry B. , Elizabeth, now Mrs. E. Blanchard, Rose, now Mrs. F. Wai"d, and George. Mr. Blackburn showed his loyalty to his adopted land by enlisting in the 67th Illinois regiment and again in the Company D, 11th Illinois infantry, where he got to smell burnt xjowder in plenty. Was at Zazoo City in a death struggle Was on the run toward Champion hill and finally saw the other fellows run. Was in the camxiaign at Poncher Train, Blakely and Mobile. Took a long ride up Red river and was discharged at Marshall, Texas, in October, 1865. Came to Nebraska in 1869, and pre-empted the gold field now owned by friend Dillenbeck in "P" precinct, and sold his light for three dollars, gold and all. Later he settlea in "K" precinct. Has for many years made his home in Seward. Is an enthusiastic member of the G. A. R. Votes the republican ticket when opportunity offers. WILLIAIM A. BROKAW Is one of the great host of Fulton County, Illinois boys that found their way to Seward County in pioneer days. The lad was born near the little old town of Fairview, June 12, 1843, when that county was yet a wild wilderness. Gus(as we call him) there grew to manhood and married Miss Jane A. Hageman, October 20, 1863. She also was a na- tive of Fairview, born September 4, 1844. She died at the family homestead east of Ruby. March 12. 1894. They had six children, viz: Two di«d in infancy. The living are Frank H. , Alletta, now Mrs. W. O. Robins. Adie C. , now Mrs. A. J. Faust and William H. The family came to Seward County in 1869. In 1898, July 3, Mr. Brokaw married Miss Albina Cox of Seward County. She was born in Pike County, Illinois and came to Seward County in 1878 with her parents. She died August 11, 1901. Mr. Brokaw set- HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 25 tied in section 14 "J" precinct. He is a long time member of the A.F. and A. M. FRANK H. RROKAW Another of those Fulton Count}-. Illinois, boys that got on the western trail in early youth and has grown up with the country sure enough. Was born October 20, 1864, and spent his youthful days on his father's homestead, helping to open up the farm. His neighboi", Fore- man, had a nice little girl, Maggie R., and Frank and Maggie played together and bye and bye Frank won her heart and they were married October 20, 1883 She was born in Pike County, Illinois, August 7, 1867. They have eight children, viz: Augustus D. , Elsie L. ,Eva J., Frank A. , Alletta A. , Frank W. , Maggie N. and William R. He owns a splendid farm four miles south of Seward. Is prosperous and contented. Church home is with the Christian church at Seward. JOSEPH BROOKS Adjutant of the Soldier's Home at Milford. Was born September 15, 1837, in Athens County, Ohio, where he grew to manhood and received his education. When the war broke out and he heard the drum beat his soul was fired with patriotism and July 25, 1861, he enlisted in Company C, 30th Ohio Infantry. Was with General Cox in Virginia, and in 1862 with General Burnside and was in West Virginia a while then wnth General Sherman. At the siege of Vicksburg was commiss- ioned Second Lieutenant. After the siege was in the conflict at South Mountain, at Antietam.at Jackson and followed Sherman to the sea and to Washington and was at the grand review as Captain Brooks. Then was sent to Little Rock. Arkansas, where he was mustered out. lie returned and married the girl he had left behind, Miss Nancy A. Criss, in 1866. She was born at Harrisonville, Ohio, December 25, 1846. There were born to them three children: Effie, now Mrs. Carlyle, Etta, yet at home and Mattie, now Mrs. R. Quein. Captain Brooks moved to Iowa in 1870 and to Nebraska in 1878 where he bought land at Odell in Gage County and made a farm. Was appointed Adjutant of the Home in 1901, where he seems to be making a good record. Has decided that Seward County is the proper place to make his home. MICHAEL M. CAMPION Was an Irish lad, born in County Kilkeney in February, 1839. Somehow Mike got a glimpse of "old Glory" and resolved to make his home in America and at twelve we find the lad at Cleveland, Ohio, and from thence he came to Iowa City, Iowa, and there he found his good wife, Miss Ella McCune, and was married June 28, 1866. She was born at Akran, Ohio, July 18, 1851. To them were born eight children : Cora, 26 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA now dead, Burt, Lucy, now Mrs. J. Gillan, John now dead ; Ella dead ; Irene, now Mrs. Robert Campbell, Elvin and Floyd. The family came to this county in 1871 and homesteaded in Section 8 in "M" Town. Mr. Campion was among the earliest settlers on the prairie south of Beaver Crossing. He enlisted in the Iowa first, and was in the bloodj' conflict at Wilson Creek under the brave General Lyon. Mr. Campion has been a successful farmer, and is now enjoying the fruits of a well spent life. MARTIN CAMPION Was born in old Irelp.nd, October 2f{, 1842, but did not stay there very long as his parents saw a brighter star beyond the sea, and in 1850, when Martin was eight years old, we find him picking up pebbles along he beach of Lake Erie, at Cleveland. Soon again he takes the trail toward the setting sun, and lands in Johnson County, Iowa. He found his best girl in Linn County and w^as married near Mt. Vernon, February 7, 1871, to Miss Elizabeth Graft. She was an Ohio girl, born in Columbian County, September 1, 1844. They have had five children : Charles E., Margaret I., William M., Herman and Alliert, who died in infancy. Mr. Campion enlisted August 2, 18, 1850, in Wisconsin. Mrs. Collaraore died at Qtica, Nebraska, March 23, 1880. To' their union were born five children, viz : Minnie, Luella, Maude, Leonard and George Collamore. Minnie is now Mrs. Arnold Zbinder. Maude is now Mrs. Charlie Marquis and Luella is now Mrs. David Hively. July 3,1881, Mr. Collamore married Miss Nellie J. Rogers, of Ruby, Nebi'ctska. who came to Seward County in childhood in 1878. They have born to them eight children, viz: William W. , Lewis L, Ethelyn, Arthur, now dead, Elmer, Achsah, Edward and Dean. The family came to the County in 1871 and located on a homestead seven miles north of Dtica and of course enjoyed many of the luxuries of frontier life, such as sod house, living on wind pudding, etc., having mail once in a long time, fording the creek and killing rattlers. Mr. Collamore is at this time the efficient marshal of Utica. He is a member of the A. F. and A. M. , also of the M. W. A. DR. HERSCHEL B. CUMMINS One of our most successful physicians, is to all intents and purposes a Seward boy, although born in Green County, Pennsylvania, in March, 1859. Lived in Washington County, West Virginia, six years in his early boyhood. Then with his father's family came vVest to Henderson County, Illinois, where the lad attended school. The family came- to Seward in 1874. He soon became acquainted with Dr. Woodward, for whom he worked tending and driving the Doctor's team, and finally took a notion that he would like to be a doctor, which Dr. Woodward encouraged. So under his care the lad began the study of medicine and did chores to pay his way. He determined to make a success and sought ways and means to take a university course, which he com- pleted in the class of 1885, graduating with honors. Returned to Seward, practiced for all these years with marked success. Since 36 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA finishing his course he has taken several post graduate courses and has now for many years tilled the chairs of physiology, histology, and hygiene, and for the last five years lectured on practice with much credit in the Lincoln Medical College. Has filled the office of County Dr. H, B. Cummins physician. Was elected and served with much credit as representative in the legislature in the session of 1900 and 1901, in the 19th senatorial district. Married Miss Jennie Ritchie at Seward in 188(5. Mrs. Cummins was born in Illinois. She proved a model wife and mother. To them were born two boys, Herschel B. and Harry, both yet at the parental home. Mrs. Cummins died Oct. 19, 1901. She was very highly respected wherever known. Dr. Cummins is a charter member of the State Eclectic ^Medical Society, an Odd Fellow, a Knight of P^^thias and a HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 37 Modern Woodman. He takes a decided interest in all these fraternities. Was at one time president of the State Eclectic Medical Societj'. Has been a member of the board of education where he took a very active part. Is one of the leaders in the Popnlist party and takes great interest in pushing its claims to popular favor. Was appointed in 1897 a member of the state board of health. and after a term of three years, had to resign when elected to the House. Pretty good for a poor Seward boy. Mrs, H. B, Cummins ELMER E. CUMMINS Born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, November 14, 1861. Came to Warren County, Illinois, at Monmouth in his early childhood, but had to seek a better place in Nebraska and in 1874 we find the lad at Seward where he was educated and married. Married October 5, 1891, to Miss Ida M. Weatherby. She was a Missouri girl transplanted to Seward soil when a child and received her education in our city schools. They have three children, viz., Beatrice, Elizabeth and Cecil. Mr. Cummins was many years engaged in the oil trade but is now engaged in the windmill and pump business, and is also owner and 38 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA operator of a dray line in Seward. He is a rustler in business, member of the Highlander fratex-nal order. Later: Mr. Cummins is in the oil trade in Lincoln. Is a General Jacob H. Culver Adjutant General of Nebraska. 'Vas born in Mercer Count}', Ohio, in 1845. His parents moved to the territory of Wisconsin when Jacob was only two years old. The familj' settled in the pine woods of Cheboygan County and engaged in the lumber business. The lad received his education in the primitive common schools of that wild land, and at the tender age of sixteen he heard the mutterings of the coming storm and his young soul was all on fire and at the first oppor- tunity he enlisted in Company K, first Wisconsin volunteers as drummer boy, September 17, 1861. serving one year in that capacity and at the battle of Perryville, the color bearer being killed, Jacob dropped the drum and grabbed the fiag and bore it ;',loft in triumph and continued to carry it through the service, and was mustered out with his regi- ment. He was in the sanguinary battles of Chaplain Hills, Cbicka- HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 39 mauga, Mission Ridge. Lookout Mountain and Chattanooga and also in the Atlanta campaign. Returning from the war he entered the Wis- consin University in 1866. J. H. Culver, Drummer Boy Was elected engrossing cleik in IHOU. and the same year came to Nebraska and made Milford his home and has been closely identified with its interests from that day to the present. The hrst we learn ot him at his new home was drawing a map for the newly organized County of Hamilton, for the officials. A teacher in the pulilic schools and then as Milford 's jiostmaster. Then he formed a partnership with H. Gr. Parsons antl commenced the i)ublication of the Blue Valley Record, which was Milford's first and we think its best newspaiier. In 1873 the Record was consolidated with the Daily Leader, of Lincoln, Nebraska, which Sirs Culver and Parsons brought up to a paying basis. In 1874 Mr. Culver sold his interest and returned to Milford and bought an interest in the Milford flouring mills, with J. L. Davison. He continued with the mill until it was sold to Johnson, Perry 40 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA' Company, in 1879. Mr. Culver helped to organize Winslow Post of G. A . R. number fifty-six, and was its first commander. In 1878 he married Miss Ada I. Davison and they are the happy parents of five children, Clarence C. Elwin E. , Fred D. , Harry H. and Lula. They were among the organizers of the Congregational church at Milford. Was one time vice-president of the Morris Lock Company of Seward. Was also for a time a stock farmer, at another time a coal dealer. He is one of the most widely known of our citizens and is wonderfully active in pushing public enterprises of his town and county. His zeal knows no bounds. When he sets his head to any enterprise, such a word as fail is unknown in his vocabulary. Through his determined will power the great mill was established. He was largely instrumen- tal in securing to Milford and the county the Atchison and Nebraska railroad. He was responsible for the locating of the soldier's home and the industrial home at Milford. He is a man of pronounced views, never afraid to speak his sentiments. Is an uncompromising republican in politics and a radical temperance man. His career would suggest that he is exceedingly fond of a soldier's life, but an intimate acquaintance proves the reverse. He is fond of home, loves peace, even if he has to fight for it, and has been a soldier from a sense of duty. Has for many years been a prominent figure in the state militia. When the war oroke out he lost no time in offering his sword to the government. Was a captain and served through the Philippine war with much credit. MILTON D. CAREY This young attorney, who came to Seward in 1891, was born in cold Minnesota, in Filmore County, in 186:5, Feb. 24th, but it was too chilly for his young blood and while a lad of five summers he went to Hamil- ton Co., Iowa. After a nine year stiuggle of college life he graduated at De Pauw LTnivei'sity at Greencastle. In 1894 he returned to Hamilton Co., where he married Miss Tersa Maxwell, who was raised at that home place but educated at Dixon, Ills. Mrs. Carey is a lady of fine attainments and has proved a valuable citizen of our city. In social circles and charitable works she takes great interest. She is a member of the Woman's Club and is a work- ing member of the Congregational chiirch. Mr. Carey has just finished serving his second term as county attorne}' with credit. In politics Mr. Carey has committed his fortunes to the Populist party and is considered a stalwart and uses his fluent tongue on every stump, to the entire satisfaction of his friends. Is becoming quite popular in his profession, and has had part in many important cases, including the great church trial of which our esteemed Rev. Father Murphy is a party. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 41 00 ■ 42 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA JACOB B. COCJRTRIGHT One that helped to lay the foundations in "N" Precinct, was born among the rocky hills of Lucerne County, Pa., in October, 1827, but found his way to Illinois, Lee County, in 1840, when it was wild prairie. At Dixon, on the banks of the beautiful Rock River, Jacob found Catherine Flack. She was born in November, 1822, in Blaine County, Pa. They raised eight children, viz: Eli, Henry, Ira. Sarah C. Wertman, Maggie A., James H.. Marv E. and Charles L. Mr. Courtright came to Seward County in 1874 and located in the eastern part of "N" Precinct, where he did his full share in developing that nevv land. He took great delight in the development of the fruit industry, and on another page will be found an able article from his pen on that subject, written many years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Courtright have finished their work and gone to their rest, "Full of years and good works." Mr. Courtright was a member of the A. F. and A. M. Church home was with the Evangelical Lutherans LEWIS G. CASTLE Was a soldier boy that had plenty of experiene. He enlisted in Co. A, 4th Wisconsin Vol. Infantry. He was with Ben Butler at New Orleans when the famous order was given that brought our southern sisters to terms. Was at Baton Rouche, at Port Hudson and Vicks- burg. Was on the famous Yazoo River expedition where the little wooden fleet ran into the rebel ram shielded with railroad iron. One vessel on which Mr. Castle was doing service, nineteen men out of twenty-one were killed in the one engagement. Mr. Castle was married to Miss Emugene ^I. Brant, Nov. 10, 1870, at Whitewater, Wis. She was born May 8th, 1848, at Lima, Wis. They have one son, Lewis H. Mr. and Mrs. Castle came to Seward county in May, 1871. and set- tled in "L" Precinct. He belongs to the Masonic Fraternity and the Woodmen of the World and "G. A. R. LEANDER S. CALLAHAN A man who has gone through enough of the rough and tumble of life that the incidents of his career worthy of note would till a whole volume. The 7th of Oct. , 1838, in Tompkins county. New York, Leander saw the light. The family moved to Alleghany County, where Leander grew to manhood. Enlisted in Co. E, 1st New York Dragoons, in 13th Volunteers, in 18()2, and was made Sergeant, and in December following promoted to 2nd Lieutenant, June. 1863. 1st Lieutenant, and Dec. 5th, 1864, to Captain and Brevet Major, and Brevet Lieutenant Colonel, March 3lst, 1865, by recomraondation of Gen. Talbert. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 43 Mr. Callahan participated in forty-four battles, besides numerous skii-mishes, commencing at Deserted Courthouse and ending at Appo- mattox. Was wounded three times; slightly once in the neck, once in the leg. and again in the arm. Was a guest of the notorious Mosby for eight weeks and enjoyed to the full the hospitality of the rebel chieftan, where he was permitted to trade his neat officer's uniform for a worn and tattered garb of some dead rebel. He was also a guest for eight weeks at the famous Hotel de Libbie, where buggy pea soup was served. He can tell you all about how nicely our boys fared in that hostlery of the South. What was left of him was exchanged in due time and his regiment was mustered out at Rochester, New York, July 19th. I860 Mr. Callahan was married in 1859, to Miss Annie M. Smith, of Angelica, New York. She was born April 5, 1842. She was left to struggle for life alone while her husband was following the Hag to victory in the South. There was born to them one daughter, Margaret H. They have two grandchildren, Leander and Lizzie M., both with the old folks. Mr. and Mrs. C. are members of the Congregational Church. He is a Mason. The family came west in 1867. Has been postmaster in Germantown for eight yars. CAPT. ROBERT T. COOPER One of the most gentlemanly and big-hearted men, was born in Stevenson County, 111^. , near where this author perambulated. He swam in the old Pecatonica, chased the cows, and fished, in his boyhood days. Born in 1842,and amidst these beautiful surroundings grew to manhord. In 1861 he cauget sight of the star spangled banner and heard the drum beat, and of course he enlisted at the first opportunity in the 46th Ills. Infantry, Co. B. In a short time he earned the star of 2nd Lieutenant, then the First Lieutenant and in 1865 was promoted to the Captaincy; was discharged in 1866. The young man returned to his native home and was honored twice by Stevenson County as treasurer, 1869 and 1871. He came to Seward in 1874 and his first work here was to build Ihe Cooper and Henderson mills, two miles south of the city. He helped to organize the G.A.R. Post No. 3. Was in 1881 elected County Treasurer of Seward County and re-elected in 1883. Was defeated for County Clerk in 1885. but triumphantly elected in 1887, over the same opponent. Is a strong and uncompromising republican from his youth. He is a man of good parts, generous and obliging, wide awake in all worthy enterprises. The fall of 1887 brought him many favors and triumi)hs. First he gained favor with a splendid woman. Miss Emma D. Brenizer, and married her Sept. 24th. Next he was voted a gold headed cane for good looks, then voted the clerkship of the County in November. Pretty well done for one season. Mrs. Cooper died in March, 1893. To them were born two children, one died in infancy and the lovely girl of five years died shortly afterwards. 44 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA FRANK F. CONELEY An Irish American boy bom in Washington County, New York, Oct. 20, 1862. The family worked their way westward and landed in Seward County in 1873 and settled in "F" precinct on what is yet known as the old Coneley farm. Married May 8th, 1885, to Miss Louisa McGrath. She was born March Iftth. 18(38, at LaSalle, Illinois. Children born, viz: Frank, Clara. Leo. Ernest. Clyde, (Mary and Lizzie died in infancy) and Vincent. Mr. Coneley owns a good farm. Church home is with the Catholics. Mr. Coneley buried his mother in July, 1895, and his aged father, Patrick Coneley. in March, 1903. The old man was ninety years old. MARTIN CASTLE One of the pioneers of "C" Precinct was born April 12th, 1849, in Mercer Co , Ills., where he remained on his father's farm until grown, when he beheld the bright western star and took the trail that led to Seward Co. and to fortune. He found an excellent homestead in Sec. 34, "C" Town, and captured it in 1870. He batched it and improved the farm and after awhile concluded that man should not live alone. So Mart proposed to Miss Emma Burhans and as Mart was a pretty good bachelor, Emma said yes (of coui-se). They were married March 14th, 1878. She was a Wisconsin girl, born in Sauk Co. , Dec. 25th, 18(51, and came with her parents to Seward Co. when a child Their children are not yet named. Martin belongs to the United Workmen and the M. W. A. Church home is with the Presbyterian people at Staplehurst. DIEDRICH BANKERS One of our oldest citizens who located in the Middle Creek Wilder- ness, July. 18(i9. on homestead section 26 "I" Town, where he has helped to make the waste places glad. Was born in Hanover, Germany, December 21, 1843. At twenty-four he crossed the briny deep and made his home at Fondulac, Wisconsin, in 1867. From appearance of things we take it that his best girl led the way to Nebraska. In Nebraska City. October 17, 1869, he married Miss Annie Mej^er. She was born in Hanover and came to this country in her young girlhood. • Born Seiitomber 20, 1844. They have eight children and one died in infancy. Names are as follows: Margaret, now Mrs. John Klindtworth, Annie, Christopher. Mary, now Mrs. W. PoUman, Minnie, John, Louisa and Caroline. ISIr. Dankers served in the Hanovarian army in the war with Prussia and was in the battle of Langen Salza. He has served the people of our county ten years as supervisor, eight years from "I" precinct and two years from the fifth district. He is a man of wide influence and a first class citizen. Church home is with the Lutherans. CAPTAIN JOHN S. DILLENBECK A New York boy that took Greeley's advice and never rested till he found the trail that led to Nebraska, was born in Jefferson County, HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 45 January 19, 1841, just after the log cabin and hard cider campaign. What time the lad was not in school he spent in the ordinary pursuits of the farmer boy, picking stones and hauling them on a stone boat, raking hay with a hand rake, in the stumpy meadows and husking corn in the barn winter evenings. J. S. Dillenbeck While yet a lad of twenty, he heard the drum beat calling to arms and in 1861 he enlisted and was sent to Virginia under General McClellan and was at Chancellorsville, Second Bull Run, Antietam and Mannassas Junction. Enlisted in the 20th New York cavalry and was soon promoted to the 2nd lieutenancy with Company B, then in January, 1865, was promoted to the first lieutenancy and assigned to Company L and just before his final discharge was breveted captain. When the war was over, Captain returned to the old home and to the best girl he had left behind him, and December 25, 1867, was married to Miss Lizzie Gates, of Washington County, New York. She was born at Waltham, Massachusetts, January 19, 1849. There were born seven children. Three died in infancy and four are yet at home, viz: John W. , Lydia M., Wilford L. . and Maude E. The family came to Seward County in May 1878 and took a homestead in "P" precinct and since that date captain Dillenbeck has proved a wide wake, enterprising citizen. Has a long time been much interested 46 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA in the County Agricultural Society and is at this writing a leading member of the board of County supervisors. Some years ago gold was discovered on the Captain s iand, which we will notice particularly in another article. Mrs. J. S.Dillenbeck We note that Captain Dillenbeck had some honors at his old home where he vvas elected sheriff and served four years in Saratoga County. He was also in the mercantile business for a number of years. He came from old revolutionary stock. His maternal grandfather, George Lintiner, was a soldier of the revolution. INIrs. Dillenbeck traces her ancestry back to the Mayflower and Plymouth rock. She is an amiable and intelligent lady of New England culture, where she spent a number of years as teacher, after receiving a thorough education at Charlestovvn. Massachusets. HON. GEORGE A. DERBY One of the very earliest settlers in "E" precinct, was born March 5, 18^0, in Licking County, Ohio, where he grew to manhood and married Miss Miranda H. Brown, March 1, 1843. She was a native of Vermont born in Orange County, January 1844. They were the parents HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 47 of fourteen children, twelve of whom lived to he men and women, viz : Orin A., Emily E. , died at eighteen. Marilla N., now Mrs. S. M. Brown, AlonzoF. , Clara E., late Mrs. C. S. Stewart, Mercy A., now Mrs. H. Vanderboof, George G., Frank N., Scott B. , now deceased. Hon. G. A. Derby • The next two died in early infancy. William S. , now dead, Minnie E., now Mrs. R. B. Carter, and Roderick, now dead. Mr. Derb}- came to the vicinity where Utica now stands and opened a farm in 1872. The reader is kindly referred to the history of Utica for much of Mr. Derby's life work. Mrs. Derby died April 29, 1893, and Mr. Derby, full of years and full of labors, followed to the long home July 12, 1901. He was a faithful member for many years of the I. O. O. F. The M. E. church was the family church home. Mr. Derby was a very valuable citizen of the county for nearly thirty years. HON. WILLIAM R. DAVIS One of the oldest residents of Nebraska and also one of the oldest and certainly one of the most respected citizens of Seward County. Was born of humble parentage in Yadkin County, Noi'th Carolina, November 26, 1824. In that Southern land the boy bad but meagre opportunities to secure an education. It is unnecessary for us to tell the thousands of his acquaintances that Mr. Davis, by dint of his own indomitable will 48 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA and perseverance encircled as he was in his j'outh and young manhood, by every discouragement, poverty, a poor community, illiterate, and poor environments of every kind, but for all that he became a most thoroughly intelligent man and a man of affairs. His life work even in Nebraska, if proijerly told, would fill a volume Mrs. G. A. Derby even larger than this. He married Miss Margaret A. Bohannan of his native place. Of this lady we are permitted to know but little, but we are certain that she must have been a noble wife and good mother, sharing with her young husband the hard labor and trials incident to the removal from the old home to Nebraska, then a wilderness. The grand impress she left upon her young family tells the story most eloquently. Children born of this union were eight, two ot whom died in infancy. Rebecca, now Mrs. J. N. Beaty ; Anice, now deceased the former wife of Mac Towner of Ulysses, Nebraska ; Martha, now deceased the widow of Jasper Roberts, now also deceased. Abner Y. , and Major A. V. , now of Seward and Josephine, now Mrs. A. C. Hull of Hastings, Nebraska. The young couple moved all the long and weary way with an ox team to Iowa in 1852. In 1857 they settled at Rock Bluflf, Cass County, Nebraska. They were among the noble band of pioneers who first settled the infant territory. His worth was soon recognized by his neighbors and was elected a member of the third session of the legisla- ture. His work was so faithful that he was re-elected to the fourth and HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 49 again to the fifth sessions. In the svimmer of 1862 he was appointed assistant assessor of internal revenue and in that capacity traversed all the- settled portions of the territory. He enlisted in the army in 1864, December 10, 1864. His wife died while he was at the front and at his Hon, W. R. Davis request he was discharged under special order number 155, April 17, 1865. After his return home he was immediately appointed assistant assessor of internal revenue in the Plattsmouth district. While crossing the plains in his official work the author of this book became acquainted with Mr. Davis. In following a blind trail across the Middle Creek prairie, he became lost and blundered onto our cabin at Salt Basin, at eleven o'clock at night. He was well nigh starved so that a shelter was welcome, where i"est and food was to be had. August, 1866, he married Miss Hannah C. Colman, who j-et lives 50 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA and is a resident at their old home in Seward. To them were born : Frank R., now of Grand Junction, Colorado; Nellie R., yet at Seward. In the spring of lS(jS the family removed to Seward where we had a name but no town. In company with his son in-law, J. N. Beaty, he opened the first store in the new town and it was the second store in the county. They continued in the general merchandise Imsiness under the firm name of Beaty and Davis most of the time till 1878. He remained a very active business man up to the date of his last sickness. lu 1899, with the assistance of his sons he laid the foundation of the great grocery house that yet bears his name. Through all the long years of his residence Mr. Davis was a most valuable citizen, a good neighbor, kind friend and worthy Christian gentleman. In all laudable enterprises he was ever ready to render all possible assistance. He united with the M. E. church when quite young and became a most earnest and faithful worker for his Lord and Master. He was, by his church, licensed to preach but was never in the regular work of the ministry although frequently preaching as a local minister. Was an earnest champion in the temperance field frequently speaking on temperance and kind];ed subjects, with excellent results. He had a most honorable part in advancing the development of the city and county, devoting much time ana energy to many public enter- prises and charities. On the 28rd of July, 1899, full of years and full of honoi-s, the Master called him home. ABNKR Y. DAVIS Claims to be a native of Jasper County, Iowa, where he was born December 29, 1856 but he came to Nebraska so long ago that he can't remember when. The first he knew iie was down among the hills at Rock Bluffs in Cass County where he spent his early youth. At twelve we find the lad in Seward where he grew to manhood. He was among the very first to fish in the river here, to chase the cows and the rabbits over these prairies. Was educated in the city schools. Along about 1876, Abner went to the mountains where he spent four years looking for the yellow metal. He found some and returned to the old home where he took interest with E. H. Polley in the jewelry business for five years. In the meantime Father Simpson took Abner's best girl away off to western Kansas but Abner followed up and captured his prize January 23, 1881, when he and Elizabeth Simpson were married in Decatur County, Kansas. She was born February 28, 1859. in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, and came to Seward in childhood. They are now the parents of five children, viz. Ruth F. , now Mrs. George Harvey; Laura M., Ethel C. Major S. and William R. Mr. Davis resided on a homestead in Decatur County, Kansas, for three years when he returned to the place of his first love and took an interest in the grocery house of W. R. Davis & Sons, where he has been interested now for over twenty years. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 51 He ih a member of the A. F. and A. M. and the A. O. U. W Church home of the family is with the Presbyterians. MAJOR A. V. DAVIS Who came to Seward a barefoot boy before Seward had anything in the way of improvements but surveyois' stakes, was born in Cass County, Nebraska, May 10, 18«1. He got his first schooling in the old log cabin where he had lots of fun with the other l)oys in this "wild and woolly west." Major always did like fun and he had plenty of it. Was educated in the Seward schools and while yet a boy in 187') he helped his father in laying the foundation of the great grocery house of the present. Was married to Miss Lillian Davies, June 20, 1894. She was born in England May 24, 18(58. Major, as we all call him, is a rustler in business and is one of those who have been longest in the merchantile business in Seward. GEORGE DAVIS Came to Seward County when a lad of eighteen and helped his father open a farm on section 22, in "J" precinct and here he still lives. He was born in Richland County, Wisconsin, November 13, 1861. One fine day in the fall of 1897, October 21, he sti'ayed off to Lincoln wheie he had found his gril, Miss Hannah J. Statt, and was married. She was an Iowa girl born in Wright County, March 19, 1877. She came to Nebraska in 1897, probably just to accommodate George. They have one little boy, Herman H. He still lives on the old farm upon which the family settled in 1879 and George knows how to take good care of it and has it well improved and he is at this time engaged in breeding Duroc Jersey swine, of which he has a fine herd of thorough- breds. JOHN DALTON The 1)oy that came might}' near being an Irishman but who is a genuine American all the same. He was really, and no mistake about it, born among the bogs of old Ireland, June 24, 1853, and it happened in this way: John's father and mother were visiting in Ireland to re- cuperate health when John came along. He did not stay long, but came home with the old folks when a babe, to LaPorte, Indiana. Here John grew to manhood and learned the carriage ironer's trade and worked at that trade until he came to Seward County in 1878. He bought a farm in section 19, in "A" precinct, then happened to remember the girl he had left behind bira and made haste to La Porte, where he married Miss Nora A. Condon, February 10, 1880. She was a native hoosier, born January 22, 1856. The young folks took a pleasure ride to Nebraska and commenced their life with us. They have five children, viz: Bernard W., Thomas W.. Erma R., Ella 52 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA M. , and Nona C. Mr. Dalton has been assessor in ''A" jirecinct one term and fonr in "B" precinct. Was chairman of the county board of supervisors five years. Was on the board of directors of the Agricul- tural Society, was live stock commissioner under Governor Holcomb. Mr. Dalton is a Modern Woodman. His church home is with the Catholics. Mr. Dalton is a thoroughly wide awake citizen and has served his county well. He owns a splendid farm near the village of Bee. DR. CHARLES W. DOTY Was born at Darlington, Wisconsin, June 10th, 1861, and spent his boyhood days there and June 4, 1891, he married Miss Jane C. Schreiter. The young doctor came to Nebraska in 1882, before he took his biide and had commenced his practice at Cordova, in 1888. He out- grew Cordova in a short time and moved to a more promising held at Beaver Crossing where he has now i)raeticed his profession for eleven years. They have two children, viz: Helen and David. Charles commenced his career in the west as drug clerk at Friend then studied medicine, graduating at Rush Medical College in 1888, and has for years been very successful and enjoys a large and growing practice. He is United States pension examiner. He is president of Seward County Medical Society. Has been twice coroner of the county. Was first president of the Seward County Telephone Company. He is a wide-awake fellow, to say the least. JAMES A. DOWDING An English lad born at Monmouthshire May 19, 1858. When eight years old crossed the great ocean with his parents and found a new home at Bnda, Bureau Cftnnty, Illinois. There he remained during his boyhood and where he found Miss Emma S. Roberts, an English girl, who was born May 'SO, 18()3, at Canar Pion, England. They were married at Buda, April 24, 1880, and seven years later they found the Nebraska trail and landed in Seward, October 2!}, 1887. They have four children, viz: Rubie M., Lewis E. , Nellie M. and William A. Mr. Dowding lost the Nebraska trail for awhile among the ever- lasting hills of Marengo County, Iowa, but after awhile he found it and landed safely at Seward. Mr. Dowding is a most competent and skilled jeweler and has a neat and tasty shop in Seward, whei'e his friends will always find the same genial and courteous gentleman. He is a member of the Knights of the Maccabees and also member of the Tribe of Ben Hur, THOMAS L. DAVIES Was an English boy born in Gloucester.shire, October 20, 1859, but found America at twelve and by degrees he worked westward until in HISTORY OP SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 53 1883 we find the 3'onng man at Utioa where his parents located and where his father located the first banking house of the village. (The' CJtica Bank. ) Thotnas was a frequent visitor at Seward where he found Miss Nellie, sister of Hon. R. E. Dunphy, and June 14, 1888, they were married. Mrs. Davies was born at Darlington, Wisconsin, January, 18()0. They have two children, Reginald E. and Dorothy L. Mr. Davies James P. Dunham was thoroughly schooled in the lumber trade and controls a very com- plete and extensive yard at Utica. He is a member of the A. F. and A. M. Tne church home is with the Presbytei-ians. ' Mr. Davies is classed among the leading citizens of Utica. JAMES P. DUNHAM Twice councilman and twice mayor of the city of Seward. Was born in Crawford, New Jersey, February 8, 18-53. At twenty he found 54 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA the way to the Western prairies and settled down to business as contract- or and builder at Mendota, Illinois, where he married Miss Emma E. McGinnis, December 6, 1877. The following April we find the young people at Sevvaid, Nebraska. Mrs. Dunham was born at Rome. New York, January 7, 1854, and came to Mendota in her girlhood. Two children came to bless the new western home, viz : Leila M. and Frances A., both yet at home with the widowed mother. Frances is a teacher in the city schools Mr. Dunham was a prominent con- tractor and builder and has left many monuments of his handiwork in the city and county, among which is the splendid M. E. church edifice in Seward. In later years he established the Seward planing mill. His life was an active one He served the city two terms as councilman and was serving the second term as mayor when death called him, October BO, 1902. He was a member of ttie I. O. O. F. and Encampment. He was also a member of the M. W. A. and United Workmen. MICHAEL DUNIGAN Was a son of the emerald isle, born in 1836. Mike had too much love of freedom in his soul to spend his life in a land ruled with a rod of iron. At seventeen he had caught a glimpse of our broad stripes and bright stars and he determined to have a home beneath their ample folds. He came to this country in 1853, traveled over several states and located in Knox County, Illinois, in 1856. Mike loved his new home and was willing to fight for it and in 1862 he enlisted in Company D, 64th Illinois infantry and was in all the sanguinary engagements of his regiment. Was with Sherman from the first and followed him to the sea. In 1871 he located on the present home place in "B" precinct and was among the first to settle in that locality. Mr. Dunigan found Miss Mary E. Shumaker in Illinois in 1866 after he returned from the war and they were married. They have nine children, viz: Jacob N., Mary B., now^ Mrs. S. J. Person; Emma C. , now Mrs. N. T. Hara.i'ain ; Katy, Delia, now Mrs. Harry Church; Effa M., now Mrs. H. Church; Clara M. , John H. , Benjamin H. , and Nellie M. Mr. Dunigan served his precinct one term as supervisor and the county ixnder the old regime three terms as county commissioner and this speaks volumes for him as he is an unswerving democrat and was elected twice by a strong republican county. He is universally consid- ered an enterprising, valuable citizen, very liberal in his dealings and well respected. He loves his adopted country Vmt never forgets the wrongs suffered by his native land. He is a successful farmer. The village of Bee is located on part of his farm. He is a charter member of Oliver Lodge number 38, A. F. and A. M. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 55 HERMAN DIERS Is one of the first and certainly one of the foremost and successfixl merchants of Seward. Was born March 23, 1845, at Rutteb Oldenberg, (xermany. At twelve j^ears of age Herman somehow caught sight of "Old Glory, " else he saw the bright star in the West and he was ready and anxious to brave the dangers of the great sea, that lie might have a home in the great free America. In 1857 Herman landed in Clayton County, Iowa, with his parents where he grew too manhood. In 18(59 he found the trail which led to Seward County and in the spring of 1870 he built a frame store building on the' corner where his present fine brick now stands and commenced that long and successful career as a merchant. From that day to this the story of his life is an important link in the history of Seward. He is ahvays to the front in matters of l)ublic enterprise His mercantile career has brought him fortune and friends. He has been a leader in the work of his church Has taken a great interest in the Seward German College. In 1871 Mr. Diers found his noble helpmeet in life. Miss Anna C. Shulte, and was married April 4th near the site of the old stone church on Middle Creek by the Rev. Carl T. Gruber. Mrs. Diers was an Ohio girl born in Aglaize County. December 8, 1849. They have six children, viz: William F. , who died when six years and eight months old; Louis H. , John Herbert, Theodore C. , Elvin F. , and Anna M. Mr. Diers has been frequently honored with places of trust. Has now retired from active business and is enjoying his green old age, surrounded by hundreds of friends. In 1878 he built the fine business block that uiers Brothers now occupy. We heartily wish that Seward County had a very large herd of such Deers as Herman. WILLIAM Q. DICKENSON A young man who caine to Seward County in 1878 and settled on a farm south west of Seward and soon became so ]3opular that he held the honoi'able position of supervisor for about fourteen \ears. William was born of highly respected parents at Danvers, in McLean Countv, Illinois in 1853. Married Miss Celle A. Warlon, in 1881. Mrs. Dickenson is a most worthy lady of very high standing in Seward where they made their home for a number of years. Having no children, they have adopted the young daughter of Dr. Skeede, Bessie, a bright girl of nine summers. Mr. and Mrs. Dickenson take great delight in her advanc- ment and education. CHARLES A. DAVIDSON A Milford boy born October 17, 1874. Was raised on his father's farm one and a half miles east of town. Was educated in the village schools. In his youth saw much of pioneer life and drank to the full of its joys and sorrows. Married May 29, 1901, to Miss Delia B Hughes, 56 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA an Iowa girl who came to Milford in her youth in 1886. They have two children, little Jones Perry and Gertrude Irene, just born to the happy parents the day the subscription to this book was taken, August 15,1904. Mr. Davidson resides on a farm one mile south of the village. Belongs to the Maccabees and has been its Commander; is also a United Workman. The family are members of the Congregational church. MARIN W. DIMERY One of the Seward County boys that has come to the front and will make his mark in the world. Was born January I'i, 1878, at the little old cross roads town, Beaver Cr(!ssing, at that time an outpost of civilization. His early youth was largely spent fishing m his father's mill pond and attending the public schools. After awhile he took a notion to become a lawyer and went to our state university and graduated in the Jaw department in the class ot 1901 and was at once admitted to practice in all the courts of Nebiaska. Then he went to the Indian territory where after a rigid examination was admitted to practice in the United States Courts, in the spring of 1903. He belongs to the I. O. O. F., A. F. and A. M. and R'-yal Highlanders. After a little wandering he returned to the home of his childhood and opened a law office. He is an ardent republican and wide aw alee to the interests of his party and state and at this writing candidate for the state senate fur Butler and Seward counties. He is a young rustler and if he is eletecd we will have a senator worthy the wide-awake people of these counties. He is an energetic citizen and will leave no stone unturned that will help his people. Mr, Dimery was elected by a large majority. RICHARD L. DIXON An English boy, born July 9, 1875, and found Seward in his early boyhood, at the tender age of six. Here he grew up and was educated in our schools and has become a pretty good American boy. In 1901. October 24, he married a native girl, Miss Marie Hageman. Sne was born on her father's homestead December 2(5, 1876. They have one little boy, William S. Mr. Dixon is a member of the A. O. U. W. Mr. Dixon is a grow- ing young man. JAMES P. DUNLAP Was a Missouri lad bnrn in Gascondade County, March 5,1845. His parents went to Illinois for fi while but returned to Missoiiri and remained until the war marie it a little too warm. He came to Nebraska and married Miss Christinna Campbell, February 22, 1870, in Saunders County. She was born in 1848 in Scotland. They have five children as follows: Nelson C. , Agnes, now Mrs. H. N. Ljnn ; Christiana, Patience, now Mrs. R. S. Boyd ; and Lewis. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 57 The family located at Dwight in Butler County, in 1809. where in connection with general farming he began the nursery business and has furnished the farmers of Seward and Butler counties many beautiful orchards. Mr. Dunlap is a member of the A. F. and A. M. He belonged to the Home Guards in Missouri. HON. RODERICK E. DUNPHY From the wilds of Wisconsin Territory in Lafayette County, near Darlington, came our veteran carriage maker. He was born July 5, 1848. Amid the wild surroundings of the new territory he spent his boyhood days and learned the blacksmith trade in his native county and in 1873 he went to the city of Rockford, Illinois, where he followed his trade. In 1872 he married Miss Elizabeth Gregory. April 11. She was a native of Devonshire. England. They raised two children, viz: Gay B. now Mrs F. Langworthy ; and Homer. Mrs. Dunphy died at Seward, Dpcember 21, 1886. Mr. Dunphy made his home in Seward in 1879. where he opened a wagon and carriage shop, which business he has now conducted sucessfully twenty-five years. In 1892 he built the commodious two story brick shop and ware- house. June 28, 1888, Mr. Dunphy was again married to Miss May Mentzer, of Rockford, Illinois. She was born in Rockford March 23, 18Ti7, and came to Seward in 1880 and spent some years here as diessmakei but h;id returned to her native home. There have been born to them five children, viz: Nicholas R. , Robert P., and Hariet. Two died in infancy. Mr. Dunphy has served four years as councilman of our city. In 1882 was elected state senator and was considered a very active and efficient member. He is at present a member of our school board and has lent his time largely to the building of our grand new temple of learning. He is a wide-awake democrat and is always a leader in the councils of his party. Mr. Dunphy is an enterprising valuable citizen, always ready to lend a helping hand in building up Seward and Sew^ard County. H. HOWEL DUPIN Came to life and light in a dugout five miles northwest of Seward October 30, 1870. He was truly a thoroughbred Nebraskan. Was edu- cated in the Seward schools and clerked many years for his father in the county clerk's office, also in the post office. Married Miss Marie Andrus November 6, 1895, at Seward. She was also born in the county at her father's homestead east of Seward , March 23, 1874. He accepted a position with Swift's Company at South Omaha in July, 1898, and has never yet been on a strike. He has better sense. He is a member of Alpha Camp No.l. at Omaha. The church home is Methodist. 58 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA JOHN ERB Was a Canadian boy born in Perth County, February 2, 186fi. Came to ^lilford when a lad of twelve. November 27, 1889, he married Miss Mary A. Miller, at the Amish churt-h. She vv-as an Ohio girl, born May 3, IHfiT, in Holmes County. There were born to them six children, viz : Peter, now dead ; Sarah, Lizzie, John, Lewis and Mattie. Mr. Erb came to Seward County in 1878 and now lives two miles west of Milf'ord. Has been a fanner from the start. Church home is with the Amish Menonites. John Englehautt One of Milford's oldest and best business men. Was born in Bavaria, October 2:^, 1854. The parents came to this country when John was a young lad and settled in Buffalo, New York. There he grew to manhood and received his education. Sometime in the seventies he found his way to Crete, Nebraska, where he married Miss Hannah Hajek of Crete, in 1881. There were born to them three children, two of whom died in infancy and Louie, yet at the parental home. Mrs. Englehauft died seven years later and in 1889. February 28, he married Miss Louisa Gerstenberger, who was born at Davis, Stevenson County. Illinois in 1861. She came to Seward County in 1885. Mr. Englehauft came to Milford in 1879 and has from the start baen prominent in business circles, first as contractor and builder and for many years a lumber merchant, up to the time of his death. Was originator of the Fanners' and Merchants' Bank and was its first president. Was a Mason in high standing. He was a Woodman, HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 59 also a Workman. Ahva.ys a staunch republican in politics. Mr. Engle- hauft was a verj' valuable citizen. Died June 20. 1903, after a short but very painful illness. Mrs. Englehauft is a member of the Congregational church, also of the Rebeccas and the Eastern Star Lodge and the Royal Neighbors. GEORGE ENGLEHAUPT One of the very first settlei's in "N" precinct, was born September 21, 1855, in Marshall County, Illinois. Came with his parents to the wilderness in 1864, when a lad of nine years. He had all sorts of exper- iences on this wild frontier, when hunting, fishing and holding Indians at bay was largely the business of life. April 8, 1897. George married Miss Etta M. Brown at his home on section 22, "N" town. She was born in Will County, Illinois, December 27. 1864. They have three little ones, viz: Jennie M.. Harry B. and Edna. Ml-. Englehaupt owns the old homestead of his father on the banks of the South Blue. HON. JOHN J. ENDICOTT Another of the young, brave fellows that dared to push out into the wilderness in 1871 and lay the foundations of a home and fortune John was born January 16, 1849, in Des Moines County, Iowa. Was left an orphan at eleven when he went to Indiana and remained till of age. He was the kind of lad to easily catch the western fever and at twenty- two we find him a Seward County citizen. By and by he somehow caught sight of a young Scottish girl in Saline County and December 27, 1876, they were married. Miss Catherine Connell was born in Scot- land at Glasgow, February 28,1854, and came to Canada when an infant and to Nebraska when fifteen. They -are the parents of four children, three yet living, viz : EstelleE. , Herman J., Eva, died in infancy; and Myrtle A. Mr. Endicott settled on the present home farm, section 35, in "N" Town in 1871. He soon became prominent in political circles and in 1899 he was elected member of the house of represenatives. Mr. Endicott claims to be a democrat of the strictest sect. He has made quite a successful farmer and has by industry accumulated a neat little fortune. JOHN EVANS A furniture dealer at Beaver Crossing, was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1833; at ten he went to Maryland and a little later to Illinois. Married Miss Lonisa Hartn)an. Children born to them are Annie E. , now Mrs. E. Vanskike; Emma, now Mrs. M. D. Johnson; John L. , George A., James C. and Mamie, now Mrs. J. Calder. The family came to Nebraksa in 1879 and settled in 'K" precinct in 1879. Moved into the village in the spring of 1904. Mr. Evans is a wide awake genial old gentleman. Their church home is with the Evangelical people. 60 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA CHARLES C. EVANS A most successful inventor, was born near Baltimore, Maryland, in 1859, July 25. Started westward in 1868 and halted in Bureau County, Illinois, until 1879, when he came to Beaver Crossing and farmed ten years, then was in the implement trade at Harvard for over three years, when he returned to Beaver Crossing and has been engaged in the windmill and pump business. Has lately invented a unique machine for putting down wells, that will revolutionize the well boring business. He h.is .iust completed fourteen wells for the Northwestern Railroad to the entire satisfaction of the company. We are pleased to give our readers a beautiful cut of this machine. C. C. Evans' Well Machine WILLIAM W. EVANS Was born at Danville, Pennsylvania, August 25, 1841. Moved with parents to Wilksbarre in early childhood. In 1848 they went to Duncan, west of Harrisburg, and there the boy grew to manhood, learned the puddler's trade, also the roller and refiner's trade. Eleven years later he went to Columbia and worked at his trade. He worked four years at Chester and later he worked on the north branch of the Susquehanna river. In 1872 he married Miss Isabel B. Bentz. To them were born six chiLlren. Charles F., Ralph G., Bertha A., who died March 10, 1894: Uiihel C. , Esther E. , and Ara. • The family moved to Illinois in 1878 and to Saline County in 1879 and opened a farm and in 188(i came to Beaver Crossing where he opened another farm. Came to Seward in 1896 and engaged in the draying business. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 61 Mr. Evans is an industrious, kindhearted citizen. Is a member of the K. P. Lodge. Mrs. Evans was born in Lancaster County, Penn- sylvania. She is a member of the Lutheran church. EARL D. EAGER Was a Nebraska born boy that came to light at FuUerton, December 25, 1879, but was on the look for a better place and found it at Beaver Crossing when two years old, where he has grown up and is now connected with the great Eager mercantile house. Earl captured one of the girls at the Crossing and was married June 9, 1899, She was born in Illinois, October 9, 1880. Mr. Eager is a member of the M. W. A. and Royal Highlanders. DAVID H. FIGARD Soldier and pioneer, farmer and treasurer. Was l)orn in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, July 10, 1841, where he grew to manhood amid the rocks, hills and coal banks. Was married to Miss Amy Anderson March 17, 1860. She was born in the same locality. The family consisted of five children. One died in infancy. Elizabeth, who grew to womanhood here but passed away in June 19,1897. Liicinda died in 1899. The two boys, Henry and Silas, are yet citizens of this locality. Mr. and Mrs. Figai"d came to Seward County in the spring of 1867 and took a homestead in"F" precinct, where they resided until he was elected treasurer of the county in 1885, which office he held two terms. Mr. Figard «*nlisted in Company C, lB3d Pennsylvania regiment, August 8, 1862, discharged May 26, 1863. He was quite an active member of the ti. A. R. Post No. 3, in Seward. ,Was also a prominent Odd Fello'.". He passed away February 14, 1900, very suddenly, although he had been in poor health for .some years. SILAS FIGARD Here is a young man to the manor born. The son of D. H. Figard and was born on the old homestead four miles northwest of Seward. Silas was born in 1869. Worked on the farm and attended the country school during his boyhood. The family moved to Seward in 1885 and the boy helped his father in the county treasurer's office and afterward in the first national bank, later he spent four years in Chicago where he was employed in an electrical establishment. In 1901 became connected with the Seward dry goods and millinery house which establishment he, with Miss Anderson and Miss Kriljbler founded. He has stepped to the front as a business man. Became a member of the M E. church at an early age and has become a very active and valuable member, always ready for any Christian duty. He is a very liV)eral supporter of any- laudable enterprise in which the church or community is interested. 62 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 63 DAVID FEIGION A German that longed for a home in a better land and had the cour- age to In-eak away from the old environment and found a home with ua in Seward County in August 25, 1885. Mr. Feigion was born Octolier 31, 184:^), and married Miss Marie Trenkle, May 25, 1874, in Germany. She was born Deceiril)er 15, 1854 Six children came to bless their home, viz: Frederick W., Charles W., Christian D. , Marie C. . Jacob J. and Herman D. The family located at Seward in 1885 but are now farming three miles southeast of the city. Mr. Feigion is a very intelligent and worthy citizen. Church home of the family is with the German Evangelical people at Seward. HENRY FIGARD Came pretty near having the honor of being a Seward County boy. Born in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, in 1866 and landed here in the early spring of 1867. Grew up on his father's homestead and is so much in love with it that he still resides upon it and for many years has managed it quite successfully. His eduaction was gained in the common schools and the great school of the business world. He is a stock grower and dealer and seems to thoroughly understand nis busi- ness. Church home is with the M. E. people. JOHN VV. FIGARD Was born among the rocky hills of old Pennsylvania February 6, 1850, but when a lad of seventeen he found a way out of the woods and landed in Seward County in the eaily spring of 1867 and was one of the early pioneers of "F" precinct and although he had to wait four years to become of the proper age he secured a homestead on section 12 of that township. John worked as a farm hand and saved his money and improved his farm and after a while he got acquainted with Uncle Joseph Slonecker and asked for his daughter. So John and Emely were married Novemlier 15, 1876. She was born December, 1858, in Mc- Donough County, Illinois, and came to :Seward County in 1875 with her parents. John and Emely did pretty well as they are the parents of eleven childen as follows: Ernest L. , Charles E, Lutie M., Mary M., Joseph H., Ina F., Eva B., Jennie G., Phillip H., one unnamed son died in infancy, and Ruth E. The home is five and one half miles northwest of Seward. Mr. Figard has been an active member of the A. O. U. W. since 1893. At sixteen he united with the Church of God but there was no organiza- tion here of that church ;in 1891 he united with the United Brethren at Seward and is an active worker in the Masters vineyard. When John left the old home his sister presented him with an old time 8-cent piece which he has faithfully kept to the present, but once in the long ago he was compelled to pawn it for a postage stamj) to pay postage on a letter to the dear ones at home. He redeemed it in due time. John don't have to borrow three cents any more to pay postage. 64 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA WILLIAM S. FORD Was a Kansas born boy that put in an appearance at Atchison, April 18, 1857. We suppose he took an active part with the Free State men. He moved to McHenry County, Illinois, to be I'aised, but some- how found his way to Neliraska in 1878 and located on section 2. Town 12, Range 3, where he resided until 19U1, when he sold out and moved to Filmore County. He came with $200 wealth and left with some more than he brought. Married Miss Martha M. Clapp June 26, 1881, in Butler County. She was born April 11, 1863. in Coles Cc-unty. Illinois, and came to Nebraska in childhood, in 1867. They have eight children, viz: Will- iam. Verne R., Blanche M.. Bertha A., Clee J., Ray G. , Ethel M. , and a baby girl that died in infancy. Church home i>i with the U. B. folks and helped to organize the church at Pleasant Prairie in 1885, Rev. John J. Lohr pastor. Later the church was moved to Bee, where Mr. Ford was superintendent of Sabbath school fourteen years. GEORGE FOSTER Was a pioneer homesteader near the old walnut creek ranch in sec- tion 6, "N" Town, in September 1869. George was born on one of the blue clay hills of Butler County, Ohio, March 9, 1836. When a child his parents moved to Indiana. but at seventeen he took the back track. But the old hills had lost their charm for him and he turned his face westward and at twenty-one he found an Iowa girl, Miss M. J. Linch, and was married September 29, 1857, in Henry County, Iowa. She was born October 16. 1838, in Indiana. They had three children. One died in infancy and Cora D. , now Mrs. D. Smith; and Nancy E., now Mrs. B. A. Wash. Mr. Foster got to Iowa in time to enlist in the 4th Iowa cavalry and was made saddlery sergeant. He was at Vicksburg, Selma and Colum- bus, Georgia. Mrs. Foster died November 12, 19U1. Mr. Foster married the second wife, Mrs. Mary E. Ramey, of York, Nebraska. She was born Jan- uary 22, 1846, in Decatur County, Indiana. Mr. Foster is a member of the G. A. R. Family church home, Methodist. The old peoi'la have recently moved to Seward where they enjoy a neat and comfortable home THOMAS J. FOSTER Another of the sixty miners who came and helped to blaze the way for the multitude who followed. Thomas was born in Missouri in 1843, June 2, but sought the freer air of Illinois, at a tender age. Somehow his eye was turned westward and next we find him in Iowa in Davis County, then in Madison County and in 1869 he found the right place on a homestead near Beaver Crossing. While in Madison County, Iowa, he found in Miss Rebecca E. Cummins a good wife and was married in 1865. They are the parents of seven children. One died in infancy ; HISTOJEIY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 65 Sadie E., now Mrs. E^ Miller; Idella, now Mrs. F. Roland; Mary F. , now Mrs. George Evans ; Ora B. , Earl and Raymond, yet at home. Mr. Foster, yet only a lad, enlisted in Company C. 138th Illinois in- fantry and did good service. Has improved a splendid farm and is now trying to take life easy. Was in the implement and furniture trade at Beaver Crossing for fourteen years. Mr. Foster filed the complaint against Orlando Castler for the murder of Monroe at Seward. JOHN FLEENER Our principal egg and poultry dealer for many years. Was born in Des Moines County, Iowa, January 23, 1863. There he received a com- mon school education and as soon as he was of age he came to Page County, Iowa, where he married Miss Sadie Grafton. They came to Seward in 1894. He commenced handling poultry and eggs in 1895 and has done a large and prosjjerous business. Some months of the present year he has paid for these staples o\ er seven thousand dollars per month. ALBERT H. FURNALD Was born where the tall pine trees grow in Aleghany County, New York, July 24, 1858. At nine years of age he began to look for the taller trees in the great pine state of Michigan and there among the logs and stumps Albert grew to manood when he again struck the great trail that led him to Seward in 1878. where he worked on his father's farm for many years. In 1887 he had found his girl in the person of one of our pioneer girls, Miss Effie C. Clark, and they were married November 23, at Seward. Miss Clark was born among the icy hills of northern New York, August 20, 1862, and came to Seward County with her parents in the spring of 1866, so she is pretty nearly a Nebraska girl. They have one son, Henry S Mr. Furnald has been a mail carrier on one of our first rural routes for three and one half years. He is a member of the United Workmen and also of the M. W. A. The church home is with the M. E. people. The Furnald's home has been contin- uously on section 21, in "G" Town, just by the city of Seward, since 1878. They have now sold their beautiful home and design a removal to Antelope County, Nebraska, near the city of Neligh. JAMES A. FALLEN A New York boy that was born where the rocky hills furnished plenty of sport rolling great rocks down the hills at Lockport. He first saw the light xMarch 20, 1843. When a young boy he went to Buffalo where he was educated. Came to Plattsmouth in 1868. where he married Miss Elizabeth McDwnough, December 28, 1871. She was an Ohio girl born at Chillicothe, August 15, 1854, and came to Nebraska in 1869. There were born to them eight children as follows : four yet living, John A., deal; Charles W., May, an adopted daughter; Margaret C, dead; William J., dead; Elizabeth M., now Mrs. M. V. Leger; Edgar 66 HISTORY OP SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA F. , dead; Leo A. and Catherine N. Mr. Fallen came tc Seward in 1872, and all these years followed contracting and building. His hand- iwork may be seen in hundreds of buildings in and around Seward. Mr. Fallen has been a very active and useful citizen. The chuvch home of the family is with the Catholics. JAMES MAXWELL FLETCHER Tills unique character was born in the wilds of Kentucky, Hamilton County, October 14, 1838. Was educated in a little log school house in the old fashioned way much like Lincoln. The whole term of his studies in school was ninety days when he graduated, we suppose with high honors. We may tell of his early experience in his own language to us, where in his own peculiar way he said, "I spent my boyhood days on my father's farm doing the ordinary work of a farmer boy in that rough wilderness region among the stumps and stones, rolling logs into piles to burn, grubbing and burning brush and killing tobacco worms. " At the early age of nineteen he fell in love with a neighbor girl, Miss Lydia Smalley, and was married in 1857. This noble wife and true helpmeet survives him and is at this writing a resident of Seward. To his happy union were born nine children, four of them yet live; Edward H. , Abbie, now Mrs. Allen S. Anderson; Emma, now Mrs. Theo Biven and Delia, now Mrs. W. H. Smith. Three babes were buried at the Indiana home, and the youngest was buried in Seward soon after their removal here. William died in Seward, May 1, 1898. The young couple removed to Fayette County, Indiana, in 1859, with two babes and com- menced to lay the foundations of a home, when two years later he heard the drum beat calling to arms. Hearing his country's call, he hastened to enlist in Company H, 30th Indiana volunteers, and served in the army of the Cumberland, was carried from the bloody field of Pitts- burg Landing as dead. He was paralyzed by the concussion of a burst- ing shell. He was insensible for many days after reaching home. For two years he was entirely helpless and was during his whole life a great sutterer. While in this serious condition he displayed wonderful energy and determination in trying to support his young family. He actually tended one crop on the little farm while on crutches. In the seventies he engaged in packing pork and in 1873 the panic swept his all from him. After a long and wearisome struggle with disease and financial embarrassment in 1880. turned his face toward the setting sun and settled at Seward, which was his home to the time of his death. Here with his sons, Edward and William, engaged in the meat business. At an early age Mr. Fletcher united with the M. E. church and became an energetic worker in the Master's vineyard. Until his total disability he was an enthusiastic worker in the Sab bath -schools and was for years an efficient superintendent of the Seward M. E. Sun- day school. He threw his whole soul in the G.A. R. Post work and was there loved and honored by all. He was a most earnest republican and was ever ready to measure swords with the opposition. In jiolitical HISTORY OP SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 67 debate he was a marvel and fairly ranked with the best stump speakers of our state. To illustrate his points was ever ready with a story that never failed to carry his audience as if by storm. For the last ten years he was nearly helpless and scarcely ever got a nights sound sleep, set his mind was clear to the last and he enjoyed in a marked degree the company of his many friends. Was compelled to take his rest and little sleep in a reclining chair, as he could not lie in bed. The noble wife that mourns for him has all through these years of suffering been a sure staff upon which to lean. A few weeks before he was called home he told the writer that he was fully ready to hear the Master's call and that his faith was "like an anchor to the soul, sure and steadfast. " We all miss "Uncle Jim" but while we mourn we can look through the dark clouds of sonow and see the grand old man at rest and rejoice. He was taken home to his Father's mansion January 14, 1896. DAVID R. FRINK Was a young Michigander born in St. Charles County among the stumps and stones of that rough county, April 10, 1847. When seven years old he found the trail leading to Iowa and remained there until he heard of Nebraska in 1877 and Iowa could no longer hold him. June 14, 186(5, he married Miss Malinda Abernathy at Anamosa, Iowa. She was born June 23, 1846, near Belvidere, Illinois. They have seven children, viz: Nettie, now Mrs. W. W. Ogelvie; Ella, now Mrs. E. H. Perkins; Charles L. , Lottie, now Mrs. J. C. Chatlain, ; Bennie, now dead; Alta, now ISIrs. M. S. McAlister; and Inez, yet at home. The family settled on section 24 in "L" Precinct, September 1877. Mr. Frinks' father died of wounds received at the siege of Vicksburg. Mr. Frink is a member of W. O. W. at Tamora. Church home is with the M. E. folks at Goehner. Mr. Frink has a splendid farm, part in "L'" and part in "K' Precincts. It is a pleasure to visit at their genial home. ISAAC H. FEARY A hoosier boy, born in Marshall County, August 29, 1857. Had a little touch of western fever in 1865 and landed in Illinois and in 1882 he had a more violent attack of it and he struck the Nebraska trail and landed in "B" Precinct. Seward County. He found Miss Mary A. Rurup and was married December 24, 1890. She was born in Dane County, Wisconsin, February 23, 1867, and came to Seward County in childhood. They had three children, Dixie A., Dorothy O. , and Marie C. Mrs. Feary died January 17, 1898. Mr. Feary was again married to his wife's sister, Miss Ida R. Rurup. They have two children. Ida May and Josephine. Mr. Feary is a Modern Woodman. He owns a large and valuable farm. 68 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA jiji,, ji m HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 69 HON. GEORGE W. FULLER Was a soldier boy of the rebellion that found his way to Nebraska in pioneer days. Was born in a log cabin on the banks of the classic Rock River in Whiteside County, February 7, 1844, where he spent his youth and young manhood and when the bugle notes sounded to arms George was not backward, although but a boy of eighteen. He enlisted in the 75th Illinois infantry and served under Grant, Sherman and Rose- cransi.and was in the awful struggle at Perry ville and Lancaster, Ken- tucky ; Nolenville and Stone River, where he was wounded. Was at Lookout Mountain, Mission Ridge, Ringold Back Face Gap, Resaca, New Hope Church, Kennesaw Mountain, Culp Farm, two battles of Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Lovejoy Station, Franklin ami Nashville. Of Mr. Fuller s war record his old captain, George R. ShaW; of Prophets town, Illinois, writes as follows: "Mr. George W. Fuller served during the war as an enlisted man in Company C of the 75th regiment of Ill- inois infantry volunteers; that he was ever faithful to duty, brave in action, discreet in all his relations with his associates and his superior officers. In short, an ideal volunteer soldier. He deserves well of his "fallow men for his service to his country. ' Upon his discharge at the end of the war Mr. Fuller went to his old home and in 18(58 came to Nebraska and filed on a claim in York County but abandoned it. In 1869 Mr. Fuller returned to the old home and February 23rd married Miss Matilda J. Ashton. She was a native of Plymouth, England, but crossed the ocean at four years of age, so she is pretty nearly an Ameri- can girl. She was born August 21, 1850. They have had born to them eleven children, viz: Mary L. , now Mrs. H. Kellog ; America M., died in infancy; Jennie, now Mrs. J. M. Daily; George W., Edward H. , Matilda M., Bertha M., Alma C, Gladys M., John C. and Florence E. Mr. Fuller served the city of Seward oie term as mayor. Was repre- sentative in 26th and 27th sessions of the legislature, where he served on several important committees. He moved to Seward County in the spring of 1869 and took a homestead in "I" Town. He was one of the first to engage in the brick business on the old Manly farm four miles northwest of Seward, in the early seventies. Mr. Fuller has had an honorable share in developing Seward County. He is a wide-awake citizen and now owns a beautiful farm just east of the city. Is a member of the G. A. R. Post at Seward. Mr. Fuller was in the brick and building trade for many years and laid the walls of many of the blocks in Seward. He was at the head of the company that built the Windsor Hotel in 1880. ROBERT T. GALE Seward County's first homesteader, the seventh in this land district. Came to Nebraska in very early territorial days, unfortunately nothing of his early history is attainable. This author became acquainted with him in the spring of 1860 at Nebraska City, where he was engaged in making brooms. We enjoyed a close agquaintange with him until death 70 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA called him home in he spring of 1867. He was a man of unusual in- telligence and worthy Christian character. Was a member of the Missionary Baptist church. Was surveyor by trade and was twice elected surveyor of Seward County, in 1865 and 1866. He horaesteaded the land just east of the present city. January 2, 1863, the next day after the homestead law became in force, but on account of Indian troubles could not occupy the land until the early spring of 1864. In the spring oi 1861 he married Miss Amelia Wooley, sister of Frederick Wooley of Seward. There were two children born to them, Clara, now a resident of Portland, Oregon; and a son that died in infancy. Mr. Gale was an active and representative citizen and did his full share in the early development of the county and is kindly remembered by all the old settlers. His funeral services were conducted by the venerable Rev. E. L. Clark. All the neighbors followed his remains to the grave with sori'owing hearts. It was the first funeral service held in his vicinity. His widow now resides in Portland, Oregon. ALGERNON GALUSHA An old Seward County boy who has made his mark in the world, and although he is at present a citizen of Red Cloud, Nebraska, yet we feel that Seward County has a right to claim him as we sent him out to battle with the world in his young manhood. Al, as we all learned to call him, was born at Franklin Falls, New York, July 29, 1859, but moved at the age of eight to Lawrenceville, same state, where he was educated in the academy. He struck the great western trail which led him to Seward in 1882, where he clerked in a store and gained many friends who well remember him as a bright young man of good character and very attentive to business. In 1886 he went to Red Cloud and was for many years engaged in the mercantile business, but is at present traveling as a salesman, and although he has jiast been nominated by the state republican convention to be their standard bearer for secretary of state, instead of traversing the state looking for votes, he is attending strictly to his employer's business, and we judge that the people will recognize that important fact. Mr. Galusha is an honorable member of the Masonic order Blue Lodge No. 53, at Red Cloud, also of Chapter No. 19 arid Cyrene Com- mandery No. 14. He is a member of the A. O. U. W. No. 60 at his home, is a member of the Grand Lodge and secretary of the finance committee. Mr. Galnsha was elected by a large majority and seems right at home in the capitol. ARTHUR H. GANNON An Iowa born boy that came with his parents to Seward when our sidewalks were all of prairie sod. Born at Marengo, September 1, 1869, and came to Seward in 1872. Grew to manhood here and was educated HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 71 in the city schools. Was married to Miss Mary Kuobbs, at Seward. They have five children, viz: Clyde, Bessie, Beach, McKinley and Cecil. Mr. Gannon is a barber by trade and has a neat tonsorial parlor which he has managed for many years. He is quite unassuming attending strictly to his business interests. J. ALFRED GARNER A New York State boy, born among the rough and rugged hills of Franklin Co\inty, April 14, 1850. He came to Seward County in 1866, with the family of Rev. E. L. Clark. He was one of the boys that waded snow drifts in the awful winter of 1866 and 1867 to the old log school house. He worked as a valuable farm hand until 1869. March 28 he married Miss Helen B. Hageman. She was a native of Fulton County, Illinois, born May 20, 1852. They have twelve children, viz: Maggie, now Mrs. C. E. Robins; Martha F. , now dead; George W. , Jennie A., now Mrs. A. Hack worth ; Constance, now Mrs. B. M. Garton ; James A., Harry, Newton L. , Edward E. , Ella B. , William L. and Ruth E. Church home is with the Seventh Day Adventists. INIr. Garner is a splendid farmer and good citizen. VV. D. GIVENS The oldest ph )tographer in the county. Was born February 6, 1856. Came to Lincoln in 1875 and commenced the picture business in 1878 and opened his gallery in Seward in 1880 and has continued the busi- ness through sunshine and storm from that time to the present. He has the largest and pest equipped gallery in the county. Mr. Givens is certainly a success as a photographer. In 1883, October 31, he captured one of our Seward girls, Miss Laura B., daughter of Mr. and Mrs. I. E. McPheley. They have tw^o children, Millie L. and John H. Mrs. Givens was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, August 24, 1863, and came in early childhood to Seward County where she was educated and grew to womanhood. ^ JOHN F. GEESON The leading tailor of Seward County. Was another of those sturdy German boys that dreamed of the better land beyond the sea and at twenty-one found his way to Illinois, and three years later he made Seward his home and opened his tailor shop, whicli has grown with the years to be a large and prosperous concern. Mr. Geeson was born October 17, 1863. After getting well settled in business he found Miss Antonia Scheibel and was married at Omaha, September 3, 1889. She was born Sepember 21, 1868, in Germany. Six children came to bless their home, viz: Clara, Josephine, Marie Edward, Margaret and Leonard. Mr. Geeson is a Workman and Wood- man of America. Church home is with the Catholics. He has been for years a trustee of the church. He is a member of the city council. 72 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA JACOB GEIS A Prominent farmer of "K" Precinct and president of the In- dependent Telephone Company. Came from the blue claj- hills of Sciota County, Ohio, born May 8, 1844, where he was raised, and there he was married January 31, 1871, to Miss May Karl. She was a native of Portsmouth, Ohio, boi-n December 18, 1846, and died at the family home January 5, 1901. They were the parents of eleven children. They followed Teddie's advice in advance. Names as follows : John J. , Frank L. , Mary A., deceased; Rosa M, now Mrs. F. Eisbarth ; William, now dead; Heniy E. , dead; Louis K. , Suphrona I., Charles, dead; Fred S. , and Herman. The family came to the county in 1889 and bdught the old Thompson ranch on section 81, where he now has an elegant home. Church home is with the Catholic people. Mr. Geis has had the misfortune to lose one hand but somehow he is a rustler "all the ame. CHARLES GEMBLER Was a child of the sucker state, born at Mineer May 30. 1872, and remained there till grown. Came to Sew-ard County in 1893, and married Miss Annie E. Wullenwaber, August 17, 1896, at Sew aid. She was a Mineer girl that followed Charley to Seward. She was tiorn July 13, 1874. They have. five children, viz: Lena, Letha, Elvin, Lucile, and Opal. They settled on a farm in "F" precinct, brt he is now in charge of the Opdike elevator at Goehner. He belongs to the M. W. A. Church home is with the Evangelical people. HERMAN GOECKE Was a seventeen year old German lad that saw the brighter light beyond the sea and had the courage to break away from the old en- vironments and seek a home in this new and fertile land. Was born May 21, 1855, and in 1872 cames straight to Sewartl County, where he bought a quarter section in section 12, "H" Town and the lad went to work with a will and improved it and after seven years he bef^an to think of Christinie that he had left behind and straightway, armed with Uncle Sam's authority as an American citizen he went and claimed his ovv'n. He and Miss Ilegener were married in the Fatherland July 14, 1881. She was born August 14, 1862. Three of their children died in infancy. The living are as follows: Minnie, now Mis. E. Braner ; Annie, now Mrs. L. Sieck ; Fred VV., Ella, William, Herman, and Emma Mr. Goecke has a nice home among the hills and seems prosperous and happy. Church home is with the Lutherans. JOHN F. GOEHNER One of the most successful and enterprising merchants of Seward for thirty years. Was born in Germany in 1850. The boy in his early HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 73 youth heard of our great republic and its possibilities and to get there was the dream of his joung life. In his nineteenth year he crossed the ocean and commenced life here as clerk in a grocery house at St. Louis. In 1871 he found his way to Nebraska Citv and clerked there for tw^o D\velling of John F. Goehner years, when in 1873 he came to help build Seward. He opened a small grocery stc»re and commenced the grain trade in 1875. Made (juite a success of his business and in 1879 built the first Goehner block (m the corner of Seward and Seventh Streets and in the summer of 1884 bnilt the fine block that bears his name on the corner of Seward and Sixth Streets, and placed therein an immense stock of hardware. This young lad has grown to be a successful business man of high order and displays unbounded enthusiasm in public enterprises for this city and county. Is a leading member of the Lutheran church and was a leading spirit in securing the location here and building of the fine college, noted on another page of this work. Has twice been honored as member of the city council. In 1884 was elected and served as state senator. Lent a strong helping hand in securing the building of the F. E. & M. V. railroad through the county. Has been honored with the- naming of one of our new towns. Mr. Groehner married Miss Vanderhe at Seward in 1875. To them have been born seven children, as follows, all yet living with the 74 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA parents: Frederick. Benjamin, Arthur, John, Walter, Wilhehn, and Dorothy. Mr. Goehner has been treasvirer of the Seward Mixtual Fire Insurance Compan}' for eight years. CHARLES M. GORDON A New York boy born in Orange County December 28, 1832. His parents thought that the little hills of New York were not big enough, so when Charley was three years old they went to Pennsylvania, where the lad could climb mountains to his heart's content. Charley got enough of the rocky fields of that rough locality and in 1858 he found better quarters at Laporte, Indiana, when he married Miss Sarah Prince, August 10, at Buffalo, Michigan. She was born in April, 1839, in Lucerne County, Pennsylvania. They came to Seward County in 1875. November 25, and located on section 13, "B" Precinct. Children born, six, viz: Clara A., Harry A., George E. , Lewis L., who died at nine years of age; Frank F. , and Bert B. Mrs. Gordon died some years ago. Mr. Gordon enlisted in the 21st Indiana Battery but did not get to smell much burnt powder. He is a member of the A. F. and A. M. The church home of the family is with the Christian Church of Lincoln. Since the death of Mrs Gordon, Mr. Gordon has made his home with his daughter at Lincoln. AUGUST E. GRAFF Was born in the Sucker State in Taswell County. March 19, 1873, and was raised and educated there. Came to Seward County and located on a farm in "K" Precinct in 1892, where he found his best girl and July, 27. 1904, at Seward, he captured Miss Theresa M. Schroeder. She was a genuine Seward County girl, born at Geohner. February 14, 1884. We can't count the children yet. He is now cashier of the Goehner Sate Bank. He is a member of the M. W. A. Mr. Graff appears to have a bright future before him. REV. KARL THEODORE GRUBER Was the son of a minister in Germany, who had the grit to leave the fatherland and lead a flock of one hundred and sixty souls out of the house of bondage, as it were. The religious intoUerance could no longer be bocne and they sought a refuge in free America in 1839 and settled in Missouri, where Karl was born, and grew to manhood. Was educated for the ministry in the Concordia college, which during his attendance was moved to Si. Louis, where he studied three years. Her served congregations in Missouri and Illinois until his lemoval to Nebraska in 1870. In November of that year began his long and useful career among the churches of Lancaster, Seward, York and Hamilton Counties HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 75 In 1880 he returned to Illinois to recuperate his failing health, but in 1885 returned to Seward County and took the pastorate of the Orton church, where he remained until death claimed him. Father Grutier married Miss A. M. Kipp Ma^' 29, 1855, and there were born to them ten children. He was a man of work and wonderful perseverance, and did a great work for his people. As a spiritual teacher he exerted a good influence over the large German communities of these counties. He probably founded more churches of his denomination than any other man in Nebraska. After facing many winter storms for his people s welfare he was called home to rest, followed with prayers and tears of a great multi- tude, loved and honored by thousands of people. HON. THOMAS GRAHAM One of the oldest residents settled on a homestead near old Camden in 1866. He taught the first school of that part of the county the following winter. Was appointed school superintendent in 1869. Sur- veyed the town site of Seward in the spring of 1868, and was elected county clerk that fall and re-elected the fifth time. It well illustrates the man, he being a staunch democrat and the county a staunch republican. During his long term of office Mr. Graham became fully identified with Sew^ard and continued to make it his home. Was once elected mayor and once elected state senator. Is a surveyor by trade and at different times been in the government employ surveying lands. In this book we quote freely from notes taken by him while in the Government service. He married Mrs. Jeanete Denison. They have but one son, Walter B. , now resident of Omaha. They were married at Plattsmouth, November 5, 1866. Mrs. Denison was a New York lady. Her maiden name was Jeanette Signor. Mr. Graham was born in 1832 in Germantown, Pennsylvania, November 6. While a little child his parents moved to the vicinity of Pittsburg. His father tried hard to make a blacksmith of Thomas, but the young American could not be persuaded. The effort was a failure. Thomas would rather be a surveyor and had his first experience in that line on a little one-horse railroad being built from Remington to McKee's Rocks, six miles distant. His next work was on Cork's Run tunnel, and from this time till 1857 he was engaged un various railroad lines in his native state and Virginia. We next find the young man perambulating the plains. In 1859 he carried mail from Nebraska City to Marysville, Kansas. Then he clerked in a little store on the edge of Otoe reservation. Sold goods and kept the post office, called Stewart. This was near the present town of Liberty in Gage County. Mr. and Mrs. Graham have acted well their part in helping to make Nebraska a great state. As surveyor, as teacher, as county clerk, 76 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA mayor or senator. Mr. Graham's record is good. Mrs. Graham has a verj' enviable record for works of charity. She has through many long years worked most faithfully in thnt field of usefulness. Long live these useful and kind people who have done so much for the country. Don C. Gwartney Was born September 4, 1862, in Hairison County, Indiana, where he grew to manhood. Was educated in the common schools of that country. Was married September 9, 1883, to Miss Rhoda V. Davidson. They have three children, viz: Mazo C. , Harry E. , and Sarah E , all yet at home. The young peotile came to York, Nebraska, in 1884, and to Seward in 1887, where he opened a first class laundry, which he con- ducted until compelled by poor health to sell out in I90'd, when he went to Beaver Crossing and opened a restaurant. In 1903 he was elected district clerk and moved back to Seward where he now lives. The church home of the family is with the M. E. people, where they are active and valuable members. Mr. Gwartney is a Past Grand in the I. O. O. F. at Seward. He is also a Modern Woodman. In 1897 Mr. Gwartney had the misfortune to lose one of his legs, caused by tuberculosis of the knee joint, which caused him great pain and much anxiety, but after the amputation he fairly recovered his health and makes pretty good use of his artificial limb. Mrs. Gwartney was the daughter of Rev. VV. H. Davidson, of southern Indiana conference. Was educated at her native home. She is a Royal Neighbor in two senses of the word. HISTORY OP SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 77 OWEN GRAY A son of the emerald isle, born in county Laitrim Parish Mohilol, November 14, 1837. He married Miss Mary A. Castolo. She died at thirty-four years of age, leaving- him six young children, viz: Michael, May, Eugene, Elizabeth, who wms killed in the north part of this county July 5, 1901; William and James. The family came to this county from the fatherland in 1892, where so many more grand opportunities await the careful and industrious. He owns a beautiful farm in "B" precinct, adorned with trees and fruit. Mr. Gray is a Catholic and a splendid Irish-American. JOSEPH P. GANNON A thirty-one years' resident of Seward, was born among the rocky hills of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, January 30, 1840. He so.journed on the western trail awhile in cool Minnesota then we find the young man in Iowa County. Iowa, where he found Miss Alice Mas- terman and they were married December 13, 1866. She was a native of Bermuda Islands, born June 27, 1850, and came to Iowa in early youth. They are the parents of seven children, viz: William H., Arthur H., Alta and Maud, each died in infancy; Mrs. Pearl Stocker, Susie M. Menghen. and Orpha. The family came to Seward in 1874. He is a painter and paper hanger. Mr. Gannon etdisted in Company H, 64th New York Volunteer infantry and was in battles of Fairbanks, Gettysburg and Chancellors- villa. LEVI HAFER An old timer that began to snuff the gentle zephyrs of Nebraska in 1868, when he located on the commanding hill top three miles west of Seward. At that time his homestead was worth about a dollar per acre and it has not lost in value yet. Mr. Hafe" was born in Northcumber- laud County. Pennsylvania, January 31, 1844. Married Sarah L. Huff- man January 16, 1866. She was born in Licuming County, Penn- sylvania, July 16, 1845. Children born to them as follows: Martin A., Lewis F. , who died at twenty-four; Irving R., Ida May, who died at twenty-four ; John S., Susie M., and Charles E. , both at home. Mr. Hafer is a notable fine stock man, and is a breeder of Poland China pigs and fine cattle. Has liecome (juite wealthy on that hill and owns several farms. The family helped to organize the U. B. church at Seward and are most earnest workeis in the church. SIMON P. HAGEMAN Down in that county of brush and muddy roads, Fulton County, Illinois, Simon was born, September 21, 1858. Somehow an epidemic 18 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA of western fever broke out in old Fulton in 1866 and Simon, together with the whole Hageman family, took it, and they landed in the wilderness of Seward County in the spring in time to see the flowers bloom. Simon hunted coons along the river, helped make the old farm, went to school, fished and chased antelope and finally got after better game and captured Miss Viola VVallick, May 27, 1884, at Seward. She was born at Caba, Iowa, January 29, 1862. They have three children, Albert R., Grace P.. and Alice N., all at home. Mr. Hageman suc- ceeded to his father's old farm four miles south of Seward. They have a splendid farm. He is a member of the Maccabees and United Work- men. JESSE A. HAINES A Maryland born boy that strayed west in his young manhood. Born in Carrol County, March 15, 1864. In 1889 we find him in Bloom- ington, Illinois, where he married Miss Kate Holstien, January 30. She was born September 5, 1867, in Taswell County, Illinois. They have five children, viz: Ora M., William L. , Jesse C. , Homer E. , and Flmer , a pioneer girl, January 19, 1878. She was born May 23. 18(jl, just as the great war began. Two children bless the home: Blanche and Hazel. Mr. Holland came to Seward in 1887. Is engaged in the horse trade. He takes to fine horses as a duck does to water. He is a mem- ber of the A. F. and A, M., also of the K. P. and A. O. U. W. i HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 85 LYMAN O. HOWARD A Seward County boy. Two and a half miles east of Milford, on November 8, 1873, he was born. Worked on his father's farm and at- tended Milford schools and grew to mature years there. Spent from 1897 to 1900 at Craig, Nebraska. Was several years in the meat trade at Milford. Learned the printer's trade at Craig and upon his return to Milfoil in 1900, ho bought "The Nebraskan" and has been its able editor and publisher since that date. The history of his paper will ap- pear in another place in these pages. Mr. Howard was mariied to Miss .Agnes Warner, a Minnesota girl who came heie with her parents, Mr. an;l Mis. L. J. Warner. She was born September 26. 187(3. and come in eurly childhood to Bnrt County, where Mr. Howard captured her July (i, 1897. Two children came to their home, James W. and little Agnes, who was laid to rest at Ciaig. Mr. Howard is a Past Grand in the I. O. O F^ and a Modern Woodman, also a member of the Knights of Maccabees, and is awide-a-wake editor, and we are always proud of such Seward County boys. F. W. HOUDERSHELDT An Iowa boy, born December 13, 1868, in Washington County. Came to Seward County when ten years old and with his parents located in "J" precinct, and that has been his home to the present time. He married Miss Nora Rogers December 2, 1889. She was born in Laport County, Indiana, in 1869, and came to Seward County in 1878. She died November 9, 1902. They had two children born to them, viz: Pearl M. , and Homer W. Mr. Houdersheldt's mother. Miss Elizabeth Atwood, sister to Hon. Silas Atwood was boi"n in Preble County, Ohio, May 8, 1835. She was married to William Houdersheldt in November 1859 and died February 1, 1900. They came to Seward County in 1878. She was the mother of four children. The father, B. W. Houdersheldt, was born April 2, 1837, in Rockinham County, West Virginia. The family moved to Iowa in 1857, and to Seward County in 1878. JOSEPH H. HUFFMAN Was born among the rocky hills of old New York state, at Con- quest, October 10, 1848. He was raised in Caugo County. At twenty - two he found the great western trail and landed in "N" precinct, in March, 1870, and began his career in helping to sulxlue the wilderness. He began as teacher at the old home place and when he arrived at the new field began again in earnest and he has now labored in our educa- tional field about thirty yeais, almost incessantly. Married Miss Hannah R. Miller, October 22, 1878, who died August 18, 1880, at Friend. Nebraska. In 1888, November 13, he mar- ried Miss Ada Miller, at Utica, Nebraska. She was born, at Taylor- ville, Illinois April 2, 1856, and came to Reward Cgunty in early youth. 86 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA They have six children, viz: William A., Francis J.. John J. L. , Royal C. . Don Cai'los, and Homer L. Mr. Huffman is a member of the A. F. and A. M. , the I. O. O. F. , and also the Ben Hur. Of the latter he is an active organizer. The family church home is' with the United Brethren. Mr. Huffman now resides in the village of Beaver Crossing and is among the active and useful citizens of that thriving village. CHARLES K. HUMPHREY Was a New York state boy that found a home in Ohio in early childhood. Born at Bloomfield, August 2, 1843. Was educated in Ohio, where he enlisted in the 20th Ohio light artillery. Was in the battles of Stone river and J'ranklin, besides many skirmishes. June T. 1865, was discharged at Chattanooga, Tennessee. On his return home he began looking for the western trail and found it. It of course, led him to Seward, where he found just the right place, and he found more. He found where Father Olmstead lived and Letitia G., his daughter. They were married October 7, 1873. She was a New York girl born May 23, 1839, at Walesville, and came to Nebraska with her parents when Sew^ard was but a hamlet. They have born to them four children. One died in infancy ; Bercie, now Mrs. L. C. Moore ; O. Egbert, who enlisted in Nebraska First and was with the boys at Manilla, was mortally wounded and returned home to die. His death occurred at his father's home, Nov. 17, 1899; Arthur G.. is yet at home. Mr. Humphrey is a carjjenter and builder and has followed the business sucessfully in Seward for about thirty-five years and can count hundreds of buildings that he has constructed. He is a member of the G. A. R. and also of the A. O. U. W. ORSON EGBERT HUMPHREY Was born in Seward, Nebraska, July 28, 1877. Was educated in Seward schools. Enlisted in Company M, First Nebraska volunteers, May 2, 1898, and went to the Philippines and was wounded at the battle of Quinga, Ai3ril 23, 1899. Was brought home and died from his wounds after much patient suffering, November 17, 1899. He was a noble boy, well respected by all who knew him. JOHN M. HUGHES One of the contractors and builders who for ten years have done much toward making Seward the most beautiful city in the west. Was born in Davis County, Iowa, November 26, 1860, where he remained until grown to mature years In 1892 we find him at our capital city, driving his business with might and main, but amidst all the hurry of business he took time to form the acquaiiitance of Miss Maud Davis, and they were married June 15, 1892. She was born March 23, 1859, in HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 87 Van Buren County, Iowa, and came to Nebraska in 1888. They have four children, viz : John, Burr, Benjamin, and Theodore. They came to Seward in 1894 and more than a hundred elegant homes scattered over our county and city, that have sprung into being under his guiding hand, attest the fact that he came not in vain. Has a membership in the M, W. A. » WILLIAM C. HUGHES The tran that owns the most tasteful and. beautiful home place in the county. Was born in Trenton. New Jersey, February 22, 1880. Came to Seward County in 1878, March 1. Married to Mi«s Martha A. Bye, December 28, 18(5,"i, at Yates City, Illinois. She was born January 10. 1845. Children born to them as follows: Martha, Adeline, and William R. The girls both married. William attends the farm in good shape The door yard is a per- fect paradise of flowers. GEORGE G. HURT A Kentucky boy, born in McGoffin County, November IH, ISHH, where he remained until he was nineteen when he took the northern trail and landed in the Hoosier state and spent two years there. But that land was not entirely to his liking so he caught the western fever and landed in Seward County in 1889. Here he was contented when he found Miss Bessie S. Ramsey. They were married August 2H, 1898. She was born in Jasper County, Iowa, March 8. 1875, and came to Seward County when a young child. There were born to them three children : Raymond R. , Mary J. , and Delphia G. , all at home. Mrs. Hurt was a noble Christian lady who was called to her Heavenly home, June 5, 1900. Mr. Hurt is thus left with the care of the young family. He owns a beautiful farm four miles northwest of Seward. He is a Modern Weodman. The churcu home is with the M. E. church at Seward. CARL IMIG A German born boy that got sight of the stars and stripes when nine years old and with his parents crossed the old ocean in 1857. Carl was born August 1, 1848. The family located in Taswell County, Illinois, and there Carl grew to manhood and became acquainted with Miss Katherine Imig and was married in June, 1871. She was born in Germany in October 1848, and came to this country in 1870. To this union were born nine children, three of whom died. Names as follows: Minnie, now Mrs. George Algair; Elizabeth, deceased; Mary, now Mrs. F. Riderbush ; Carl, Kate, Bertha, now Mrs. H. Badbery, and Louis. Mrs. Imig died November 8, 1887. Mr. Imig ma"'i®d the sister of his former wife, Miss Annie, October 7, 1891. One 88 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA child was born to them, viz : George. Mr. Imig came to Seward County in 1878 and located five miles southwest of Seward. He is a member of the United Workmen and is also a member of the Evangeli- cal church Mr. Imig is a first class farmer and he pwns a nice farm. DAVID IMLAY, SR. One of the three vanguards of this locality was " Grandpa Imlay. " He located a homestead on section ten, in*"G" township, in the spring of 1864, where he lived the remainder of his life He was born among the rugged hills of Alleghany County, Pennsylvania, in 1792. Miss Doras Johnson, who became his wife, was born at the same place. They were married in 1814. They moved to Muskingham County, Ohio, immediately, and made a new home in the woods, where they opened a farm and resided nine years, when they returned to the old home for nine years and took care of their old parents. They then returned to the old Ohio home, where they remained until 1841, when they pushed on west to Wabash County, Indiana. The old people followed their children to the west in 18r)6 and located in Harrison County, Iowa, from thence to Seward County in 18(34. Grandmother Imlay died in 1871 and Grandfather followed her in June, 1872. These old people had united with the Presyterian church in their youth and lived Christian lives to the letter. They assisted in organizing the first Presbyterian church at Seward in 1870. There were born to them twelve sons and daughteis, five of whom lived at Seward, but only two of them are now living. David P., of Seward and Mrs. Sarah A. Brown of Los Angeles, California; Mrs. Stanwood, William, and Joseph have died since their removal here. HON. WILLIAM IMLAY One of the first settlers of Seward County and the second to make a permanent home in the vicinity of the present city. Mr. R. T. Gale, Mr. Imlay and his fathers familv all located here in the early spring of 18(54. For a time these were the only settlers in the north half of the county except John Scott, at the oak groves. Mr. Imlay was born in Pennsylvania in 1830. Moved with his parents to Ohio in his early youth and latei to Indiana, where he grew to manhood, formed the acquaintance of Miss Mary Donaldson and they were married in 1853. In 185(5 they moved to Harrison County, Iowa, and in 185» to Cass County, Nebraska, and were truly pioneers of our state or territory, rather. In 18()3 they moved to the Salt Basin in Lancaster County and for a year or more engaged in the manufacture of salt. There the writer formed their acquaintance which grew into a close friendship which continued until death intervened. Mr. Imlay located a homestead two miles west of the present city and there was the family home until his death. At the fall election of 18(54 he was elected to the legislature to rep- resent Lancaster. Seward, and a boundless region to the westward. He HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 89 had a prominent place on several important committees and was con- sidered an active and valuable member. When this county was organ- ized, in 1805, he was elected one of the first county commissioners and served three successive terms, and took a leading part in all matters pertaining to the development and advancement of the county. Because of his energy and will power he was frequently spoken of as the county commissioners. He was there to do his duty and he did it well. In later years he took but little part in county affairs but paid his entire attention to the farm and his church of which he and his good wife were honored members. They having united with the Presbyterian chuich while young helped to found their church in Seward. He was an official member while he lived. Mr. and Mrs. Iralay during the early years of their settlement, underwent many hardships and privations incident to pioneer life, but they bore it all heroically and came off conquerors at the end, having built up a com- fortable home, raised a large and intelligent family and enjoying in a gruat measure the confidence and esteem of all their neighbors. Of the seven children born to them, five grew to manhood and womanhood. Sarah, their eldest, married Allen S. Anderson. She died in 1890, leaving a family of young children. Addison and David, now of Washington state ; Josephine, now Mrs. John William of Colorado; and John, of Blaine County, Nebraska. ADDISON IMLAY One of the first white boys to run over our prairies barefoot. Was born at Plattsraouth, September 36, 1859. His father and mother came to Seward County when Addison was a young Tjoy in the spring of 1864, where he chased cattle and later waded snowdrifts to school at the old log school house and completed his education at the high school in Seward in about 1880. In 1881 he went to Montana to grow up with the country, and eight years later we trail him to Medical Lake, Wash- ington, where he is now a rustling business man and is engaged in the livery business. But he never forgets his old home and friends in Seward County. He is a Master Mason. He still hangs on to single blessedness. LUCIAN C. JOHNSTON A very prominent stockman and dealer in lands. Was born at Danvers in McLean County, Illinois, July 12, 1854. Lucian was rather a prodigy in his early childhood. He had learned to read at only four years of age. He was so dilligent in his studies and so apt that he was able to enter the Wesleyan j^iiversity at sixteen. Taught school dur- ing his young manhood with much credit to nimself. The best trade he. ever made in his life, (he is noted for good bargains) was when he found and married Miss Ellen B. Dickenson in 1878, January 1. Miss Dickenson was a native of Danvers and was a 90 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA daughter of Major and Mrs. Eliza Dickenson, old settlers of Illinois. Mrs. Johnston is a lady of fine attainments and enjoys a large circle of friends in and around Seward. Mr. Johnston came to Nebraska on an exploring expedition imme- Lucian C. Johnston diately after his marriage in 1878 and moved to his new home in "K" precinct in 1879. Mr. and Mrs. Johnston have one son, now grown to manhood. The lad graduated in the Seward schools and later in the Lincoln Business College. His father tells iis that Walter is quite a successful sheep feeder and it looks as if a career of usefulness is before him. Mr. Johnston's aged father lives at the old home at Danvers. His mother died October 21. She was born in 1830. Married Decem- ber 2. 1852. Came to McLean County in 1858. Mr. Johnston has been quite successful as a dealer and feeder of stock. He also deals lai'gely in real estate and now owns many tracts of land in different parts of Nebraska. They enjoy a commodious and pleasant home in Seward. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 91 Mrs. Lucian C. Johnston EDWARD JENSEN A Danish lad of thirteen summers saw away beyond the great ocean a bright star, and broke away from the old environments, and made his way hither, and landed at Milwaukee where he remained until he was twenty when he found the western trail and landed in "K" precinct in 1870 Not yet quite old enough to take a homestead, but could pre-empt, and he commenced in that way and homesteaded the next year. Now the green young Danish lad owns only seven hundred and eightj' acres of our rich land. How's that? Somehow Edward found Miss Carrie Peterson and they made a bargain October 23, 1881. She was born in Norway, April '6, 1863. They have one child, Fvart R. Mr. Jensen was born February 19, ,1850. He has a beautiful home near Goehner. Has seen all sides of pioneer life but has come off more than conqueroi". His life work may be a lesson to the lads of our 1 92 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA country. In the thirty-five years of his residence he has accumulated such a nice fortune and is now enjoying the fruits of his well spent life. 1 Claudius Jones The pioneer banker of Seward and Seward County. Was born in Orleans County, New York, in 1827. He came of Welch stock, as his father, David, was born in Wales. Mr. Jones spent his boyhood days on the farm and received his education in the common schools of the county and when grown engaged in farming for some years. He was not robust and aftei due consideration concluded to leave the farm. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 93 He was married to Miss Harriet I. Weed. She was a native of the same county, her parents being the earliest settlers of that part of the county. To their union were born two sons and three daughters. Claudius, the elder .son. was killed in an accident in Seward in the Mrs. Claudius Jones autumn of 1875. Harry T., now president of the Jones National Bank, of Seward; Mrs. Hattie L. Tipton, of Seward ; Mrs. Annie B. Brown, of Kansas City, Missouri ; and Mrs Emma T. Wake of Seward. In 1859 Mr. Jones took up his residence in Chicago where he was engaged in business for some years. At the beginning of the rebellion he lent his energy in organizing a regiment and was to be its colonel, but ill health forbade it and he was accorded the privilege of naming the com- manding officer. Some years later he moved to Monmouth, Illinois, where he helped to organize the first national bank of that city, and he became its cashier and held that position till 1870, when he had an attack of western fever w^hich was fully cured by his removal to 94 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Lincoln, Nebraska where, as a street broker, he handled many state and county warrants to good advantage. In 1878 he made his home at Seward wher.; he opened the state bank of Nebraska. Financially this undertaking was a grand success. One peculiarity about the state bank was it always had plenty of money for all legitimate purposes. Mr. Jones' financial skill was a marvel. With him every pro.iect seemed to yield profit, and during his career he amassed great wealth, becoming our largest land owner and largest stock raiser, besides man- aging the affairs of the bank. Mr. Jones was a man of generous nature and would never forsake a friend, neither would he forget an enemy. JOSEPH JONES One of the pioneers of the gi'eat wilderness prairie of the western part of our County. Was born in Muskingham County, Ohio, March 14, 1845, where he I'emained until grown, and where he married Miss Mary E. Tracy, in about 1866. They have eight children, viz : Mrs. E. F. Barmore, G. G. Jones, A. J. Jones, W. J. Jones, H. J. Jones, E. J. Jones. R. W. Jones, and B. H. Jones. He came to the county in 1871 and homesteaded five miles north of Utica. He was a soldier in Company A, 62nd Ohio volunteer infantry. He was a member of the A. F. and A. M. He helped in laying the foundations of Utica, and was actively engaged in business there al- most from the beginning. He was connected with the Utica Bank as one of the directors since 1887 to the day of his death. April 23, 1905. HARRY T. JONES Is a Seward County boy to all intents and jnirposes as he came here when a young lad in 1878. Harry was born at Monmouth, Illinois, June 1868. It has been our pleasure to know him since he was a ten year old lad. He was a little rustler and knew how to earn a nickle then and has not forgotten how }et. We remember how he used to peddle milk or carry coal upstairs to get a little money to have a good time with the boys. He passed thiough the grades of the Seward schools with credit. He has grown to be a business man of the first rank. Was a long time cashier of the Jones National Bank and took the presidency of the institution upon the resignation of his father, in 1895, and has re- mained in that position to date. As a business man and a neighbor Mr. Jones is very pojiular, as the business of the bank shows in the enor- mous increase in its deposits, they being only a small amount when he took the management in 1895 and having increased to four hundred fif- ty-oJif- thousand dollars, according to the June statement of 1904. Mr. Jone.s is our largest land holder also. He is enterpriMiug as well as liberal in his dealings. He is a wide awake, earnest rei)ublican and has often been chairman of the county central committee. He was made Knight's Templar in the grand old Masonic fraternity. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 95 01 C o h >. u m X WILLIAM WALLACE KONKRIGHT Came to "M" township in 1870. Born in 1829 in Vermont, went to New York state with his parents in 1839. went to Indiana, from there to Iowa in 1852, where he was married in 1854 to Miss Marie Siverlj'. She was born in Venango County, Pennsylvania, in 1830. She came to the territory of Iowa in 1843 with her parents, where she leceived her education. She became a teacher. She was well known through the community as a thorough historian. Her home was for many years with the Presbyterian church of Seward. She was a mem- ber of the Woman's Auxiliary of the G. A. R. Post. Died June 13, 1902. Mr. Konkright enlisted in the 8th Iowa infantry, served nearly five 96 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA years, was at Corinth, Vicksburg, Shiloh, and other battles. They came to Seward County in 1870 and settled at Beaver Crossing. They retired; from the farm and took up their residence in Seward in 1899, where] Mrs. Konkright was buried. The old gentleman is now seventy-five yeais old, hale and hearty and reads easily without glasses. He is a. republican from away back and takes supreme delight in pouring hot shot into the camp of the other fellows. There were born to them : Milon, now dead ; John, Almena, Lewis, Devo, William, now dead ; Alice and Eugene. Mr. Konkright cast his first vote in 1850 and for General Scott in 1852. Mrs. Konkright carried to her grave at her advanced age thirty two, sound teeth. WILLIAM KNIGHT One among the oldest residents of "B" precinct. Was born in Winchester, Indiana, July 1, 1882. At eighteen he came to Dallas 1 County, Iowa. Two years later he found it convenient to see the girl he had left behind him and turned in and assisted his prospective father-in-law to move vvest\^ ard, where matters would be more conven- ient for the young people. In 1845 Miss Isyphena Mothtt Viecame hiS' bride. This happy event occurred in Jtisper County, Iowa. Si.x chil- dren were horn to them. Two died in infancy. Those living are: Mary E, now Mrs. J. N. Sheeley ; Luther, Sarah E.. now Mrs. George H Terwilliger, and Elias B. The family came to Seward County in 1869, and took the land as homestead here where they resided until last spring. This old homestead is on section 20, town 12, range 3 east of sixth principal meiridian and is now a beautiful home. Mrs. Knight was born at Winchester. Indiana, in 1830, December 16, where she grew to womanhood. In the old days Mr. Knight was post master at Groveland, now discontinued. Was school treasurer for i twelve years from the organization of district number sixty-seven and in all has held office eighteen years. Has also at times been precinct assessor. Mr. and Mrs. Knight, during all the years of their residence, have been considered among our most respected and w^orthy citizens. A beautiful incident occurred September 1, 1904, when the celebra- tion of the golden wedding of these good old people. About one hun- dred people consisting of four generations of the family and old neigh- bors, friends and relatives gathered at the home to pay the tribute of love and respect. One notable incident at the gathering was the presence of six wit- nesses of the wedding fifty years before, viz: Hon. Wm. Hickman, Erastus M. Hickman, Agustus Hickman, Mrs. G. W. Hickman, H. L. Moffit, Miss Irena Moffit. ELISHA KINNEY Strayed westward in 1872 from his old Ohio home and bought the old A. J. Woliingford farm near Camden mills that used to be. Mr. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 97 Kinney was born in February 24, 1840, in Belmont County, Ohio. Was educated at the high school. At twenty began his career as teacher and followed that profession six years. In 1866, May 4, he married Miss Narcissa McKirahan, of his native place. They have five children: Emma O , now Mrs. T. F. Thompson; William S., Alya R., Melissa D. , now Mrs. J. E. Brong ; and Alice Pearl, yet at home, but who is engaged as assistant teacher with U. O Anderson at Lafayette, Colorado. Mr. Kinney is an old time member of the I. O. O. F. lodge No. 18, at Milford. The family church home is with the Milford Congregational church. Mr. Kinney taught school at old Camden in an early day. and also in district No. 84. He is an energetic citizen and at times has been the standard bearer of his party for County offices, but unfortunately for Mr. Kinney his part}' was in the minority, and a good, straight busi- ness man was left out in the cold, but he is a success, office or no office. Mr. Kinney has been postmaster, justice of the peace, and is now a notary public. He is from the Scotch Irish stock. Although he was a pioneer in our new land he has taken pride in educating his children. The most of them are graduates of Doane College and one is a promi- nent teacher. One, William S. , is a lieutenant in the U. S. cavalry, 3rd regiment and Alva R. is president of the Ravenna Milling Com- pany. Alva and wife are gradviates of Doane College. JOSEPH A. KINSINGER The oldest general merchant in Milford. Was born February 11, 1857, in Butler County, Ohio. When a lad of thirteen he came to Missouri and struck the road to Nebraska in 1S!)1 and it landed him at Milford where he commenced his successful career as merchant. Just before coming west he made a little bargain with Miss Mary E. Kenagy, and they were married August 20. 1889. Miss Kenagy was born Novem- ber 1, 1861, in Logan County, Ohio. They have five children: James W., Homer B., Ruth G., Roy S., and Ralph A. Mr. and Mrs. Kinsinger are working members of the M. E. church and he is also a member of the A. O. U. W. Is a wide-awake business man and full of enterprise. MISS MARGARET KEALY Late superintendent of our industrial home. Was born at Copen- hagen in New Y'ork, March 23, 1857. Her parents moved to Decatur County, Illinois in 1864, and there Margaret began her school life. In 1865 the family moved to Clinton. Iowa. In that bustling young city Margaret came in contact with the world and when her school life had ended she chose the vocation of nurse. In 1875 we find her in Crawford county, Iowa, but she was so thoroughly imbued with the spirit of adventure that in 1885 we find her at Hastings, Nebraska, where in her noblo calling she attracted such attention that in 1902 she was chosen to her late honorable position. Miss Kealy is a member of the Catholic 98 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA church and is a most worthy Christian lady and excellent superin- tendent. To her we are largely indebted for the valuable information that we are ab)e to give to the reader in regard to the home. THOMAS H. KITCHEN Was born in Clark County, Illinois, October 14, 1840, and there he remained until he came to Seward County in 1884. On October 6, 1873, he was married to Miss Ellen Haskins in Coles County, Illinois. She was boin in Coles County, Illinois, May 12, 1838. They have no cnil- dren. They settled in "E" precinct. Mr. Kitchen is a member of the I. O. O. F. , the Modern Woodmen and also of the Woodmen of the World. Belongs to the Baptist church. ELIAS B. KNIGHT Came to Nebraska in early childhood with his parents. Was born in Jasper County. Iowa, November 9, 1868, and the removal to "B" precinct occurred in 1869. so Elias may be claimed as a Seward County boy. He attended the common schools until he out grew them and then took a course at the S«vvard high school and graduated with honors in the class of 1889. In 1893 he forined the acquaintance of an intelligent 3'oung teacher, Miss Mar}- Dauchy, and as they looked at things about alike, they were married June 4. She was a Nebraska girl born in Johnson County, August 19, 1869. Two bright children bless the home : Oma I. and Mildred I. Mr. Knight is a Modern Woodman and a member of the Ben Hur and is scribe of the Gosper Court. Mrs. Knight is a member of the Baptist church. The young people tried to make a home at Janesville Wiscon- sin for two years but of course they returned to their first love and are now comfortably situated on a nice farm in "B" precinct. PHILLIP KLENCK A cigar maker by trade. Was born ot German parents in, Lincoln Illinois, April 9, 1861 and came to Seward in October, 1878. Has been all these >ears a faithful worker. Is now contemplating making his home in the Rosebud reservation. He is a good quiet citizen, a member of the Royal Highlanders and also of the Evangelical church. CHARLES D. KNOX When a boy of eighteen years Charley caught the western fever and came to Seward County in 1873. He was born in Belmont County, Ohio, in 1855. His parents moved to Illinois in 1865. Was married to one of the Seward County girls, Miss Elmira A., daughter of Hon. William Hickman, in 1879. She was born at Newton, Iowa, in 1862 and came here with her parents in 1868. They have four children : Clarence, Clara, Fern and HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 99 Eva yet at home. Mr. and Mrs. Knox spent a few years in Grant County, this state but returned to their first love and he has been en- gaged in the livery business here for the last four years, here he has a fine lot of stock for the business. He belongs to the I. O. O. F. and also to the United Workmen. CARL G. A. KOCH One of the founders of the gi'eat German settlement in the eastern part of our county. Was boi'n in the province of Brandenburg, Ger- many, February 7, 1842. At twenty-six he had caught sight of the bright western star and broke away from the old environment and in October 1868, we find the young man in Missouri where he found his best girl. Miss Minnie Schaberg, and was married at Warrentown, March 4 1869. She was born February 23, 1845. at Warrentown. They had born to them seven children, viz: Charles E. , Edward H. , Ellen M., Adolph H. , Arthur F. , Otto, died in infancy; Miiinie M. , now Mrs. H. Spear. In the spring of ]870 the young couple came to the wild hills of Middle Creek and homesteaded land in section 24, in "H" precinct, here he broke the first sod in that locality. Mr. Koch is a very quiet, unassum- ing citizen, but for all that he has made his mark in his adopted home where he has raised a large and intelligent family. One of his boys born on our own soil, Edward H. Koch, is now serving the people the second term as superintendent of public instruction. Mr. Koch served as supervisor six years and as assessor for his pre- cinct four years. Before coming to this country he served in the German army over three years in the German and Austrian war. He is a member of the society of Koeniggratz. Mr. Koch is an all around, first class Gei'man-American citizen. EDWARD H. KOCH A Seward County lad born among the hills southeast of German- town, March 25, 1887. Went to the common school and helloed his father on the farm but developed a keen desire to make something of himself, took a course in the Lincoln Normal and in 1895 commenced teaching, and his success was such as to attract general attention and in 1890 he was elected superintendent of public instruction for Seward County. But prior to this, August 30, 1899. he captured the heart and hand of Miss Grace, daughter of our old pioneer friend, Charles Lyon another child of the frontier, born April 1875, and for years one of the noble band of Seward County teachers. They have one little son, Carl Lee. Mr. Koch is a little bashful and forbids the author to say that as an educator and high school oflicer he is a success but we will say this, the people passed judgment on his case by re-electing him in 1903. We trust that a big future is before this Seward County boy that had the nerve to forge to the front, by dint of his own indomitable will. 100 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA CALR F. KROEGER The owner of the oldest boot and shoe house in the county. Was born June 17, 1849, in Germany. Came to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1865 and to Seward in 1871. where he has stitched and pegged away since for years until now he owns a very fine store full of first class goods. In 1870 he found just the right girl in Miss Sophia Rost at Cleveland, and they were married in that city in 185li. They have nine living chil- dren, viz; Louisa, Carl, Jr., Edward, Lucreta, now Mrs. Chris May: land ; Gertrude, Paul, Oscar, Clara and Pauline. The church home is with the Lutherans. Mr. Kx'oeger is an energetic business man and a splendid type of German- American citizenship. HENRY W. KRUEGER Was a native of the sucker state, born at Lake Zurich, Lake County, March 27, 1859. He found his way to Iowa and May 17, 1888, he won the hana and heart of Miss Mary Schuknecht. She was born in Bramer County, June 19, 1867. They have five children, viz : Martha, Edward, Arthur, and a pair of twins, Martin and Manda. Came to York County in 1888 and to Seward County in 1895 and now owns the old Beaty farm one mile northeast of Seward. Has a most beautiful home. He is a great admirer of red pigs and has a very fine herd of them. SOLOMON D. LANCE A pioneer of "N" township who has grown up with the country that has come forward by leaps and bounds but Mr. Lance has kept pace with the land of his adoption. He and his good wife pulled out of the mud and brush of old Fulton County, Illinois, with a team, and came all the weary way across Iowa, with a steady eye fixed on Seward County where they landed and set their stakes at the now beautiful home on section 21 in "N' precinct in the spring of 1874 and got ready to welcome the grasshoppers in the following summer. Mr. Lance was born July 24, 1849. and was raised a farmer boy. Somehow Solomon strayed away to Aurora, Illinois, and found the young Miss Elizabeth E. Beebe, to whom he proposed in due time and September 14, 1873, they were married at Aurora. She was born in Kane County, Illinois, October 20, 1850. Their children are not yet named. Mr. Lance owns a first class farm of three hundred twenty acres, well improved, with a beautiful dwelling. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. Church home of the family is with the Christian church. HARRY D. LANDES Here is a young man that has lived so nearly all his life in Seward County that we can claim him as a product of our own soil, as he was transplanted from Sterling, Illinois, when one year old. Was born HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 101 July 17, 1878, and came with his parents to Milford in 1879, where the lad grew to manhood. His father was for many years a merchant in Milford. The boy attended the village school and later he completed a course in the high school of Lincoln and graduated with honors, after which in 1899, he graduated from the university of Nebraska and re- ceived the degree of B. S. In 1901 ne took the law degree of LL. D. and was admitted to practice in all the courts of Nebraska. He imme- diately came to Seward and opened an office under the firm name of Landes and Schick where it seems a bright future is before him. Mr. Landes served as deputy clerk of the supreme court of Nebraska with much credit for six months. He is a member of the Masonic order and also an active member of the Sons of Herman. We are always glad to see our Seward County boys come to the front and here is one that we will more than probably hear from in the years to come. JAMES T. LOGAN Son of Hugh Logan and grandson of J. H. Betzer, our veteran editor. Was in California during the Philippine war and enlisted in the regular army August 14, 1900. Was sent to Manilla and assigned to Company L, 30th U. S. infantry, where he served till March 1902, as corporal. Was then at Fort Sheridan until November, 1-902, when he was discharged, but would not stay discharged. Re-enlisted in Com- pany S. 20th Q. S. infantry, February 10, 1903, and returned to the Philippines with his regiment and was detailed as clerk in the Adju- tant's office. The regiment is yet at the post of duty in our far away islands. HUGH LOGAN Born in Ayrshire, Scotland, August 10, 1848, and transplanted to our more fertile and genial soil in 18(39, by the banks of the "father of waters" at Keokuk, Iowa. He found Seward in 1880, where a Seward girl attracted his attention and September 2, 1880, he married Miss America A., daughter of our veteran editor, J. H. Betzer. She was born in Marion County, Iowa, March 27, 1859. They have four boys and an adopted daughter: James T. , William R. , Welby H. Donald F. , and Alpha M. Mr. Logan is a carpenter and builder. Has by industry and fru gality built a nice home. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. and the M. W. A. A very trustworthy and respected citizen. BENJAMIN LAUBER An Illinois boy born in Livingston County, April o, 1871. He found Nebraska at eleven and found a home in west "O" precinct where he has grown up to manhood and May 21, 1895, he won the hand and heart of Miss Phoebe Stauffer and was married at the Amish church. She was born in Livingston County, Illinois, April 15, 1876. They 102 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA have six children, viz : Adaline, May, David, now dead ; Daniel, Mattie and Joseph. Mr. Lauber was raised a farmer boy and continues in that honora- ble calling with success. He is located in that splendid settlement west of Milford. Church home is with the Amish Menonite people. REV. FREDERIC W. LEAVITT Pastor in charge of ttie Congregational church of Seward. Was born at Monticello, Iowa, February 11, 1873. Was the son of a Congre- gational minister. When six years old the parents made Nebraska their home and sojourned at Ashland, here Fred commenced his studies. At thirteen we find him in the Norfolk high school. He graduated in the class of ISO!) at Doane College and in 1896 was assistant principal in the high school at Crete. Next we find him at Andover Seminary three years, where he graduated in 1899. Just then,, in August he mar- ried Miss Jessie B. McGrew, of Geneva, Nebraska. She was born at Wyoming, Iowa, October 22, 1875. They have one babe, Carolyn. Rev. Leavitt was pastor four years at West Point, Nebraska, and was called to Seward in 190H. THEODORE LEGER Was born in old Normandy in France, March 2, 1833. Took a nor- mal couise of study in Paris, commencing at sixteen and graduating at eighteen. Then commenced his career as teacher in the south of France. Married to Miss Augustine Chostel September (i. 18()(). Five children, all yet living, were born to them as follows -. Theodore A., now a minister in Idaho ; Eva, now Mrs. Bai-os; Bertha, now Mrs. Rum- mell ; Paul H. , and Maurice V. Mrs. Leger died at the family home in "I'" precinct. December 17, 1879. Mr Leger came to this country in ISIKi and made his home in Illinois and came to Seward County in 1873. Married to Mrs. Grace Winhouse in 1883. Five children were born to them, viz: Edgar M. , Ida R. , Grace X., Robert and Alphonso. The church house of the family is with the French Evangelical Presbyterians. Has beautifully improved the farm and has a nice home with fruit, flowers and shrubery. A. LEAVENS The present probate judge of Seward County. Was born January 10, 1851, at Bethel, Ohio, but did most of his growing in Illinois and Iowa. April 20, 1874, he married Miss Maggie E. Skinner in Bell Plains, Iowa. She was born at Portage, Wisconsin, April 20, 1859. They have three children, viz: Mae E. Casler; Nellie Rutledge and Maude, J. Leavens, who died March 16, 1892, aged thirteen years. Mr. Leavens came to Utica in 1888, October 13. Was raised a farmer boy, and at twenty learned the blacksmith trade, but got very HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 103 tired pounding hot iron and read law with J. J. Mosnat at Bell Plain and was admitted to the bar of Iowa, December 1883, at Vinton. Was appointed judge of Seward County, March 15. 19U2, and elected in No- vember 1902, re-elected 1903. He is a stalwart democrat and belongs to I. O. O. F. , M, W. A. Church home is Presbyterians. 104 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA DR. WILLIAM K. LOUHRIDGE A young but successful man in his honored profession. Was born among the rugged and rockj- hills at Wilksbarre. Pennsylvania, March 24. 1874. Somehow he found the western trail Avhen but five years old and his first home on Nebraska soil was at Plattsmoiith, the place looking most like the old home of any to be found in the west. Was educated there in the high school. Took a medical course at Cotner university. Then in the Chicago Homeopath College, and at Rush and later at Medico Chirugal at Philadelphia Commenced prac- tice at Pleasant Dale, Nebraska in 1894, but came to Milford and estab- lished the hospital in 1900, where his success is phenominal. Doctor is a 32nd degree Mason. Is an Odd Fellow in high standing. A member of the A. O. U. W., M. W. A., K. O. T. M., Highlanders, Sons and Daughters of Protection and Royal Neighbors, and is the Examining Physician in all these orders. We are not advised what other orders he contemplates joining. This boy raised in Nebraska is a success anyway. In beautiful Milford he owns a splendid hospital equipped with all modern appli ances, where the sick may have the best of attention. The building is situated in a well kept park, embowered with shady shrubs and flowers. CHARLES LEIBROCK One of the first born boys of "H" precinct. Came to brighten the frontier home of his parents March 7, 1870, near the old stone church on section 28 "'H" town. Charley was a child of the wilderness and here among the rolling hills and tiowing brooks he has spent his life as a farmer bov and still, makes his home with his widowed mother at the old home to which the family came in 1866 when only two other families lived in all that region, the Grotz family and the Brant family. Charley is a good, faithful boy and is deserving of a good prosperous life and a good wife. SAMUEL LONG (Deceased. ) Was born April 80, 1811, in Virginia and there remained till grown, when he went to Indiana where he married Miss Permelia Rogers, March 1, 1843. She was born about 1820 in Kentucky. They raised six children, viz: ElmyraE.. now dead ; Levina now Mrs. Snow ; Elva S. now, Mrs. William Wait; Simeon A., Loila, now Mrs. F. Gowey and Luena C. , now Mrs. I. Neff. The old people came to Seward County and located on the farm now owned and occupied by the widow about the 10th of June 1863. Mrs. Long is one of the three oldest living residents of the county that were grown when they arrived. The other two are Mrs. W. J. Thomp- son of Beaver Crossing and Job Reynolds of Ruby. At eighty-four the old lady seems in good health and spirits and yet able to do much housework. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 105 .<^I^V, ■9D c 106 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA CHARLES L. LYON One of the ver3' first to break the &od on the ereat plain between Seward and where Germantown now stands. Was born in DuPage County, Illinois, May 10, 1846. In his young manhood he caught sight of the bright western star and like the "'other wise" men he fol- lowed it and found the goal of his ambition in our goodly land, where he found a homestead on section 12, in "G" town, in February, 1868. He was a lone bachelor and his only neighbors were Daddy Cooper, Cyrus Fetterman, a colony of prairie dogs and plenty of Coyotes. Charley used to go to the little village of Lincoln occasionally and somehow he caught sight of Miss Sarah Davison and she took a liking to Charley and wanted to have an interest in that homestead. They were married February 6, 1872. She was born July 12, 1848, in Vermillion County, Illinois. They have four children and have lost three, viz: Grace A., now Mrs. E. H. Koch; Delbert H. , the next died in early infancy, Nellie A.. Mabel E. , died in February 1894; Chester C. , and G. Eva. Mr. Lyon enlisted in the 17th Illinois cavalry and put in his time chasing bushwhackers in Missouri. He is a member of the Seward G. A. R. Post. The church home is with the Presbyterians. Mr Lyon owns one of the most beautiful arms in the county. Everything is up-to-date on that farm JOHN LUSHER Was born ^larch, 1856. in Boone County, Illinois, and was raised there and married Miss Rosanna Kreighaum in April, 1876, in Living- ston County, Illinois. She was born in 1858 in Tazvvell County, Illinois. They have five children, viz: Julia L.. now Mrs. Parish; Lewis, Walter, Elmer, and Ros- anna. They settled in "A" precinct in 1880, on a farm. MARTIN MADSON One of Denmarks best men. who saw the bright star in the western world in his young manhood in 1867, and located in Wisconsin, but soon again took the trail that led to "K" precinct, and landed on the wild prairie homestead an old bachelor in August, 1879. First in a dugout, then a soddie. In 1877, November 12, the best girl that he had left behind him, came to claim her own Martin, and Miss Carrie Petersen changed her name. She was born in Denmark, August 21, 1846. These good people h&ve three children, viz: Martin, Bertha L., now one of our teachers, and Christeen B. Mr. Madison was born Sei)tember 29, 1837. He owns a most beau- tiful home near the village of Goebner. Was one of the first to break the sod in his precinct and knows all about pioneer life. Church home is with the Presbyterians. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 107 DR. FRANKLIN A. MARSH One of Seward Countj's eminent physicians. Was born at Quincy, Illinois, September 14, 1856, when he commenced his education in the city schools. Dr. F. A. Marsh's Dwelling He studied and practiced pharmacy for seven years, and thus pre- pared the way for a more successful course in medicine at the Iowa university, wnere he graduated in the class of 1889 in the Homeopathy medical department and immediately commenced his professional career at Malvern, Iowa. Somehow the doctor, before he was vet a doctor, won the heart jind hand of Miss Martha Ward of La Prairie, Illinois, and was married December 25. 1877. She was a native of Arcadia, Illinois, born November 6, 1858. Mrs. Marsh has proven a valuable helpmeet to the doctor in his life work, always ready and willing to lend a helping hand in relieving anyone in distress. She is wonderfully gifted in music and renders the church valuable service. They have one daughter, Mabel, yet at home. In 1891 they made their home in Seward where the doctor soon took a high rank in the noble profession. The family church home is with the M. E. people. The doctor is 108 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA a member of the pension board. He belongs to the I. O. O. F. ,the Modern Woodmen, the A. O. U. W., Royal Highlanders, Degree of Honor and Royal Neighbors and is medical examiner for each of them and also for several old line companies. He is a direct descendant of Captain Ebenezer Marsh of the battle of Lexington, being a great grandson. CHARLES F. MATZKE Came to our good land when a yearling and has snuffed the breezes of our prairie about all his life. Was born in the Badger state in Green County, September 13, 1873, and came to Milford in 1874, and when he came to the proper age he captured a Seward County girl, Miss Elorrie Fo.«ler, March 1. 1894, at Seward. She was born at Milford August 19, 1874. They have two children: Stanley A., and Goldie E. Charles was raised on a farm on section 30, northeast of Milford in "I" precinct. Commenced the mercantile business at Goehner in 1902, and seems to make a success of it. He is now the postmaster there. Is a member of K. O. T. M. Church home is with the Evangelical Association. JOHN MAUER Was born in Alsace, France, and his parents came to Iowa when he was a lad of six years. John was born March 13, 1846. Was raised in Davis County, Iowa. John lived a bachelor until thirty-two when he married Miss Leah Bender, January 29, 1878, in Henr}- County, Iowa. She was born in Ontario, Oxford County, April 27, 1864. They have four children, viz: Amanda D. , Ehner, Emma and Edwai'd J. Mr. Mauer came to the present home on section 11, "N" town in 1892. Mrs. Mauer died at the family home June 5, 1901. Mr. Mauer is a first class farmer. Church home is with the Amish people CHRIS MAYLAND One of the bright boys born on the frontier that started out in life with a purpose to accomplish something. Was born on the father's homestead on Lincoln Creek December 22, 1870, and was one of the first white children burn in "F" precinct. Educated in the common frontier schools. Married October 14, 1902, to a Seward born girl. Miss Licettie B. Krogei". She was born Feb. 20, 1881, and educated in the schools of Seward Mr. Mayland commenced in the stock trade at twenty-three and has stuck to the text until today he ranks with the best stockmen of the county. Owns a splenid farm only a mile out of the city. Full of energy and business. HENRY MAYLAND A Seward County boy. Was one of the first born boys of "H" pre- cinct. April 5, 1873, Henry came to light and life. He has grown up HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 109 among us and served his time as a farmer boy. February 26, 1897. was married to Miss Annie Imig at Seward. She was born at Mineer, Illinois, January 1,1877, and came to Seward County in her early child- hood. They have one child, Alma. The young jieople now live in "J" precinct. The church home is with the Lutherans. REV. WALTER D. MORGAN Is truly a child of the frontier and if his birth had been postponed a little over two years we might have claimed him as a Seward County boy. Was born in Otoe County. January 27, 1858, and his father, mother and grandparents came to Blue river just near where Ruby station now stands, in the spring of 1861, where his younger sister, Ellen, the first white child of the county, was born the same year. Walter grew to manhood in this wilderness and was nearly grown before the cars reached Seward. With very meager opportunities for an education yet he was of gooa mettle, and determined to make a man of himself, anlhedid. June 27, 1882, he married a lady who came from Augusta, Maine, Miss Rebecca Perkins. She was born April 2, 1863, and came to Nebraska twenty-eight years ago. There have been born to them: Bertha, now Mrs. S. B. Cox; Ethel, Firman V., Grace I., and Leroy. Mr. Morgan studied for the ministry and commenced preaching in 1892 and is a very successful and eloquent preacher. At present pastor of the United Brethren church and also preacher at the soldiers" home and at the industrial home. This is another fine instance of what the children of the wilderness can do where there is a determined will. With scarcely any opportun- ity for mental training or classic education he stands erect as a valu- able teacher of the people, loved and honored by his church and the community. THOMAS MORTON Was born in the Badger state in Green County, January 10, 1867, and came to Seward County in early childhood and helped his father, Mr. Frank Morton, open a farm upon south east of Seward in "J" precinct. Thomas married Miss Emma Scheerer July 19, 1892, at Seward. She was born February 15, 1871, in Illinois. They have five child- ren, viz: Ciee R., Abraham J., Herchell B., Gladys I., and Barbara F. Mr. Mortin lives in Seward and is an employee of the city at this time. He is a member of the A. O. U. W. The Morton family came to the county in 1873. JOHN W. McCAULEY One of the first settlers of "M" town. Was born in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, in 1835. His parents moved to Ohio in 1832, 110 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA but the old folks were not satisfied and as the new state of Iowa was waiting to welcome people in 1851. they came west where Mr. Mc- Cauley remained till a new attack of western fever landed him in Seward County in 1869. Was married to Miss E. Huffman in Clark County, Ohio, where she was born April 30, 1829. They were the parents of twelve children, viz: Harvey W., MaryC. , now dead, was the wife of D. F. Haney ; Florence A., now Mrs. N. A. Wilsie; Sheldon B. , David S., Fred N., Elmer E. , Roy R. , Porter W. , Guy S. , and Anna M. Mrs. McCauley died October 27, 1898. She was a member of the Evangelical church. Mr. McCauley has retired from farm work on ac- count of advanced age. Was a soldier in the Mexican war under Gen- eral Scott. Was wounded in both legs at Cerogoi'do but no bones were broken. Received his discharge at the city of Mexico. He saw the battles at the city gates and the surrender of the city, also saw the battle of Chepultapec, but could not participate. Although disabled, he stood for the draft in Iowa for the war of the rebellion. When Mr. McCauley came to Beaver Crossing and took his homestead there were only a very few settlers. He remembers Chris Clark, Phillip Michael and Isaiah Michael, Daniel Millspaugh, John Osborne and Ross Nichols who came at about the same time. These were settlers in "M" pre- cinct. These people suffered many hardships in the pioneer days. JOHN H. MERRILL An English born boy with many experiences. The parents came to Painesville. Ohio, when John was six months old, but they took a notion to try Canada. They soon took the backward track and made a permanent home in Ohio. John was born in Cheshire, England, July 27, 1854. He married Miss Catherine Shields. June 22, 1874. She was born in County (iray, Ontario, February 29, 1855. There were born to thetr two boys, Wilber and Edgar. Mrs. Merrill died, date unknown. September 14, 1886, Mr. Merrill married Miss Lucy A. Caruthers. She was born at Tecumseh, Canada, November 19,1863. Three children vrere born to them, viz: Ethel, Hazel and Lucy. Mrs Merrill died December 6, 1894 at Pleasant Dale. January 22, 1896 Mr. Merrill married his wife's sister. Miss Belle Caruthers, also a native of Ontario, born October 22, 1865. To this union were born two children. Arthur and Wiston. The family came to Pleasant Dale in February 1880 and located in "P" precinct. He owned part of the land on which the village is built, and which he platted as a town site, and from that day to this he has with might and main struggled to help his town to the front. He now owns and is president of the bank and is proprietor of a large hardware and implement house. Is one of Nebraska's builders and a valuable business man and citizen. The family church home is with the M. E. church. He is a leading member of the time honored A. F. and A. M. and als(j of the Modern Woodmen and a member of the school board. They say he keeps his end up in all public enterprises. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 111 t^ 6 6 112 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA GEORGE C. McKAY The founder of Staplehurst and one among the first that broke the sod on the great prairie in "C" precinct. Was born among the rocky hills of York state September 14, 1807, and there remained during his boyhood. In 1839, July 13. Mr. McKay married Miss Melissa Knapp at Charleston, Ohio. Two children were born to them, viz : Manning and Mrs. Wadsworth. Mrs. McKay died some years later. Mr. McKay was married the second time in 1845 tC Mrs. Rachel Hathaway in Ohio. She was born October 23, 1810, in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. They had four children, viz : Mrs. A. A. Weaver, D. C. McKay, Homer M. and Albert A. The family located in "C" precinct in 1870, where Mr. McKay took a prominent part in the development of his locality Was for years a justice of the peace and county commissioner of the county. The church home of Mr. McKay was with the Christian church and Mrs. McKay was a Presbyterian. Mrs. McKay died February 23, 1894. Mr. McKay died June 28, 1882. IRA McCOLLISTER Was a native of Ohio, Dorn June 15, 1844, among the blue clay hills at Chillicothe, but found his way to Johnson County, Iowa in boyhood. Married Miss Lucy Nickerson in September, 1867, at Toledo, Iowa. She was born March 3. 1847, at Clarksfield, Ohio. They had eight children, viz: Alpha G. , Effie G., Graul, Milton S. , Stanley G. , Myra H. , died at eleven ; Ira C. , died in infancy ; and Gerald T. Mr. McCollister came to "'L" precinct in December, 1872. Ira en- listed, June, 1862, in Company A, 22nd Iowa volunteer infantry, and he was commissioned officer. Served in the armies of the Mississippi. Was at th^) Gulf and on the Red river, was in Virginia and the Caro- linas. Was discharged in September, 1865. He was overseer of the state grange the first year. In his religious belief he is a Quaker. Present home is at Bonner Springs, Kansas, here he is commander of the G. A. R. No. 317. ALBERT M. McGREW An Illinois lad born in McDonough County, October 3, 1863, and struck the great western trail at sixteen and landed in Seward County in 1879. Albert was raised a farmej" boy and has wisely pursued that vocation. In 1886, September 15, he captured Miss Martha E. Bain at Seward. She was a Missouri girl born in Harrison County, August 4, 1863. Seven children have come to bless their home, viz: Lloyd M., Winnie G. , Albert C, Forest A., Jessie C. , Carrie R. , and Nina M. Alliert's father settled near Bee in 1879, but Albert now is a farmer five miles north of Seward. He is a member of the A. F. and A. M. also of the Ben Hur. Church home is with the Christian church at Seward. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA ll3 REV. JOSEPH MERRILL Was born September 2, 18B1, in England. While yet a young man he canght sight of the star of empire in the west but somehow he got wrongly loi-ated and landed in Canada. He soon found his mistake and in 1872 we find him in Ohio, but before leaving Canada he married Miss Jane E. Christener, a Canadian girl, so Uncle Sam's dominions was the gainer by his sojourn in that country. We gained two in place of one. She was born February 1, 1839. They were the parents of eleven children, viz: Elizabeth P. W. , now Mrs. ;E. Lewis; Frank J. W. , Samuel A. V. , Susan C. , now Mrs. A. Westhover, Fred H. , Martha F. , now Mrs. F. A. Bunn ; Walter H. , Charles E. . Hamilton B. , William J. W. ana Richard A. C. Rev. Merrill came to Seward County in 1881 and located at the Oak Grroves. He was a local preacher in the M. E. church for many years but never took to the regular work of the ministry. After a long life in the labor of love he was called home October (5, 1890. Mrs. Merrill died December 13, 1901. (GEORGE A. MERRIUM Born in that old stony state vvhei-e the sheep have to wear steel points on their noses to get the grass from the crevices of the rocks, Vermont, November 12, 1850, but his case was not hopeless, as his father had heard of the better country in the west, and in 1866 they landed at Milford. George taught school while a young man. Was married to Miss Sarah F.Martin, a Milford girl, in 1878. She was born in Pennsylvania in 1851. Three children came to the home : EvaE. , Jessie L. , and Faye M. He is a member of the A. F. and A. M., L O. O. F., M. W. A ., and A. O. U. W. Church home of the family is with the Congrega- tionlists. Mr. Merrium has been clerk of the district court sixteen years, a mem- ber of the Seward school board, member of the Republican state cen- tral connnittee and chairman of the county central committee two terms. He is the present secretary of the Mutual Protective Fire Association. LOYD H. McKILLIP A Seward boy from start to finish. Son of Hon. D. C. McKillip. Was born January 21, 1879, and graduated in high school in the class of 1897. Then took a literary course in our state university and gradu- ated in the class of 1901, and received the degree of A. B. . when he entered the law department and in class of 1903 took the degree of LL. B. , and immediately commenced the practice of his profession at the old home, and has succeeded to the business of his father. Was elected county attorney in the fall of 1904. 114 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA THOMAS W. MEYERS A Seward County boy born near Gerraantovvn, August 3, 1884, on a farm. The father's family now reside north of Seward. Thomas had the misfortune to lose his mother in early childhood. He has the reputation of being an industrious boy of excellent habits, and as the years roll by will have nsore history to relate, as he loves to read. GEORGE W. MIDDAUGH A prominent citizen of Utica. Was born September 9, 1845, at Kiehsburg, Illinois. While young he migrated westward and found a wife in the person of Miss Lizzie Woodward of State Center, Marshall County, Iowa, January 25, 1878. They have two children, viz: Lela, now Mrs. J. Landenberger ; and Bertha, now Mrs. S. Goodwin. Mr. Middaugh came to Utica in May. 1885. He is a wide-awake real estate man and sells lands of his locality and the west and south. He also does an insurance business, having an agency with many relia- ble companies. He is also an auctioneer of wide repute. Is a member of the I. O. O. F. and the D. of R. JAMES MILLER An Ohio boy, the son of a Presbyterian preacher, born in Wood County, December 31, 1844. He found the trail leading westward at eleven and landed at St. Charles, Iowa. Here he became acquainted with Miss Mary A. Baird, and when James and Mary had reached the proper age they were married, December 31, 1880, at St. Charles, Iowa. But this happy event did not occur until Mr. Miller had become thoroughly posted in all the ways of our "wild and woolly west." In 18(j9 he came to the wilderness and laid the foundations of the present home on section 20, in "J" precinct, and here he batched it for many long years, waiting, we su^jpose, until he was old enough to have the care of a family. But at last he awakened to the fact that it was not good for man to be alone in the world and remembering the girl he had left behind him. he made some excuse to go to Iowa. He went and came back with his bride. Mrs. Miller was also an Ohio girl born in Guernsey Countj-, January 1, 1851. bat came in infancy to Iowa, where she grew to womanhood. They have four children, viz : William C. , John R., Minnie A., and Margaret A. Mr. Miller is a successful farmer who has always tfied to do his full share in this grand good county of ours. The church home of the family is with the M. E. people of Seward. HARVEY M. MILLER For twelve years Seward agent for the C. & N. W. railroad. Was born in Berks County, Pennsylvania, September 5, 1863, and struck the HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 115 western trail in 1877, aiul followed it to Dallas Count3-, Iowa. Com- menced work for the C. R. I. P. R. R. in 1885. Was with the Burlington a short time in 1887. Came to Seward as operator for the Northwestern people, August 3, 1887. and officed in a box car. Took agency at Goehner December 1. transferred to Linwood in 1890, and August 7, 1889, was placed in charge at Seward. Married August 28, 189;^, to INIiss Grace Porter, one of the teachers of our high school, a graduate of the state normal. A very accom- plished lady of high standing. They have five children, all at home: Chauncy M.. Harold V., Matilda M., Elmer E. and Helen E. Mrs. Miller was born in Missouri, but raised from her early youth in Nebraska. Mr. Miller is a Modern Woodman and in 1901 was a delegate to their national camp at St. Paul, Minnesota. He is also a member of the A. F. and A. M. He is at piesent a member of our board of educa- tion. A republican in politi(-s. Mr. Miller is a very suitable person for promotion in raih'oad work. W^ILLIAM W. MILLER One of the early settlers In the Amish settlement in west "O" town. Was born in Holmes County, Ohio, February 9, 1861. His folks had a slight attack of western fever when William was only eight years old, and the great western trail led them to McLean County, Illinois, where they sojourned for live years when they saw the star of empire hovering over Nebraska and October 8, 1874, they landed on section 9, "O" town. When William had reached the age of twenty-one he began to look around for a best girl and as neighbor Stutzman had the one to suit him, they looked at matters just a like, and March 18,1882, he and Miss Kate were married at the great church of their faith in "O" precinct. They have eight children, viz : Sarah, now Mrs. A. Stutzman ; Joseph, John H. , Malinda, Ammon, Lovina, Gertie, and Barery E. Church home is with the Amish Menonites. WILLIAM J. MILLER Was an Iowa boy born in Henry County, September 8, 1876, but got on the Nebraska trail when five years old and landed near Milford, whei'e he grew up a Seward county boy. and while looking around he found Miss Matilda Troyer, and they made a bargain at the Amish church, July 20, 1899. She was born in Howard County, Indiana, October 25, 1878. They have four little ones, viz: Clara M. , Homer W. , Minnie M. , and Henry E. By the way, the author helped in naming the baby. William came to Milford in 1881. Was raised a farmer and under- stands his business. Church home is with the Ami.sh Menonites. 116 lllS'l'OliY OW SKVVAIvM) COUNTY, NKHliASKA lIAKIMOli MlLLKIi Olio of the old time homoHtoadc^iH of vv(isiern "J" ])reciiict. Whh l)oni Mtiroh 1(5, 1H45), ainonjir t\w \Auv clay hills of Licking County, Ohio, and was niiwed all tho way from ()hio to NebraHka. He took to the \v(\steni trail in (wirly yonth and rested awhile at St. Charles, Iowa, and in IH72 he imrsutul his iouniey westward and land(id on the liom«fstead in seetion 20, ",1" i)re,einct. After hiit(-hing it, until si^'iiif" tint lolly of it, in IH7!). One spring morniny, A])ril 10, ho hied away to Saunders (bounty, and (toneluded a contract witli Miss FAUm Heac^li and Ihirjuir batched it no more. She was born in Kankakcu^ (!ounty, Illinois, Jan- nary II, IH4!». They have two children, vi/.: (I(^rtru(l(^ Clark and James Lauren. Mr. MillcM- is a successful larnier and llie family (uijoy a i)leasant home. He is a meinlMM' of the A. ( ). I'. VV. and his Cliurcli home is with the Presbyterians of Sciward. HON. JOHN E. McLAlN An Illinois boy, ))urri in ilcuderson County, November I I, \H')V}, where tliey had the usual exjcriences of a farmer boy in the common schools and vvorkiufi, just as all worthy boys do, at all kinds of faim work. He remaiiunl in Illinois until his removal to Seward County, in lHH(i. In 1877 he was married to Miss Marietta li. Taylor, a native of the old Keystone static They have six (^liiklren. The yonn^ ])eople settled on a farm just northeast of Sewai'd and have opened and improved a nice farm. Mr. McLain has taken a decided interest in i)ublic matters at his new home. For many years he has been master of 01iv(M- lodj^e No. ;W of the A. F. and A. M. and is also a member of the Woodmen of the World and the Modcun Woodmiui. Was for some years treasurer of his township. He is a full ficnlj^ed re- ])ublican and his party made liim standard bearer for rejjresentative in the fall of ltH)2, and elected him. and his faithful committee work and close attention to business iiisuriMl iiis lenoniination in 1!M)I. He is a wide-awake, valuable citizen and has lendered valuable service to the countv and state. Hc^ was elected to succeed himself. OOV. JOHN 11 MICKFY Six miles west of HurliiiKon, Iowa, anion^ the brushy hills, was born September ;?(), IHIT), the boy that is now serving his second term as governor of Nebraska. He was a child of a pioneer settlement. The father, O. V. Mickey, settled there in \H'M'). Two years later we find the family in Louisa C^ounty, where John attdiidcHl tlie coinnion school, in tlu^ log cabin school house of that day. In lH(i;i he enlisted in Company D, Hth Iowa cavalry, and was w ith the army of east Tennessee and with Sherman at the surrender of At- lanta. He was also with Hood and Thomas. In August, 1H()5, he was mustered out and returned honit^ Then he was a student two years at IIIS'l'OltY Ol'' SI'lWAIM) COtlNTY, NI'lHIiASK A 117 Mi(t W<)Hl lie llio lirHt HCittlor on tlio town mIIc sind (lad n ;4i-nnin<- lioix' i;irc witfi W. 10. Kinn«!l iuid waH bfiatcn in lln; nice and Mr. Kinml raimil Die Iiomoih of l)(;in^ (lio i'wHt hcU I<',|- in Uie city of ()hci;oiii. Al. t lie, or^;aiii/,al ion of (,h(i contdy, in iHid, .Mr. MicUoy was i',\f<;\<;il IreaMnror, and Imlil I iio orticc, \>:i] yoaiH. In IHHO vvaH «',I(!(;t(!d nioMd)f',r of the li!^ capital wan five, thouHand dollai'H; now it iH tliirty h<;v(ui tliouHarid doJIarH. It liaH Ikm'JI a Hfjund and HiiccohHf'iil itiHtitution tliroiiKh all tho yufd.y; Kvan S. , liin father h chjrk ; liertha 10., nowMrn. II. O. Smith, .Mary N. now a ntudent ; IJenJamin H. .JamfjH H. , Flora E.', and Novina A., at home. WaH elected l»y a gre.ut ly in<;n;a,sed inajoritv- in MMil. ,IK.\:S L. .MIKKIOLSIO.N WaH one of the Htnrdy cliildreji of iJe.nmark that wah not Hatinfieri with thfi cramjjed conditioriH in the. fatherlan*! and nt tw«jn(-y h« w^nght for a new home beyond the rolling billown of two ocfjann, in far off AuHtralia. whero he remained neven ye^arn, when he heard of Nebranka arul rec.rossed th'j Pacific and ncaled the tn jii/d.ainH vast and lande,«l at Omaha July iiH, 1870, whero he, fr^und a lady bearing hin ow/i nam«i and hIho a native of iJenmark. Shf. jaoved to be Junt the girl he. waH lo'jk ing for and thr-y were marrie^d at Omaha, November ^'5,1870. Ml, Mikkelnen wan born March II. 18455. Mrn. -Mikkelnen wan born April ~), \HT,2. Thfjy hav*j eight childre.n, viz: iJorothy K., ./eriH 0'., Michael L. , John, Na^jma M,, Andrew ('., William T., and Annie li. 118 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA They settled on section 10. in"E" precinct, March 10, 1871, and opened a farm. In 1H9G thev took up their residence in Seward. The church home of the family is with the Seward M. E. church. Lewis Moflitl Founder of Seward and one amon^ the early pioneers of the county, was born December 1, 1884 in Indiana, and married Miss May A. Thomas in 1854. The young people found a new home in Jasper county, Iowa, where they resided until their removal to Seward county. In February, 1865, Mr. Moftitt visited this locality and was so well pleased with the outlook that he bought of the government the land upon which the city of Seward now stands and while here he also homesteaded a quai'ter of land on Lincoln Creek. Soon after this he sold the homestead to old Mr. Hartman, father of Fred ami Win. Hartman. He never moved on- to the homestead. In July, 1865, the family moved to the future town site and built a double log house which served the family for a home and it was open for all public gatherings of the community for a time. Our first Sab- bath school was organized at this humble home and we also had the use of the house for religious meetings. Mr. Mottitt w^^s our first post mas- ter and his home was our post ottice. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 119 In May. 1868, Mr. Mofiitt platted 80 acres into town lots. These consisted of four rows of blocks beginning at Jackson avenne and ex- tending to the south line of the north half of the southwest quarter of Mrs. Lewis Moffitt section 21, T 11. R 3 east, making thirty-two blocks. The square was dedicated to the town for public uses. Mr. Moflfitt was quite liberal in donating lots for schools, churches, etc., and he was liberal with his means in defraying expenses of our county seat contest. Later he arranged with Mr. Cloyd and what is known as Cloyd's addition was made. By and by Mr. Harris became in- terested, and the southeast quarter of section 20 was platted, and also forty acres of Mr. John Roberts' homestead was brought into the cor- poration. Mr. Moffitt did not take such interest in the town as to launch out in building ventures. He built a beautiful home on ad.ia- cent lands and there spent a quiet life. His health had been failing many years. A short time before his death he and his wnfe made pro- vision that four hundred acres of valuable land should go to the county, the proceeds of sale should be used in the building of a court house that is to cost not less than eighty thousand dollars. In late years Mr. Moffitt and his wife spent much time in California, looking for health. 120 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA They had one son, Leroy, who died in 1874. At this writing the wife still lives, but is a great sufferer. Among the public bequests were two blocks at the foot of Seward street for a public park. Mr. Moffitt died June 17, 1900. Morro\v Hospital Of Seward, Nebraska, opened for business under the management of Dr. Joseph Morrow, in March, 1902. Is a fine structure prepared to care for a large number of patients. Is thoroughly equipped with all modern appliances, hot and cold watei", electric baths, etc., all the most approved modern surgical appliances. X rays, Bettz hot air apparatus and every convenience known to the jirofession, furnace heat, electric light, nice brick walks leading to all parts of the city. The hospital is beautifully situated within a group of fine shade trees, and on a quiet street where patients are not annoyed by noise and confusion. DR. JOSEPH MORROW One of the live Nebraska boys in whom we take pride. Was born near the present town of Mvirray, Cass County, Nebraska, February 15, 1870. Commenced his education in the common schools and took a lit- erary course at Cotner university He graduated from the eclectic medical institute at Cincinnati, Ohio, in J892, June 7th. He also took post graduate course in the Polyclinic institute, Chicago, and the Homeopathic school of Oriaficial surgery, at Chicago. Came to Oermantown and commenced practice June 27, 1893, where he married Miss Frances E. Fetterman, November 28, 1894. She was a HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 121 Seward County girl born near Gerraantown, January 19, 1873, and was the daughter of Cyrus Feterman, Esq.. one of our oldest residents of the county. The doctor opened the Morrow hospital in Seward, March 16, 1902. The institution is rapidly growing in public favor. Dr. Morrow is a member of the Sons of Veterans, a Royal Highlander and a Royal Neighbor. This Nebraska boy is getting to the front in good shape. HARVEY MOLER Was a Hoosier born boy and came to light in Madison County. June 19, 1847, where he remained until he enlisted in Company E, 84 Indiana veteran volunteers in 1864. Served one year and was discharged in 1865. In 1868 he went to Knox County, Illinois where he married Miss Sally Shoemaker. She was a Knox County girl horn in 1845. They have four children, viz: Melvin J. . Ira. William, and Fied. They came to Seward County in 1888 and located near Bee. Mr. Moler is a farmer. THOMAS W. MYERS A Seward County boy born August 3, 1884, northeast of Seward. His father, Jesse W. Myers, was born in McDonough County, Illinois, December 21, 1853. His mother was born in Beryan County, Michigan, June 5, 1853, and died January 1, 1893. The old folks came to Seward County at an earlj' day and were among the pioneer settlers. Thomas has four brothers, viz: John and Joseph, twins; Edward, Jesse, also a baby sister that died. Thomas is a wide-awake, energetic boy and will make his mark in the world if we mistake not. WILLIAM H. MOORE A native of the old keystone state, where, like other boys of that rugged old state of stumps, stones, and everlasting hills generally, Wil- liam spent the first twenty years of his life chasing the cows up and down the stony paths, rolling stones, building stone fences, grubbing brush and attending school in the little red school house. He was born October 10, 1858, in Fayette County. The Moore family found the western trail in 1878, which led them to Seward, where William worked with an older brother at the carpenter's trade for some years, when he went to work with W. B. Barrett in the lumber business and some years later he formed a co-partnership with Mr. Barrett and bought the furniture store of John Kribbler, and after the death of Mr. Barrett Mr. Moore became sole proprietor. Mr. Moore formed the acquaintance of Miss Lizzie Walker of Seward, and they were married April 16, 1884, at Seward. She was a nati\ e of Illinois, born in 1865, and came to Seward when a child with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Walker. They now have six children, viz: Elsie, Albert, Wanda, Roy, Merle and Nellie. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 123 Ml". Moore came to Seward in December, 1878. He is a member of the A. O. U. W. Church home is with the Congiegationalists. Mr. Moore erected a beautiful home on sixth street in the summer of 1904. He is among the foremost of our wide-awake business men. L. C. MOORE Was a New York boy. born in Yates County, September 1, 1861. Went to Michigan in childhood and was raised by an older sister. Came to Ohiowa, Nebraska, in 1884, and later to Lawrence, and to Utica in 1889. October 18, 1893, was married to Miss Bercie Hum- phrey, a Seward born girl born November 11, 1874. She was educated in the Seward high school and Seward Commercial college. The young couple moved to Shenandoah, Iowa, soon after the wedding, but came back to their first love in 1904. He is a machinist by trade. Is now engaged in selling heating, lighting and water systems for buildings. Mr. Moore is a man of energy and business ability. REV. WILLIAM MURPHY One of the most eminent and widely known clergymen in Nebraska. Was born among the rocky hills of Vermont in Bennington County, in 184(). Was educated in the common schools and then took a regular course of study at the Holy Cross, Massachusetts and graduated in 18K9. Next he took a theological course at Troz, New York. Was there two years when he studied at the Grand Seminary at Montreal, Canada, and was there ordained in 1874. He then leturned to Vermont and commenced his ministerial labors remaining for two years. Next we find the young priest in France where he spent two and a half years pursuing studies in different vmiversities, where he graduated, and now more fully equipped for the great work of life he returns to his loved America and found a field of labor in the Peoria diocese in Illinois, where he got a glimpse of the rising western star in 1884 and he found the trail that led him to Nebraska, where he took work in the diocese of Omaha. Soon after this the diocese was divided and Father Murphy's field was in the Lincoln diocese. He has had a wide experience in his twenty years in Nebraska. He was at Grafton, then Lancaster five years and at Tecumseh five years when in 1897 he was transferred to Seward where he is in charge of the Seward and Ulysses missions. Father Murphy is a very popular man not only with his own people but with entire community. Unfortunately for the Catholic church of Nebraska, some trouble has sprung up between the Bishop of this diocese and Father Murphy in regard to church policy that led to almost unbounded litigation and the state courts have been called to act in the matter. Father Murphy is a broad minded, scholarly gen- tleman. His influence for good is not confined to the boundaries of his great church. In moral reforms he is a giant and wherever good can be accomplished for his community his voice and his pen are ready. 124 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA He possesses one of the largest libraries in our state, with rare books from the pens of master minds of all ages and in many languages. We recognize in this high minded Christian scholar and teacher a true benefactor of the race, and Se.vvard may well feel proud to number him among our citizens. JUDGE THEOPHILUS L. NORVAL Had his birthplace on a farm in Fulton County, Illinois, August 26, 1847. The lad had his early training grubbing brush, feeding pigs, and other general farm work of that new country. He attended the common schools in the log cabins of that day until in his teens, when he was permitted to attend Abingdon College for a number of years. At twenty, while teaching in the country schools, he commenced read- ing such lavv books as were within reach. He entered the law depart- ment of the university of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he graduated in 1871 with honors and received his degree and was admitted to the practice in all the courts of Michigan, but having Nebraska on the brain, he did no look for further honors in Michigan. He returned to his old home and taught school a year and with his earnings purchased a law library. In 1872, with his brother, he came to Seward where they secured a lot, built a little frame office, stuck up their shingle and waited for clients, but in the meantime they helped in the harvest fields to keep a supply of postage money and pay board bills. By care- ful study and patient work, with proper attention to the interest of clients, business began to come their way. Mr. Norval found it con- venient to return to Illinois all of a sudden and one day in the winter of 1875 he returned with his prize. Miss Ella Godfry, whom he married February 5th. To this happy couple were born two children : Winnie, born Febru- ary 16, 1878, and Merle, born May H). 1888. Merle died when young. Tilr. Norval rose rapidly in the esteem of the people and was recog- nized. So(m after he came to this sate he was elected memlier of the town council. As the years came on the firm were engaged in al)Out all the more important cases upon the docket of the county, such as the Clough murder trial, Midland railroad bond case, the Lin- coln and Northwestern railroad bond injunction case, the Casler and Patrick murder cases, the Jones tax case and many others.. Was honored as councilman and Mayor of our city, also as city clerk. Was elected state senator in 1878. In the spring of 1883 there was a vacancy in the judgeship of the then 5th judicial district and Governor Dawes appointed Mr. Norval to fill the place. In the following fall he was nominated by the judicial convention at Aurora by acclamation (repub- lican convention) to be his own successor, and was elected over Judge M. A. Mills by a large majority, receiving over a thousand majority in Seward County. Was again elected in 1887 by largely increased majori- ties, getting every vote in Seward County and all but three in Polk County. In 1889 he was elected judge of the supreme court and was HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 125 re-elected in 1895, and has served the state in that capacity for twelve years with much credit. His opinions handed down are considered by the bar of Nebraska and other states as masterpieces for clearness and lucidity. In 1904 he was elected presidential elector for NeV)raska. The judge and his noble and intelligent wife are members of the M. E. Church at Seward. He is a member of the A. F. and A. M., also of the A. O. U. W. Has been for many years a leading spirit in the councils of the republican party. Has for some years been much interested in breeding fine poultry, in fact has already attained a national reputation in that line of busi- ness. He now owns one of the finest collections of thoroughbred fowls to be found in the entire western states. Judge Norval and wife have one of the most pleasant homes to be found in Nebraska. Residence of Hon. R. S. Nerval HON. R. S. NORVAL Who today takes rank among the most able advocates at the Nebraska bar, had his birthplace at Midway, now London Mills, in Fulton County, Illinois, in 1849, where the lad worked on his father's farm and received his first schooling in the log school houses of that 126 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA new country, but soon outgrew those primitive schools and while in his teens commenced a regular course of study at Heding College at Abingdon, but did not graduate. He taught several years in the country schools in the home neighborhood. Later he took a regular course in the law department at the university of Michigan, where he and his older brother, T. L. Norval, graduated in the class of 1871, with honors, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Laws. In the spring of 1872 the brothers settled in Seward and to say that they have succeeded, hardly tells the story. He has made much more than an ordinary success, gaining a very large practice, accumulating an ample fortune, securing a splendid wife and raising a large family, all in thirty two short years. Was married to his old neighbor's girl. Miss Martha A. Gray, in 1873. To them were born ten children, six of whom yet live. Three died while very young. Their names are as follows: Eva M., now Mrs. Bert Langworthy, of Buffalo. Wyoming; Oliver Gray, also of Buffalo, Wyoming; Ethel, Cloyd, deceased; Leona, Richard and Margaret. Mr. Norval is a strong republican and takes great interest in the success of the party and has often served as state central committeeman. Served one term as state senator from Seward and Butler counties. Mr. Norval was a delegate at large to the national republican convention of 1888, and member of the notification committee to notify Harrison and Morton of their election. ISAAC DENVER NEIHARDT Uncle Ike, as his friends universally call him, was ))orn in Williams County, Ohio, January 5, 1837. His parents moved to St. Joseph County, Indiana, when Isaac was a lad of seven. Was so unfortunate as to lose his mother at ten, and from that sad day he had to shift for himself. Few can realize what that means to a boy in a wilderness country such as that was. By determined energy the lad secured edu- cation sulticient so that he returned to Ohio and taught school in his eighteenth year. Then he went to South Bend, Indiana, and studied law with Judge Liston. and was admitted to the Itar in 18(53, at Laporte. Indiana. Next we find the young man over in Illinois where, in 18()2, he heard the thundering echoes of war and enlisted in Company F, 7(Jth Illinois volunteer infantry. He served as sargeant till November, 1803, when he was promoted to a lieutenancy and in January, 18(d5, was com- missioned captain. Was in the battles of Hatchie Run. Black River bridge, Champion Hill, Raymond, and at the siege of Vicksburg in both charges, where it was like "walking into the javvs of death into the mouth of hell." Was wounded at Cross Bayou, Louisiana, August 5, 1804. Was mustered out of service in April, 1806. He made his home in Arkansas till his removal to Seward County in 1871. Became quite prominent in political struggles of that state during the stormy days of reconstruction and came within one vote of being elected to congress on the republican ticket. He settled on a homestead in "J" HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 127 precinct in 1S71. Was twice elected county sheriff and served eight years as .justice of the peace and several terms as Police Judge in Seward. Has for many years been connected with the hotel business and in 1899 built the Nome, hotel which he and his good wife still manage. Isaac D. Neihardt Mr. Neihardt found his wife. Miss Kate Rodgers, and was married at Essex, Indiana, January 3, 1858. They have raised three children, one son and two daughters : Schuyler C. , who died in Seward at the age of four and a half years; Mary C. , now Mrs. J. A. Divan; and Emma A., yet at home. Miss Emma was for many years a prominent teacher in our jniblic schools. The writer has the privilege of seeing a letter from Colonel H. A. McCalep, with whom Captain Neihardt served in the (ith United States heavy artillery, wherein the Colonel speaks of the young captain in 128 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA the highest terms, commending him for bravery and intrepid daring in passing the rebel batteries at Greenville. Mississippi and Columbia, Arkansas. This last was a recommendation for his promotion to Major in the 7Uth infantry. Hon. John McLain (See page 116) EZRA J. newto:n Born in Warren County, Illinois. January 29, 18G0. and spent twelve yeais wading sloughs among the polywogs of that region, and in the common schools of the time. He roamed around till he found the right place in 1872, when he located in "I" precinct near Pleasant Dale, and where in 1882, September 27th, he closed a bargain with Miss Nettie L. Her. They were married at Milford. She was a Nebraska girl, born near Syracuse in 186:1 Two children were born to them, Lloyd A., died at seven years; and Gertrude A. Mr. Newton has for eight years been postmaster at Pleasant Dale. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 129 Commenced in the grain and stock trade with Nebraska and Iowa Grain Company. Worked for Thomas Lowry twelve years as manager. He is a live, all-around citizen, full of life and busine.ss. He is a Knight's Templer in the good old Ma.sonic fraternity and also a Shrinner. Good for Ezra. ELISHA H NOXON A New York boy, born in Saratoga County, April 4, 1831. At twenty-two he went to New York city and clerked in a dry goods store for several years, then went to Champaign County, Illinois, in 1857. Went to Rhode Island in 1868 but had a longing for the west and with our help he found the trail and reached Nebraska, footsore and weary, in 1869, and located on a homestead in "B " precinct. May 26, 1874, he went to Lee County, Iowa, and captured Miss Josephine A. Skinner. She was born in that county, October 28, 1853. They have twelve children, viz: Alfred \V. , Leonora, now Mrs. W. A. Montgomery ; James T., Josephine I., now Mrs. R. T. Stone; Delia, George E. , William B. , Calvin, Bertha, Lena and Rilla. Mr. Noxon has been post master at Bee for many years. He home- steaded on section 28. SHIELDS NUNEMAKER Was born among the rocky hills at Liberty Mills, Pennsylvania, November 7, 1848. Found the way to Illinois at seven and followed the trail to Seward in 1878, where he found his best girl and married Miss Ida A. Dewing, May 14, 1879. She was born at Elkhorn, Wisconsin, February 12, 1849. They have six children, viz: Ida B.,now a teiacher; Samuel A., deceased; Millie J., teacher; Frederick, deceased; Zoe R. , deceased ; and Ruth D. at home. Mr. Nunemaker is a miller by trade. Church home of the family is Presbyterian. JOHN Q. OHLWILER Is one of the very oldest if not the oldest living resident of "H" precinct. Was a Pennsylvanian boy, born in Erie County, November 5, 1843. Was educated in the common schools. Enlisted at eighteen and Was at Fort Donaldson. In 18(54 he enlisted again in the Pennsylvania light artillery and transferred to the Pennsylvania 5th heavy artillery. After the war he came to Seward County and took his homestead in the fall of 1868. He and Benjamin Walker had claims adjoining and they built the first claim shanty so that John could sleep on one homestead and Ben could sleep on the other. We suppose a certain crack in the floor was the dividing line. That new lumber shanty was a landmark on the plain for some years. It was "a free hotel," of course, and it was the lodging place of many a weary and forlorn traveler who was looking for somewhere and didn't know just where to find it. Many 130 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA times, while the storm winds were howling over the bleak prairie, John and Ben would have their floor all covered with beds. By and by John heard of a new comer who settled a little to the south, and of course he made a friendly call at the new home of Uncle John Luft and he got sight of Margaret, and he had occasion to call frequently and Margaret and John called on the preacher, March 30, 1872. and since that long time ago we have known Margaret as Mrs. Ohlwiler. Mrs. Ohlwiler was born in Hamilton County, Ohio, July 4, 1853, and came to Seward County when seventeen. Three children were born to them : Edith E. , now Mrs. George Ringle ; Nellie, now Mrs. W., Rusnogle ; and Berdella M., who died when a young child. Mr. and Mrs. Ohlwiler are honored members of the Congregational church and he is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. A very intelligent and worthy citizen who helped nobly in laying the firm foundations of our great common- wealth. LOUIS E. OST For fifteen years the efticient agent of the B. M. R. R. Company at Seward. Was born at Spelburne Falls, Massachusetts, September 14, 1860, and was educated at Arms academy in his native state. When twenty years old he heard the western bee buzzing in his hat and he found the western trail and first landed at St. Louis, but did not like the atmosphere so in 1881 we find him at Beatrice, Nebraska, where in 1882 he took a position with the B. M. people in the same old shed that graces that city. Was in charge of Seward station for two years when he excused himself and was in the grain and stock trade for six years. In 1889 he again commenced with the B. M. people and man- aged the station at Bellwood and was transferred to Seward in 1891, where he seems to be right at home. July 4, 1885. he took a prominent part in the grandest celebration of his life at Tecumseh, Nebraska, and another prominent party in that celebration was u young New York lady. Miss Mary Mook. Under the starry folds of old glory they united their fortunes. Mrs. Ost was born March 17, 1866. They have five children : Percy E. , Mabel K.. Carl D., Lester E., and Irene. Mr. Ost is a prominent member of the A. O. U. W. and of the Knights of Pythias. Is president of the Seward commercial club. Has lieen for five years a member of the city council. Took a leading part in securing the elec- tric plant. Mr. Ost is a thoroughly wide-awake and enterprising citizen and we shall look forward to the time when the company that he has served so long and so well shall say, "Come up higher. " ORSON OLMSTEAD Was one of the pioneer settlers in the hamlet of Seward. Came here August 3, 1870. He was born May 26, 1806, at east Hartfordr Conneticut, but moved to Walesville, New York, in childhood and there HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 131 132 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA grew to nmnhood. April 14, 1838, he married Miss Paulina D. Grant at Stillville, New York. She was born February 21, 1814, at German Falls, New York. They were the parents of seven children, viz: Lettia G. Humphrey, William T., Sophia S. Hutchinson, Caroline C. Ti'essler, Louisa M., died July 30, 1868; O. Keilog and Ada P. Mr. Olnistead and his good wife died within five days of each other. Her death occurred December 20, 1893, and his on December 31, 1893. Full of years and good works the good old people were laid to rest side by side after walking hand in hand over fifty-five years. CHARLES H. OXLEY One of the enterprising merchants of Pleasant Dale. Was born in Linn County, Iowa, April 19, 1860. Spent his boyhood in Henry County, Iowa, and came to the neighborhood of Pleasant Dale in 1884, where he woi'ked in the first store in the village. In 1893, December 14, he and Miss Lena Schnoor made a match. She was a Missouri girl that came to Seward County in childhood. Born in St. Charles County, October 12, 187(1 They have two children living. Homer C. and Maurice J. One died in infancy. Mr. Oxley in a member /)f the I. O. O. F. , the Modern Woodmen and the Maccabees. He is a wide-awake business man and helps to make his village what it should be, an up to-date town. FRED M. PARKS . Was an Illinois boy born in Lee County in 1849, September 22, and there grew to manhood, when he took the western ti'ail and landed in Guthrie County, Iowa, where he wooed and won the hand and heait of Miss Maria Sheely in 1871. Mrs. Parks was born in Vermillion County, Indiana, in 1849 and came with her parents in 1855 to Iowa. To them were born three children : Mabel died when four years old; a little son who died in early infancy; Miss Iva, at home. The family came to Seward in 1887 and Mr. Parks engaged in the coal trade for a time with General True. For fifteen years he has been in the feed and poultry trade. He made a new departure in the poultry trade in that he commenced buying by weight and was the first to do so in Nebraska. His business has steadily grown until it has become one of the important industries of our city. Mr. and Mrs. Parks are members of the M.E. church and he is a Mod- ern Woodman. Mrs. Parks is a charter member of the Ben Hur order and is also a member of the Royal Neighbors of America. She has been chancellor of the Royal Neighbors for four years. DAVID B. PALMER A prominent stock dealer and feeder. Came to Seward County in 1878 and settleid on a farm at the Oak Groves in the northeast portion of the county, but in 1881 bought the present home where he has hand- HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 133 led stock on a large scale ever since. His business ranges from twenty to thirty thousand dollars ])er year for the last ten years. Mr. Palmer was born in Lake County, in 1846, November 24th. He was educated in the common schools of his native town and grew up as a farmer boy and at an early age began handling stock as feeder and shipper and as time wore on he began to pine for a wider field, which he found on our boundless prairies. Married Miss Eva Wyman at the old home in 1872. and to them were born Gay, yet at home; Frances, now Mrs. Fred Babson ; and Neva, yet with her parents. Mrs. Palmer was born at Madison Ohio, August 6, 1883. Her ancestors came to the United States in 1(329 and settled in Connecticut. Mrs. Palmer is eligible to a place among the Daughters of the Revolution. They have a beautiful home in the country four miles northeast of the city, with orchards, meadows and luxuriant fields, with great herds of stock. Mr. and Mrs. Palmer are very kind neighbois but wide-awake and full of business. MARSHALL B. PALMER Came to the Oak (xrove settlement in tlie noitheast part of the county in 1878, where he opened a farm. He soon became interested in the feeding of stock and six years later he moved to German- town where he has fed many thousands of cattle and hogs and has in a great measure helped the farmers to a large market for stock and grain. Mr. Palmer was born in Lake County, Ohio, May 1, 1852. He pursued the same line of business in Ohio. Married Miss Alice Payne in February, 1878. They have three children: Jessie, now Mrs. George Welch; Grace, now Mrs. Delbert Lyons ; and Ivy, yet at home. Mrs. Palmer died in 1888 and Mr. Palmer married Miss Hattie Warner two years later. Two children were born to them : Gertrude and Cullen Marshall. Mr. Palmer is now serving the fourth year as county supervisor for ''A, " "H" and"G' precincts. Mr. Palmer is a wide-awake business man and always has a hand in public enterprises. He is now much interested in the National Live-stock Growers,' Pro- ducers,' Feeders' and Shippers' Association. He is its president. He has a nice home at Germantown. GEORGE L. PETRI Was another of those bright boys such as spring up in Seward County. He was born on a farm near Germantown, March 10, 1871. George was educated at the common school and on the farm doing his full share of the work. But George had business ability of a high order, as his present very responsible position would indicate. Some- how he got track of an Illinois girl and straightway went over there and claimed Miss Celia Heitman as his bride, September 1. 18S8. They have three little folks, viz : Arthur, Frieda, and Alfred. 134 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Mrs. Petri was born January 16,1875. Thej' are members of the Luth- eran church. Mr. Petri has for three years been the efficient manager of the Germantown creamery. HENRY PETRI One of our full-fledged Seward County boys born July 24. 1869, on the old farm in "H" precinct. There he grew up was educated and learned the farmer's trade and April 12, 1894, he married Miss Doris Shrader at Seward. Slie was a German girl, born June 11. 1873, and came to Seward Coanty in early youth. They have five childien, viz: Elsie, George, Paul, Alma and Edwin. The old homestead where Mr. Petri was born is on section 18, in "H" town. The present home is in "K" precinct. He is a farmer. Church is with the Lutherans at Seward. JOHN C. PETRI Is a Seward County boy through and through, born in "H" pre- cinct, April 20, 1873, and has all his life lived on the same section, where he learned to be a farmer and sticks close to the text. January 28, 1902, he found his be.st girl and married Miss Anna G. Meyer at Wilber, Nebraska. She was a German girl, born in the fatherland, March 12, 1875, and came to Nebraska in her early youth. Their home is near Germantown. The church home is with the German Lutheran Zions congregation at Germantown. BENJAMIN F. PERRY Born in the southland among the rocky hills of old Kentucky in Carder County, March 4, 1841. When a youth of fourteen he migrated to Clinton County. Iowa, and remained there until married to Miss Adaline Dickensen. August 9, 1862. She was born in Ohio, September 4, 1848. Five children came of this union, viz: Scott, Paulina M., now Mrs. C. Brockway; F.lvirda, now Mrs. R. Jackson; May, now Mrs. V. A. Briggs and Addie, now Mrs. E. Kinnett. Mrs. Perry died at Utica, November 11, 1898. Mr. Perry enlisted in Company F. , 31st Iowa Volunteer Infantry, was at Arkansas Post, Chickasaw Bayou, Vicksburg, was laid up for repairs in Memphis hospital and discharged July 9, 1865. Came to Sewaid County in 1873 and located on section 7, "K" precinct, but now lives in Tamora. Mr. Perry has seen all sides of pioneer life. SAMUEL PENCE Among the wild mountains of old Pennsylvania in Fulton County, Samuel was l)orn January 4, 1842, but he took the trail for the west when nine years old and landed in Rock Island County, Illinois, where he remained till 1868, when he found the right place and took a home- stead in "F" precinct. He found his best girl and was married to HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 135 Miss Emma Anderson at Seward. February 6, 1878. She was a Keystone state girl, born in Fulton County , May 30, 1852. They have three children, viz: Alice V.. now Mrs. H. Deane ; Agnes J., and Edna R. Mr. Pence has lived in Seward for many years. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. and the A. O. U. W. DR. CHARLES O. PETTY This young man is essentially a Nebraska product, as he came to Friend vi'hen a lad of fourteen. He was born at Wharton, Ohio, in 1871, December 4th. Was educated in the high school at Friend. Studied medicine at Denver, Colorado, after a ten year occupation as pharmacist which was of great help in his chosen profession. He grad- uated in the class of 1900 and located at Beaver Crossing, in 1901. The Doctor was assistant chemist at Gross Medical College, his alma mater. Married in 1900 to Miss Anna H. Wade, of Denver. They have one little son, Odell V. Dr. Petty is secretary of the Seward County Medi- cal Society, is a member of the State Medical Society, also of the American Medical Society. Is medical examiner for the A. O. Q. W., the Royal Highlanders, also for the Aetna Life and the New York Mutual Life companies. Dr. Petty is what we may justly call a grow- ing young doctor. Mrs. Petty was born in 1874, December 5, at St. Joseph, Missouri. JAMES A. PETTY Was born in Wyandotte County, Ohio, June 20, 1847. Married May 3, 1868, to Miss Louisa Passett. This young lady was born in Germany at Frankfort on the Rhine. They came to Friend. Nebraska, in 1885. Five chidren came to their home, viz: Nina, now Mrs. F. W. Wright; Charles O. . William R. . Lottie, now Mrs. L. McCoy; and Lulu, yet at home. Mr. Petty enlisted in Company I, 49th Ohio infantry in the 4th corps, under General Thomas, and of course had plenty of fighting to do. Was wounded at Atlanta but .stuck to the post of duty. Came to Beaver Crossing in 1892. Is a contractor and builder and has constructed over forty buildings in the village. He is a past grand in the I. O. O. F. and also district deputy. Is a member of the G. A. R. Is a member of the village board and was instrumental in enlarging the corporate boundaries of Beaver Crossing. JOSEPH H. PERKINSON Was a Nebraska boy, having come to Platte County when three years old. Was born near Dixon, Illinois, September 24, 1873. Was educated in our Nebraska schools and grew to manhood among our boys and girls. Came to Milford in 1897. Is engaged in the land and insur- ance business and seems to enjoy a good trade. His church relation is ■with the Catholics. He belongs to the Royal Highlanders. 136 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA FREDERICK W. PETSCH Had the honor of being born in Wisconsin bnt somehow while an infant he got on the wrong trail, or rather, he got on the wrong end of the trail and landed in Indiana, where he grew to manhood, when he discovered the mistake So in 1S77 he looked for the trail that led to Seward County. Fred was l)orn November \2, 1857, and was never happy till he had fonnd that Wisconsin girl who had the grit to come west, Miss Hannah M. Morefield Fred and Hannah looked at mat- ters about alike so they went over to Justice E.Kinney's, near old Cam- den, and closed a good bargain for each of them, November 21, 1883. She was born in Wollvvorth County, December 7. 1866. They have five children, viz: Grace M., Frederick T., Albeit R., Everett C, and Arthur M. Mr. Petsch came to the county February 22, 1877, and made his home at first on section 1, "O" precinct, but three years later he took land in section 21, in "P" precinct, where he has resided nearly twenty- five years. He is an exiiert in the red hog business and owns a large herd of thoroughbred Durocs. Mr. Petsch's aged parents live on the adjoining land. Fred has been a farmer all his life and is making a success of it. And his good wife is making a success of breeding Plymouth Rock chickens. Their herd of red pigs and flock of chicks are worth a long trip to look at. Mr. Petsch is a member of the M. W. A. MELVIN S. PITT Was a son of the couple that first graced the marriage altar in Seward Count}\ That marriage is noted elsewhere in these pages. Melvin was born near Ruby, May 13. 1869. He is a farmer boy, carrying on the farm of Grandmother Long, near Ruby. Melvin .seems to admire single bles.sedness, else he can't find the right girl. WILLIAM ORLANDO PIERCE One of the oldest residents of Nebraska. Was born in Randolph County, Indiana, May 8th, 1828, where he spent his boyhood days. Was married December 31. 1849, to Miss E. S. Poor. She was born in Goosland County, Virginia, June 21, 1832. The young people came west in 1851 and settled in the wilderness of Mahaska County, Iowa, but hardly satisfied and after five years, or in 1856, they followed the west- ern trail and crossed the great river and settled in Sarpy County, Ne- braska. In 1868 they took a homestead just east of the embryo citv of Seward. Mr. Pierce built the third residence in the little town .iust east of Callender's coal yard. Mr. and Mrs. Pierce raised eleven children, viz: Emely J., George W., Henry F.. Adelia.Mary E. ,Lydia I. .Nettie M., Thomas E. .Minnie L. and Charles W. Mr. Pierce died in 1900 at Seward. Mrs. Pierce resides at Seward. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 137 138 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA WILLARD W. PIERCE One of the first settlers in "N" precinct, where he located on section 18, as a homesteader in 1869. Was born away up in Oswego County, New York, where they raise icebergs in winter and rocks and blackberries in summer. Willard was born September 2, 1845, and learned how to navigate stone boats and do all other kinds of work that the York state farmer boy usually does. He did not get a gli mpse of the western star imtil he heard Greeley's command, "Go west, young man," then he obeyed orders and at twenty-five he struck the trail for the west. He sojourned in Illinois une vear. However, he hunted up one of those good. New York girls, Miss Sarah Huffman, and was married September 10. 1867, in Wayne County, New York. She was a Cauga girl, born January 7, 1851. Mr. Pierce was a soldier. He enlisted in the 81st New York infantry but was not able to pass examination. But he was the kind of lad that was determined to have a hand in the game so he enlisted in the- 9th New York heavy aitillery and got several sniffs of burnt iwwder. Was wounded at Cedar Creek. Virginia, but he hung to the willows till the end of the war. Mr. and Mrs. Pierce had four children as follows: Ernest W. , Emmet M. F. , who was killed October 9. 1874, by the collapse of a neighbor's granary; Lela N., now Mrs. Ben Nerval, and Maud A. Mr. Pierce moved to Seward in 1886 and took charge of the Com- meicial House soon after and managed it successfully many years. He is now trying to take life easy at the cosy home in the north part of the city and finds pleasant pastime with his pigs and poultry. The family church home is with the M. E. people. EDWIN A. POLLEY June 26, 1849, in Hardin County, Ohio, was born the lad that de- veloped into the popular Seward jeweler, businessman, and post master. He went to Monmouth, Illinois, when quite young, in 1859, where he was educated, being a classmate of the distinguished civil engineer, J. Finley Wallace, now chief engineer of the Isthmian canal. Moved on west like most wide-awake boys do, to Des Moines, Iowa, where he learned his trade and where he also made the best trade of his life in securing a wife. Was married to Miss Harriet Harrison in 1872, and to their union were born two children. Maud R, now Mrs. J. E. Morris, of Chicago, Illinois, and Edwin H. , now a business man of Seward. Mr. and Mrs. Polley came to Seward, February 1, 1873, where he opened a jewelry store in the town and has managed to keep it open now thirty-one years and we believe the thing impi'oves with age. Under the Harrison administration he was apnointed post master of the city and in his term of four years everything ran smoothly and ovej-ybody was well satisfied. Mrs. Polley was born at Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1850 but her par- ents moved to Des Moines when she was a child. She was educated in the city schools. Mrs. Polley has a leading part in all matters of social culture and advancement. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 139 Mr. Polley is a member of the K. P. Was for several years grand receiver of the A.. O. U. \V. Mr. Polley is a public spirited citizen, always ready to lend a helping hand in matters of public enterprise. A good jovial fellow with all an enjoys the friendship of a wide circle of friends He is a stalwart republican and is ever readv to give his reasons for his faith. He attends strictly to business and is fairly successful. , DR. JEFFERSON T. POTTER Another New York state boy who graduated first in steering a stone boat on the old farm. (This was one necessary part of a New York boy's education. ) Was born in Courtland County, February 2, 1850. Was educated at Courtland academy and the state normal, whei*e he commenced teaching in the same school and later in various .schools in New York, and finally he found the western trail and landed in Illinois and taught in Logan and in Sangamon Counties. Now he changes his tactics and we find the young man at Syracuse in the university where he graduated with honors in the medical college and stuck out his shingle at Port Jarvis, New York, where he practiced for eight years. Was examining surgeon for the government and also surgeon for the Erie railroad. Later was special United States pension examiner for two years. Next he practiced at Mount Hope, Kansas, for eleven years, when he found the right place at Seward, and there he is contented. The doctor married Miss May Topping June 28, 1888, at Sedgwick. Kansas. This lady is a Daughter of the Revolution, and member of the order of the Eastern Star. She was born at Morrison, Illinois, December 9, 18fi8. They have one daughter, Helen L.. born in Oklahoma, July 1, 1894. The doctor came to Seward in December, 1895. He is an old time member of the A. F. andi^. M. , the Maccabees, the Ben Hur, and Woodmen of the World. Church home of the family is with the Con- gregationalists. REV. JOSEPH H. PRESSON, D. D. Ts certainly one of the oldest ministers in Nebraska who began his ministerial labors in our state. Was born in Warren Count}', Ohio, in 1840. He came of pioneer ministerial stock. His father, a Methodist preacher, moved to Rushville, Illinois, when Joseph was six years old and country was a wilderness. Joseph says he was just a preachers boy and nothing strange occurred in his childhood. He went to the country school and played hookey just like other boys. The year he was twentj-one the guns of Fort Sumpter thundered and Joseph heard and made haste to take part. He served under General Sherman in the famous 15th army corps and participated in all the conflicts and marches until after the capture of Atlanta, and was in the battles of Shiloh, Shelby Depot, Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post, Vicksburg, 140 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA May 19. and 22nd, 1863, and the siege ending July 4, 18(53, Jackson, Mississippi, Amsterdam Ford, Mission Ridge, Kenesaw and Atlanta, and went through all without a scratch although he had many close calls. Was mustered out October 31), 18(54, at Chattanooga, and within the next sixty days he found the western trail and followed it to Nebraska and made Tecuraseh his home for six years where he was twice elected county clerk and served four years. In Johnson County he had the honor of nailing the first lath on a wall in that new county. Was converted and at once commenced his ministerial career in 1866. Was licensed and began at once to work for the Master. In 1871 he joined the Nebraska conference and was appointed junior preacher at Tecumseh, under Rev. A. L. Folden. Later he was sent to Plattsmouth, to 18th street church at Oinahn, to Nebraska City, Pawnee City, then by special request of the otticial board was sent to his old home at Te- cumseh. After this, while at Tecumseh his health failed and he was compelled to seek secular employment for five years although retaining his membership in the conference. In 1886 he returned to the work of the ministry and was sent to Seward where he labored for three years with great success and to the entire satisfaction of the church and peo- ple. Next we find him at Peru, the seat of the Normal school. From there he was sent to Table Rock, thence to Pawnee City for the second time where he served three years. During those years the church doubled its membership, and he left it one of the best appointments in the conference. From there he was sent to Stromsburg and served there four years, Then went to Milford where he has been four years as pas- tor and has been invited to remain another year. Dr. Presson has always been a strong republican. And says he never could see anv sutficient reason for belonging to any other political party. He has voted for every governor of the state, except three, and those three all good men though were not of his party. Dr. Presson was elected chaplain of the House of Representatives for the legislature of 11(01 and 1902, and chaplain of the Senate for 1904 and 1905. Was nominated by his party caucus both times on first ballot over all com- petitois thus showing the high esteem in which he was held by the re- publicans in the state. Dr. Presson is a man of marked ability as a public speaker and scarcely ever fails to have large and appreciative audiences; is frecjuently called to different parts of our state to deliver addresses on different subjects. He takes much interest in the work of the gra'nd army and is very popular with the old soldiers. Re now preaches every alternate Sunday afternoon at the soldier's home in Milford. Mr. Presson is a broad minded intelligent man and is unusually apt in his illustrations. He is not only an able preacher but is a ready and forcelul speaker on the platform. He is benevolent. No tramp goes from his door hungry. Was married in the year 1866. Three sons were born. The eldest, Cloyd E, , is now living in Sail Francisco and is en- gaged as postal railway clerk and is one of the the brightest men in the service. He was for a time chief clerk at Honolulu and has been HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 141 promoted from time to time. George Harrison, the second son is now one of the leading merchants in Stromsburg, Nebraska. The third son, Clark Woodman, was accidentally killed at the age of twenty-two. He was at the time clerk in the Farmer's and Merchants' bank at Stromsburg. He was a bright and happy young man and a universal favorite where he was known. Mr. Presson was born of a stalwart family of Maine yankees. His great grandfather Merrill lived to be over one hundred, His great grandmother Merrill lived to be ninety-nine years old. His grand- father and mother Presson lived to the age of eighty-five. His father and mother are still living; aged eighty-nine and eighty-six and are in possession of all their faculties. They are living and keeping house in Auburn at the present time. ALBERT PROCKNOW Was a German boy born April 25, 1862, and found his way to this land of better promise in 1881. Like a sensible boy which he was he came straight to Seward County and settled in "J" town near Ruby. Where he found a prize in the person of Therese Bernecker and married April 27, 1887. She was born in Grant County, Wiscon.sin, June 9, 18fi7. They have eight children, viz: Oscar R., Louisa F. , Hulda M., Minnie D. , Herman W., Erma, now dead; Elsa and Albert. The Lutheran church is the family church home. Mr. Procknow is a well to do farmer. Grandfather Rialdolph Bernecker, Mrs Procknow 's father, makes his home with the family. He is now eighty-two years old. He came with his young family from the Fatherland to Wisconsin in 1860. The old gentleman is hale and hearty, enjoying life the best he can. ANTON PLUMPER A Prussian by birth, but an American by practice. Was born March 3, 1888, and made his way across the ocean when a young man of twenty-two and landed at Crescent City in June, 1860. Came to Seward in 18»2, March 1st and here found his best girl and married Miss Effie Gruss. She was born in Christian County, Illinois in 1858. They have four children, viz: Lotta, now Mrs. Aug. Rurup; Wm. McKinley and Lillie C. Mr. Plumper got to this country in time to take a hand in the great war and enlisted in the 4th Wisconsin Cavalry and smelled burnt pow- der at Batonrouche, Mobile and Vicksburg and at other places. He located in section 1, "F" town. Is a farmer. Belongs to the G. A. R. Church home is with the Catholics. PETER REDIGER A young business man of prominence in Milford, who has grown from early childhood upon our own prairies. Was born May 14, 1875 in Woodford County, Illinois. His parents found the way to Seward 142 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY , NEBRASKA County in 1879, and bought railroad land near the Amish church west of Milford and here Peter grew to manhood and was educated in the schools of the neighborhood. With the progressive and restless spirit of all our best young men he must go to Colorado, and try mining in 1889. In 1900 he returned to Milford where he managed a I'estaurant for two years. In December, 1903, he bought an interest in the great mercantile establishment, where he seems right at home with a pros- perous and growing trade. January 9, 1901, he united his fortunes with Miss Lena Summer of Milford, who wa.s born and raised in Seward County. They have one child, little Frieda May. The church home of the family is with the Amish Menonites. Alexander D. Ritchie A pioneer on the great upland prairie between Blue River and Lincoln Creek in town 12, ranee 1, east of the (ith P. M. "D" town in Seward County, Nebraska. Mr. Ritchie was a prominent figure in his day in Seward County. History op seward county, Nebraska 143 He was a man of some means, and he was one that made his means a blessing to all his neighbors. He bought and improved section 11 of railroad land and put it in a good state of cultivation and built, we believe the first substantial frame dwelling house in "D" precMiict, where he resided until February, 1883, when he moved to Seward where he lived until his death. He was much interested in sheep and was the Hrst to introduce a fine herd in the countj'. Mrs. A. D. Ritchie Ml-. Ritchie was a man much interested in ijolitical matters. His independent nature often rebelled against what was known as machine politics. He was a strong republican, but was often at variance with party leaders, and always had the courage of his convictions. He was a man of great energy, and was a man of deeds as well as words. For twenty years his influence was a jjrominent factor in the county. He helped to organize the bank at Beaver Crossing and l)ecame its first president in 1888. 144 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Mr. Ritchie was born at Edinl)argh, Scotland, May 2, 1824, but he saw away bej'ond the sea a brighter light and when a youth of nineteen he bade adieu to his old home with all its endearments, and found his way to the lietter land of the broad stripes and bright stars, and made his home at Waukegan, Illinois. On January 11, 1847, he was married to Miss Harriet Hoyt at Chi- cago, Illinois. She was an Ohio girl born August 22, 1826, in Me- dina, County. There were born to them five children: Hon. W. E. of "D" town; Alonzo D. of Hale, Missouri; Franklin C. , now deceased ; Alice G. , now Mrs. D. S. Jackson of Nebraska City and Jennie H. , late Mrs. H. B, Cummins of Seward, Nebraska. Mr. Ritchie died at Seward, April 25, 1892, and Mrs. Ritchie died at Seward, February 2, 1904. These good old people were among Seward County's best builders and their names are held dear by a great host of the ])eople. HON. W. E. RICHIE One of our most prominent and prosperous farmers of "D" pre- cinct. Was one among the first settlers to invade that wilderness prai- rie in 1870. It seemed so far from everywhere then, but Mr. Richie has lived to see great changes. Now "the solitary place" is made glad and the drove of elk an antelope that galloped over the plain have long since given place to the lowing herds of the farmer. Mr. Richie was born at Waukegan, Illinois, October 21, 1847. Married Miss Hattie Radford of the same place. She was born Janu- ary 1 , 1849. Seven children were born to them : George C. , John, now dead; Charles A.. Mabel A., now Mrs. Chris Evenbough ; Elizabeth E. , now Mrs. Wm. Dickenson; Alice G. . and Riith. Mr. Richie came to Seward County in 1870, and from that time to the present, he has been a factor in the development of the county. In 1891 he was elected to represent the county in the legislature and in 1889 was elected state senator for Seward and Butler Counties. Mr. Richie has long been identified with the Seward County Agri- cultural Society and is now it s president. JAMES A. REAMS A Pennsylvania boy that tired of the rocky hills and coal smoke of that rough region and strayed westward and landed in Iowa at twelve years of age. Was born in Clearfield C'ounty, March , but did not stay here very long. His parents took the boy on a lonsr vttyage and landed in Liv- ingston County, Illinois, in 1859. Valentine had heard of Nebraska and at twenty-four he left the land of muddy roads for Seward County and located near Milford in 1877. After getting things fixed to his notion he found Miss Magdalina Detwieler and they were married February 13, 1881, in Seward County. She was born Jidy 26, 1865, in McLean County, Illinois, and came to Seward County when a child. They have born to them seven children, viz: Catherine B. , Chris F. , Mary M. , Louisa L., Annie B., died in infancy; Nicholas W., Edward H. and Emma E. Their present home is on section 2(5, "J" precinct, which Mr. Springer bought in 1902. Their church home is with the Amish Menonites. FREDERIC SUHR Was born in 1844, in Germany, and came to the United States at nineteen and first made his home near Albany, New York, but one year later continued his march westward and landed in Kane ('ounty, Illinois. There he was married to Miss Maria Riedel who also came 168 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA from the old home in Gei'many, born February 22nd, 1843, but came to this country in early childhood. They were married in 1866. They came to Seward County in 187U and took a homestead in "E" precinct. In later years he bought land in "D" precinct, where he has made a beautiful and valuable farm. They have had born nine children. Seven yet living, viz: Carl, Maria, now Mrs. F. Pazehl ; John, Hallig, Frederic. Fronze and Loita. The church home is with the Lutheran people. PETER SWANSEN A young man that longed for a better home in a new land of grander opportunities. Was born in Sweden, September 4, 1840, and came to the United States in 1868, but before he came married Miss Bangta Nils of his native home, December 29, 18()5. She was born. May 12, 1844. They have three children, viz: Pamela, , now dead; Jennie, now Mrs. Ed (ilme ; and Jessie, now Mrs. O. W. Rhodes. They came to Seward County in 1878 and settled in "E" precinct between Tamora and Utica on section 35. They belong to the Presby- terian church. Mr. Swansen is a thoroughly good Swedish-American and a valuable citizen. MASON L. SWEASEY An Illinois boy that found the trail leading to Seward County when fourteen years old. With the parents he lived on a farm two miles south of Milford. The farm was the old homestead of Rev. T. M. Skinner. Mason was born in McDounough County, August 26, 1866. In 1891, March 1st, he concluded a good bargain with Miss Lucy Pleines of Ruby, where they were married at her father's home. She was born March 14, 1870, in McLean County, Illinois. Mr. Sweasey came to Seward County in February. 1880. He has been engaged in the livery business at Milford for three years, and is a wide-awake business man and seems to understand his business. STEWART T. SWEASEY Who has been for two years with the Babson Dickman Implement house at Milford, was born August 16, 1871 in McDounough County, Illinois, and came with his parents to Seward County in 1880. Two years later the father died, leaving Stewart only eleven years old to- gether with two older brothers to assist the widowed mother to make a living for the family on a new farm. He received his education in the high school at Milford. Had many hard struggles in his boyhood days. Married May 24, 1903, to Miss Jennie Frangen of Bruning, Ne- braska, an Illinois girl who came in childhood to Nebraska. Mr. Sweasey commenced his life work as liveryman and followed it two years, when he accepted the present position. Three brothers although HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 169 bvit boys improved and saved the homestead, which they finished pay- ing for by their earnings. Jacob J. Thomas Among the rocky hills and brush of Hancock County, Illinois. Jacob was born January. 1 1869. His parents knew that it would not do to keep the lad in such a country as that and made haste in the fall of 18(59, to transplant him in Seward county soil. The boy had all sorts of fun with the prai''ie dogs and jack rabbits out in "H" precinct. When eight years old we find him in Seward, blowing a horn in the brass band. Was educated in the city schools and graduated in the Class of 188t), and in the University of Michigan in the Class of 1890, in the law department. In August, 1891, he stuck up his shingle in Seward where lie has built up a large practice. Elected Countv Attorney in 1894 and was elected county judge in 1897 and re-elected in 1899. Jacob is getting well to the front and is one of our Seward County lads that we are proud of. Our only objection to Jacob is that he seems determined to lead the forlorn life of a bachelor while there are so many excellent girls in and around Seward. OTTO TAEGE A German boy born June 7, 1856, and found his way in boyhood to Illinois where he grew to manhood and there married Miss Augusta 170 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA Wusler, December 29, 1879. She was born August 1, 1856, in Illinois. They have six children, viz: Louie, Albert, George, Otto, Emma and Eddie. The family came to Seward County in 1880 and bought a farm in "K" precinct, where they have an elegant home. Mrs. Taege's father, George Wussler, was a Second Lieutenant in the army and was killed in Missouri, in 18(51, July 25th. Mr. Taege belongs to the Sons of Her- man, also the M. W. A. and United Workman. The church home is with the Evangelical people. James Gallienne Taylor James Gallienne Taylor was burn at the family homestead Mont Durand House, St. Pierre's Island of Guernsey on October 30, 1824, on HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA I7l the paternal side of Scotch ancestry, his great-grand-father having come to the Island from Aberdeen, Scotland, early in 17U0, and on the maternal side of French Huguenot stock. His father, who was a pro- fessor of mathematics from early life until practically within two years of his death, sailed for Labrador via Quebec to take charge as super- cargo of a fishing fleet, for a (jruernsey company, but died almost im- mediately on his arrival at Quebec during the great cholera epidemic in 1882. The lad was left an orphan at the age of eight years. Pie had lived since his fourth year with his paternal grand-mother and until her death in December, 1831. His elder brothers and sisters having already died, he was placed with other relatives, who sent him to England to school in July, 1836. His education was completed at Rundel Academy near St. Ives, Cornwall. On March 5, 1848, he was married in London to ]N[ary Ann Judd, starting almost immediately for America where he arrived October 1, 1848, living in New York state until 1805 and in Massachusetts dui-ing the next fourteen years. He came to Sevvai'd County in October, 187'J, where he lived continuously until January 1!»00, when he took up his residence with his oldest son in Omaha. He still retains the farm he took as wild prairie in 1879, and it is now perhai)s as highly developed and as perfect of its kind as any property in the county. His wife is well remembered by our old settlers for her kindly Christian character, died at the family homestead in this city, December 15, 1894 and is buried in the family lot in Greenwood ceme- tery. Mr. Taylor is a father, grand-father and great-grand-father. He still regards Seward as his home and his greatest pleasure is to visit his many old friends in this locally. The author has had the pleasure of an acquaintance with Father Taylor (as we all love to call him) for over a (piarter of a century, and we have learned to esteem him as a most worthy Christian gentleman that has acted well his part in de- veloping this new land. He has been an honored member of the Epis- copal church for over forty years. JOHN R. S. TAYLOR Our good kind old colored neighbor was born and raised a slave. Born in Calaway County, Missouri, April 22, 1838. Married Miss Sarah A. Rhodes. July 4, 1863, in Calaway County. Mrs. Taylor was born in Albemarle County, Virginia in 1848, date not known. They are the parents of ten children, two of which died in infancy, and Ed- ward died at fifteen, Nathaniel, Daseman. OtisR. , Russel S. , now a minister at Big Stone Gap, Virginia, being thoroughly educated for the profession, graduating at Seward with high honors, then at Belevue, Nebraska, and then taking a two years course at Cincinnati Ohio. He is one of the bright Seward boys that has gone out in the world to do some good. (No disgrace for a white num to eat at the table with Russel Taylor. ) Next is Alice R. , Rosa A. , now Mrs. S. D. Jones ; Catherine L. , William F. , and Joseph T. E. 172 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA The family came to Seward in 1884. Mr. Taylor enlisted in the Union army soon after his liberation but his company was not called into active service The church home of the family is with the M. E. people. FERGUSON F. TLMBLIN Was born July 25, 1830, among the mountains of old Pennsylvania in Jefferson County and there he piled brush and gathered stone until of age. Some how he found his way to Jones County, Iowa, where he found Miss Eve J. Colnian and was married August 28, 1858. She was a Hoosier gii'l born in Noble County, June 16, 1835. They are parents of six children, viz: AlvaL. , V. I. Weeks, Margaret E. Welch, Levi E.. Elvi L. and Myrtle H. The family came to Seward County in 1869 and homesteaded in "B" ijrecinct, where they remained many years then moved to Hamil- ton County and now reside at Weeping Water, Nebraska. Read Mr. Timblin's historic letter. WILLIAM R. TRIMBLE Was a Pennsylvania boy, born in Cumberland County in 1862. He climbed the rocky hills and walked among the stumps and stones of that rough region until he was nineteen, when he struck the western trail and it of course landed him in Nebraska, where he helped in the building of bridges for the A. N. R. R. Next we find him as ship- ping clerk for the Milford mills. Married Miss Gillie Clark of Columbus, Indiana, in 1884. Two children were born to them, Cleve, now a lad in his teens; and Nellie, a little four year old girl that was drowned in Blue river, in 1894. Mrs Trimble died in-llX)2 and September 17, 11IU3. Mr. Trimble married Miss Louisa Bradford of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. One son, Wm. Jan was boin to them Mr. Trimble runs a r istaurant at Milford and is doing a good business. He has been a member of the school board of Milford for nine consecutive years. Was charter member of I. O. O. F. of Beaver Crossing. GEO. D. THOMAS A Seward born boy that is forging to the front, came to the light of life December, 6 1873. Educated in the Seward Schools. George like all the family is an expert in instrumental music and hundreds of times has the people of Seward enjoyed the sweet strains of music of the Thomas band. George was married April 2, 1901, to Miss Emma S. Wetz, an Illinois girl that was born June 23, 1875. They have one little daughter, Thelma Olline. Mr. Thonuis is engaged in the manufacture of soda water and is doing a large business. He controls and runs the Opera house and is owner of a large business block at Madison, Nebraska, including the Opera house there. HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 173 WILLIAM J. THOMPSON One of the very early pioneers of the county and a man of mark in the development of this region. Was born in the County Donegal north of Ireland, of Scotch ancestry in 1824. He came to Philadelphia in 1846, and enlisted in our navy for service in the Mexican war, and served nearly four years. He served on the Princeton and the ship pa- trolled the seas, capturing privateers and smugglers. There were no naval battles during that war. He married Miss Hilliard also of Scotch parentage from his native home, in 18r)0, at Alleghany (Mty, Pennsylvania. The young people naturally drifted westward and in 1854, we find them at Galena, Illinois, and at Nebraska City, in 1859, where the author formed his acquaint- ance in 1850. Mr. Thompson took a claim on Wilson creek eight miles west of the city, where he resided until the removal to Seward county, in \Sii'^. In 1862 he opened his ranch on Walnut creek in the western part of what is now "K" precinct. Could we follow all the incidents of the ranch life for ten years it would fill a volume ot most interesting matter, many things tragic, many things ludicrous and otheis piithetic. That old ranch where so many thousands of pilgrims and freighters camped and passed would make an ideal spot to found a romance of thrilling interest. When, the great U. P. R. R. had reached out as far as Grand Island, Mr. Thompson found his occupation gone, and in 1873 he bought the mill property at Beaver Crossing. There were born to Mr. and Mrs. Thompson six children. Two died in infancy ; one being laid to rest in the Illinois home and one at Walnut creek. Letitia, the oldest child to reach mature years, mar- ried in 1887 and died in 1890. B. Franklin, now at Beaver Crossing ; Margaret E. of Crete and William J. Mr. and Mrs. Thomnson were both l)rought up in the Presbyterian church and remained members of it until they united with the Congregational church at Beaver Cross- ing. Mr. Thompson was a very energetic and enterprising man and did much in building up this county. He made many valual)le im- provements at the home place and at other points in the west. Was elected in 1865 one of the county commissioners and assisted in the county organization and did his work so well that he was again elected without opposition in 1867. In 1872 he was elected member ot the leg- islature but resigned on account of other pressing duties. Mr. Thomp- son was rather eratic in his make-up but was whole souled, genial and kind, a good true friend and good neighbor. His good wife has just passed the four score years. From childhood, Mrs. Thompson has been a most faithful Christian lady and during all the trying years of fron- tier life, she clung close to the cross and with all the energy and zeal of a noble and true Christian mother, she taught her children the value of christian Character. Mr. Thompson died, July 26, 1895, at his home in Beaver Crossing. 174 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA PROFESSOR MARGARET E. THOMPSON This "child of the prairies, " as she calls herself, was born upon our own rich Nebraska soil, ,June 4. 1861, near Nebraska City. She was truly a child of the wilderness, and her childhood days were spent amidst the exciting environments of the old ranch home, at Walnut creek in Seward county, where her parents came when she was less than two years old. Here at an outpost of civilization the child grew to womanhood. In the earlier years there were no schools, but it chanced that an intelligent young lady came to the wilderness as an advance guard of education and civilization, and her services were en- gaged by Mr. Thom|)son to teach his children in the criide frontier home. This was Miss Agnes Henderson, now Mrs. Rollin Shepard, of York County. Here Maggie (as we all loved to call her) received her first ideas of the great world in which she was destined to act such an important part as an educator. If her educational opportunities seemed small and poor, there was one great book open to her. Her young life was in the midst of a moving panorama. There were countless thous- ands of emigrants and freighters passing her home and her keen eyes could scrutinize humanity in all its phases and her plastic mind no don])t received impressions that helped her on to victory. The crude frontier schools soon came and gave her some opportunities and in IfSTT she began her career as teacher in the Warner district near the Filniore county line. In the autumn of 1877, she commenced her course of study at Crete in the preparatory department of Doane college. By perserverance and determined industry, working her way by teaching in the country schools, she graduated from Doane college in the Class of 1886, with high honors, when she was immediately elected Principal of the women's department and instructor in mathematics. In 1892 she was granted a leave of absence, to visit eastern colleges. She spent the summer in study at Harvard university and the four succeeding months in visiting other New England colleges. During these years she was taking i)ost-graduate work in the Qniversitv of Nebraska, where she received the degree of A. M. in 1897. She also studied in the Chicago university during the summers of 1897, 1898 and 1899. In 1897, she was appointed Professor of English literature in Doane college. She has l)een connected with that institution as Principal Instructor and Professor during the past eighteeji years. Young men and women of Nebraska please learn from Miss Thompson what you may accomplish if j'ou will but trj'. FRANK B. TIPTON An Illinois boy born at Augusta, September 1, 1857, where he grew up, and became a stenographer. He came to Seward county in 1885, and we find the young man driving the qnill as court reporter for Judge Norval. He married Miss Harriette L. Jones May 18, 1887, at Seward, Nebraska. She was a daughter of Claudius Jones, born May HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 175 15, 1866, at Chicago, Illinois. They have three children, viz : Claudius, Frank B. , Jr. , and Harriette E. Mr. Tipton spent some years at Seattle, Washington, but has re- turned to his first love, where he interests himself in caring for his flock of fine blooded chickens. White Leghorns is his specialty and his henery shows some of the best specimens in the country. He sold one young cockerel at the St. Louis Exposition for one hundred dollars. JOHN D. TROYER A gentleman who is largely interested in the honey bee, being the owner of quite a respectable apiary in Milford, was an Ohio boy. Was born September 7, 1S33, in Holmes county, where he grew to manhood. .At twenty-four after his marriage to Miss Catherine Egly. he moved to Indiana. Miss Egly was a native of Stark Cuunty, Ohio, born in 1837. They are the parents of eleven children, nine yet living, viz: Daniel J., Mary, now Mrs. A. M. Garber ; Annie, now Mrs. C. J. Mizer, Lydia, now Mrs. Chas. Brown ; Joseph, Emma, now Mrs. E. B. Whitney, who died August 4, 1888, David, Alice, now Mrs. J. Young; (the wife and husband killed by the Boxers in China. They were missionaries, and were killed July 16, 1900). Ellen, now Mrs. C. J. Shaw; Martha, and John E. , yet at home with the old people. Mr. Troyer came to Plattsmouth in 188(), where he worked in the R. R. .shops two years and then in 1888 came to Milford where he has followed his trade as carpenter and builder. Their church relations ai-e with the Amish Menonites. FRANKLIN J. UNDERHILL Is one of the lads that just missed being a Nebraska born boy, but it was no fault of his. He got here just as soon as po.ssible. He was born at Oquaka, Illinois, Febiuarv 16, 1874, and was brought to Se- ward in 1876. Frank took to medicine as a duck takes to water and commenced to learn the profession as Pharmacist when sixteen and has been engaged in that line during all his active life. We take it for granted that Frank understands his business. The young man in his perambulations strayed away to Falls City and found Miss Lena jNIiller and she consented to be his bride and they were married May 36. 1897, at Lincoln, Neliraska. She was born July 19, 1874, at Falls City, Nebraska. Frank belongs to the Highlanders. The church home is with the Missionary Baptists. Mr. Underhill lo- cated in Tamora in 1902. and established a neat and tasty drug store that the village and community should feel proud of. PHILIP UNITT The fat and jolly Englishman who had just one English sovereign in his pocket when he landed at New York and who has grown to be a man of affairs. Was born in merry old England. Doudley Stafford.shire, September 3, 1849. He saw the bright star in the west, in 1868, and 176 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA there was no use talking, Phil^was coming to America and he got here, whether in one ship or two he did not say. He sought work and found it in Pennsylvania, but soon drifted to Baltimore, where he engaged in business for fifteen months when he found Miss Mary A. (iill, an En- glish girl and they were married. February 13. 1870. Soon the young Residence of Phillip Unitt couple were siezed with a violent attack of western fever and in March 1873, they found Lincoln and as the new railroad had just reached Seward, Phil had to go as far as the cars would take him and thus Seward county gained her greatest stockman. Mr. Unitt commenced his Seward career in a little seven by nine meat market. Mr. and Mrs. Unitt have five liv^ig children, viz: Charles. Ar- thur, Vincent, W. Garfield and Mattie. He is a member of A. F. and A. M. and I. O. O. F. and member of the encampment. He now owns nine hundred and twenty acres of well improved farms. He owns one of the finest residences in Seward County, and a barn that is like a palace. He frequently has a thousand head of cattle and so many hogs that he can't count them. Is always good natured and full of life . HENRY VANDERHOOF A Michigan boy, born among the stumps of the old pine tree state HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 177 in Berion County, May 2, 1848. He spent his youth in school and dig- ging among the stumps until between fifteen and sixteen years he enlisted in the 12th Michigan Volunteer Infantry. He did not get a chance to smell much burnt powder, as his enlistment was in 1864. Henry found his way to Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1872. He spent three years traveling Henry Vanderhoof for water supplies. He located in Sew&rd, in 1875, where he engaged in the grain, stock and windmill trade. Then he was in the hardware trade for a time. In 1878, January 28th, he married Miss Mercy A. Derby, at Utica. She was a daughter of Hon. Geo. A. Derby and was born March 25, 1851, in Licking County, Ohio. Foiu- children were born to them, viz: Hallie D. , now deceased; Thomas J.. Don W. , and Vesta M. Mr. Vanderhoof was in the genera) merchandise business in York in 188H, but soon returned to Seward and opened a land office where he has taken a leading part in that business. He belongs to the I. O. O. F. and encampment, is also a member of the G. A. R. SYRENUS VANANDEL Was born in Ulster County, New York, where they raise a full crop of stone every year for the boys to harvest. He came to light July 14, 1848. The old folks took the lad to Ohio to try the blue clay hills, but they halted but a short time and in 185G, we find the boy in 178 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA St. Joseph, Missouri. Next he tried "bleeding" Kansas, but not yet satisfied we find him on the trail to Nebraska in 1868, where he tried Richardson County. But after a while he strayed up to the right place and located a homestead on section 20, in "I" precinct, April 12, 1870. Mrs. Henry Vanderhoof In 1884, he had tired of single blessedness and down at Lincoln he espied Miss Ida Schamp and they were married July loth. She was born in Iowa, but came to Nebraska in 1862. piloted by the venerable Rev. Peter Schamp. her father, when a yearling. She was born June 3, 1861. They have five children, viz: Blanche, Cabe S., George W., John R. and Ida C. Since his removal here he rambled around in Wyoming for seven years but returned to his first love and is now fairly content and well he may be. He has a splendid home in a good locality. He is a member of the Knights of Maccabees. Church home is with the M. E. folks at Pleasant Dale. JAMES S. VRIENDERS Our marble cutter and general dealer in monuments, was born in Denmark, December 21, 1859, and came to Omaha in 1885, where he worked at his trade for seventeen years. June 27, 1887, he mai'ried Miss Henriette W. Humburg at Omaha. She was also born in Den- mark, June 6, 1860. They had five sons born to them. Victor died HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 179 in infancy ; Alfred, Albert, Einar and Victor, the latter being named for the dead son. Mr. Vrieiiders came to Seward in 1!I02, and opened a shop and is carrying on the marble business. He is a member of the M. W. A. Church home is with the Lutheran pe(jple. WM. L. WATTS Away up in cold Minnesota, William was born March 15, 1868, in Steele County, but went to Indiana in infancy and was pretty good on the tramp when young so we find the lad in Seward County at five. Came to "N" precinct in 1873. Was fortunate enough to make a bar- gain with Miss Jennie Kenedy and was married at York, Nebraska, June 25, 1901. Jennie was Vjorn at Omaha, March 4, 18(59. She is one of the best products of our Nebraska. The young couple have a nice home in Goehner, where Mr. Watts is engaged in the windmill and pump business. JOHN H. WATERMAN Born in Hubard, Ohio, March 8, 184(i. Remained at the old home until June, 1863, when only a lad of seventeen he enlisted in the 2nd Ohio heavy artillery in the 23rd Army Corps, under General Cox. Was through Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. The command was on duty guarding supply lines principally, served to the end of the war. When discharged the environments of "the old home had lost their charms and the restless youth pushed for the west, and in 1866 we tind him on the wild prairies of Harrison County, Iowa, yet the western star shone so brightly in his path he followed on and in 1870 he became a home- steader at Beaver Crossing. Here he married Miss Lydia M. Salnave. This marriage was performed by old Uncle Dan Millspaw and the li- cense was issued by Judge Henry Wortendyke, March 26, 1870. There were four children, viz: Grace, died at fourteen; Royal D. , now a minister of the gospel and Rena and Lena twins, jet at home. Mr. Waterman farmed on the homestead twelve years, when in 1892 he started the publication of the Review. In April, 1897, he sold it to De- wit Egar and it was under the editorial management of E. M. Overman for three years when Mr. Waterman bought it and it has run under his management until he sold it the winter of 1905. Mr. Waterman was appointed postmaster in 1898. Mr. Waterman has been through all these years a much respected and worthy citizen and performed well his part in laying these foundations. WILLIAM H. WAIT An Ohio boy that got tired of the blue clay hills and took Greeley's advice and struck for the west. Mr. Wait was born in Clermont County September 29, 1845. He not only found a good county in Sep- tember, 1873. but he soon found a wife, married Mrs. Elsie S. Pitt, 180 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA July 24, 1876, in Seward. She was an Indiana girl that came to this frontier with her parents in 1863. She was born Ma\^ 10, 1850. They have seven children, viz: Frederick H. , Lovina, now Mrs. J. Lunney ; Simon A., Rhoda L., now Mrs. H. Davis; Thomas Z. , Elisabeth M. and Edward W. Mr. Wait served in the 53d Ohio Regiment in Company H and also in Company F 195th Ohio and was in the struggles at Harpers Ferry, Winchester and Old Town and many skirmishes. He ate plenty of hard ' tack and snielled powder but got no scratch. He is now employed at the Ruby elevator. Mr. 'vVait is a stone mason by trade and helped lay many of the first foundations at Seward. One among them being the first old brick school house and the old Tishue block and others. WILSON S. WALLICK Another Ohio lad born among the blue clay hills of Franklin County October 31, 1841. When two years old his parents thought they would try the land of muddy roads and located in old Fulton County, Illinois, where Wilson giubbed, piled and burnt brush and went to school and in due time he found Miss Mary E. Yates and January 30, 1880, they were married at Independence, Kansas. She was a Fulton County girl born July 11, 1859. They have five children, viz: Ada M., now Mrs. H. Wimberley ; Flora B., Aita E., Albert R., and Elgin S. The family came to "F" precinct in 1876 and bought school land on section 16. For some years they have rented the farm and reside in Tamora. Mr. Wallick belongs to the M. W. A. and W. O. W. Church home is with the Presbyterians. MYRON W. WARNER Was another of those New York lads that found his way to Ne- braska while both he and the state were young. Born in Onondaga County. March 14, 1847. Was educated at Hamilton, New York, and came to Seward County in 1870. In 1871 he began teaching and fol- lowed that vocation in Seward and Saline Counties In 1883 was elected superintendent of Public Instruction, was re- elected for the second term and made a good record. While at Seward he captured Miss Susie Jobs. They were married in 1886. They have four children all yet at home, viz : Gertrude, Charles, Ada and Esther. Some years ago Mr. Warner moved to California but he tired of the land of flowers and tourists and returned to his first love and has for over sixteen years held the honorable position of cashier of the bank at Beaver Crossing, Nebraska. WILLIAM A. WALTER One of Sewai'd's carpenters and builders for the past twenty years. Was born January 31, 1852, in Columbia County in the old Keystone state where they raise coal, pump oil and melt iron and raise good boys and girls. The lad went to the western prairies at seven and landed at HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 181 Alledo, Illinois, where he grew to manhood. In ]883, he landed at Seward, and January 16th was married to Miss Olive Purdam, an Illinois girl that was born in Mercer county, July 18, 1861. They have one little daughter, Dorothy Vivian, born at Corning, Iowa. Mr. Walter is a member of the M. W. A. and of the Court of Honor. Church home is with the M. E. people. . PROF. FRED C. WILLIAMS A Hoosier boy, born at Rochester, Indiana. He went through the public schools at Franklin. He came to Nebraska while yet a lad and graduated in the High schools of Columbus, Nebraska, in the class of 189(3 and in the University in the class of 1900 and received the degree of B. C. Then taught in the High School of Columbus one year, was Principal of Syracuse, Nebraska, schools one year, taught one year at Seward and was elected Superintendent of our City schools in 1902 which position he yet holds. The Professor married a Nebraska girl. Miss A. I. Whiting, June 10, 1903, at Lincoln. She is a native of Fairbury. He is a member of a College fraternity of Beta Theta Pa. Is a member of the Baptist church but now affiliates with the Congregational church of Seward. Since the above was written Professor and IMrs. Williams have had come to bless their home, a daughter, Rosanna Brackett, born January 6, 1905. The Professor is a member of the I. O. O. F. WILLIAM S. WILLIAMS One of the most familiar figures among the business men of Seward for nearly thirty years, was English born. He first saw the light at Summersetshire, England, April 1, 1850, and was transplanted to our soil when a lad of eight. He lived in Wisconsin with his parents until he was twenty, when he landed at Lincoln and at Seward in 1875, and was in the employ of Keefer and Lindly in the implement trade. Some- time later he became partner with Ole Whitcomb in the livery business and was interested in that business for twelve years. It took him a long time to find his girl, but he found her and was married to Miss Edith Purdam of Seward, June 12, 1901. Mrs. Wil- liams was an Illinois girl that came to Seward County with her parents about twenty years ago. Born in 1809. Mr. Williams has for many years been engaged in buying and sell- ing horses. Has for a quarter of a century had an important part with our Agricultural Society and held many important positions in the so- ciety. He is now Chairman of the County Board of Supervisors. Seal, as we all call him, is an all-around good and valuable citizen. Has a membership in the Modern Woodman. PROF. GEORGE WELLER Principal of the Lutheran Normal Seminary of Seward for ten yers. Was born in the city of New Orleaps in 18fO. Shortly after the 182 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA war closed and during the re-construction period his parents moved to New York City and when George was a lad of seven summers they moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, where the boy received training in the parochial school and at fourteen he entered Concordia College and grad- uated at twenty, then he took a thelogical course at the Lutheran The- ological College at St. Louis. Then the young man came to Seward County in 1882 and began his ministerial career at Marysville, where he served the Church twelve years and then was elected to the princi- palship of the new institution where he has done faithful and valuable work to this date. The Professor formed the acquaintance and married Miss Clara Eirick in 1882 and to their union have been born eight bright children all of whom make their home with their parents, although John follows teaching of late. Their names are John, Hulda, George, Elsie, Helen, Annie, Paul and Raymond. They have a nice home in the college addition to Seward. Hon. Henry H. Wilson An Ohio lad that found the western trail at seventeen and when transplanted on the fertile soil of Nebraska began a vigorous growth and today he is one of Nebraska's prominent bari.sters. Henry was born in old Sandusky County, where the white caps of Lake Erie lash the shore, January 1, 1854. In 1871 he was a farmer boy in Saunders County and in 1873 we find him at our state university, where he graduated in the class of 1878 with honors. When he became identified with the people of Seward as principal of the high school, where his good work for two years caused his name to be well remembered by a great host of friends. In 1881, he had completed his law studies sufficiently to be almitted to practice in all the courts of Nebraska. In 1895, he became Grand Master of HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 183 the Masonic Fraternity in Nebraska. He is a thirty-third degree Mason. Has held the honored position as a lecturer on law in the university for fifteen years last past. Found his helpmeet in Miss Emma Parks and was married, June 22, 1882, at Lincoln. She was an Iowa girl born at Agency City, June 23, 1856. They have five children, viz: Henry P., who died December 9, 1883, Helen, Edith, Ralph P. and vValter F. In 1902 Mr. Wilson was a prominent candidate before the Republican convention for Governor. Mr. Wilson is one of the presidential electors for Nebraska and was chosen president of the electoral college. CHARLES H. WERTMAN Was a native of Lee County, Illinois, born January 9, 1852. He was raised on the banks of that beautiful Rock river near Dixon and there he found Miss Sarah C. , daughter of J. B, Courtright and they were married, June 13, 1876, at the old home of the Courtrights. She was a Dixon girl, born October 27, 1853. They have five children, viz: Harry J., a physician at Milford ; Thomas H. , a pharmacist at Seward ; Clarence C. , Mary C. and Willard L. They came to the present home in section 13 in '"N" town in March, 1884. Mr. Wertman is a farmer and stockman. Is a member of M. W. A. and Maccabees. Church home is with M. E. people at Milford. JACOB A. WILSEY Came from the land of milk and cheese in Columbia County, New York, where the boys are born with a milk bucket in one hand and milk stool in the other. He came to life and light August 21, 1828, He was raised among the rocky hills of two states New York and Pennsyl- vania. He and Miss Alia M. Kilmer were married at Hide Park, Pennsylvania, June 15, 1853, and June 15, 1903, there was a beautiful golden wedding at the Wilsey home in west "O" precinct. Mrs. Wil- sey was born, October 17, 1833, in the old Keystone state. They have eight children, viz: Douglass L. , Walter A.. Jerman L., Alia B. , now dead; Katy M., Walker, Minnie D. , Connelly, Frank J. and Dallye B. Mr. and Mrs. Wilsey came to the present home in the spring of 1868, and were among the first of the noble band of pioneers to lay foundations in this wilderness and we rejoice with their host of friends that it is given them to yet live to see the waste places made glad and the wilderness transformed into a land of beautiful homes. Long live our old friends the Wilseys. Their church home is with the Evangel- ical people. On coming to Seward County he resided at Camden where he worked in both grist mill and saw mill. It was there he sawed the lumber for his house in "West O, '" out of native timber. After mov- ing there he worked at the carpenter trade, He helped build the mill at West Mills. The J. A. Wilsey Golden Wedding HISTORY OP SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 185 HENRY WATSON Born at Hilsdale, Michigan. December 2, 1854. Parents moved to Dnbuiine Countv. Iowa, when Henry was a babe. There he grew to manhood and received his education. In 1873, he came to Seward. Married Miss Mertie Darwin, a young lady from Michigan, where she was born in IHl'S. The marriage occurred in 1894. In 1897, she died leaving an infant child which in a few weeks followed her to the grave and the bereaved husband and father was left to "tread the wine press alone. ' ' Mr. Watson is an honored member of the Maccabees order and is sargeant. He is a man of industry and strict integrity and has the respect of all who know him. ALLEN J. WEAVER One of the go-ahead business men of Milford, who came there when a Doy and worked for wages for years in the windmill and pump busi- ness and had the grit to stick close to his business until he became sole proprietor of the present flourishing windmill and pumphouse, in 1903. ' Mr. Weaver was born in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, April 12, 1867. Educated in the common schools of his native community, and married in 1890, to Miss Ruth A. Haverstock, of Milford, who came from Larporte, Indiana, in childho (57 G7 (59 201 Gale, R. T Galusha, Algernon . Gannon, A. H Garner, J. A Givens, W. D Geeson, J. F Geis, Jacob Gembler, Charles, Goecke, Herman Goehner, J. F Gordon, C. M Graff, A. E Gruber, Rev. Karl T 70 70 71 71 71 72 72 74 74 74 Graham, Hon. Thomas 75 Gwartney, Don C Gray, Owen Gannon, J. P Hageman, S. P Hater, Levi Haines, J. A Hartman, F. C Harold, W. G Herchberger, P. P Healey, Hon. Thomas Hickman, B. F 76 77 77 77 77 78 78 80 80 80 81 Hickman, Wm 81 Hecox. M. P Heuman, H. A Hinshaw, Hon.E.H Holland, Hon. C. E Holland, E. C Howard, L. O Howdersheldt, F. W Huffman, J. H Humphrey, C. K Humphrey, O. E Hughes, John M Hughes, W. C Hurt, G. G Iniig, C;irl Iinl.iy, David, Sr. Iinlay, Hon. Wm Imlay, Adison Johnston, Lucian Jensen, Edward Jones, Claudius .._ 82 . 83 83 83 _. .. 84 85 85 85 • 86 86 86 87 87 87 88 88 89 89 91 92 Jones, Joseph 94 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 221 Jones, H. T Konright, Win Knight. Wm Kinney, Elisha B. Kinsingev, J. A . 94 95 96 96 .. 97 Kealy, Miss Margaret 97 Kitchen, Thomas H 98 Knight, Elias B 89 Klenck, Phillip 98 Knox, Charles S 98 Koch, Carl G. A 99 Koch, E. H 99 Kroeger, Carl F 100 Krueger H. W 100 Lance, S. D. 100 Landes, H. D 100 Logan, J. T 101 Logan, Hugh 101 Laiiber, Benjamin 101 Leavitt, Rev. F. W 102 Leger, Theodore 102 Leavens, A. 102 Lonhridge, Dr. W. K 104 Leibrock, Charles 104 Long, Samuel 104 Lyon, C. L 106 Lusher, John 106 Langdon, M 107 Madson, Martin 106 Marsh, Dr. F. A 107 Matzke, C. F 108 Mauer, John 108 Mayland, Chris 108 •Mayland, Henry 108 Morgan, Rev. W. D 109 Morton, Thomas 109 McCauley, J. W 109 Merrill, J. H 110 McKay, George C 112 McCollister Ira . 112 McGrew, A. M 112 Merrill, Rev. Jospeh llv? MeiTium, George A 118 McKillip, L. H 113 Meyers, T. W 114 Middaugh, G. W 114 Miller, James . 114 Miller, H, M Miller, Wm. W Miller, W. J Miller, Harper McLain, Hon. J. E Mickey, Gov. J. H Mikkelsen Jens L Moffitt, Lewis M(jrrow, Dr. Joseph, hospital Moler, Harvey Meyers, T. W Moore, Wm. H Moore, L. C Mnrphy, Rev. William Norval, Judge T. L. . Norval, Hon. R. S Neihardt, L D Newton, E. J Noxon, E. H Nunemaker, Shields Ohlwiler, J. Q Ost, L. E Olmstead, Orson Oxley, C. H Parks, F. M Palmer, D. B Palmer, M. B Petrie, G. L Petrie, Henry Petrie, J. C . Perry, Benjamin F Pence, Samuel . . Petty. Dr. Charles O Petty, James A Perkinson, J. H Petsch, F. W Pitt, M. S Piecre, Wm. O Pierce, W. W Polley, E. A Potter, J. T Presson, Rev. H. Precknew, Albert Plumper, Anton Pickeral. G. W. and Charles Rediger, Peter. Ritchie, A. D 114 115 115 116 116 116 117 118 120 121 112 121 123 123 124 124 126 128 129 129 129 130 130 131 132 la? 133 133 134 134 134 13 135 135 135 136 136 136 138 138 139 139 141 141 204 141 142 222 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY. NEBRASKA Ritchie, Hon. W. E 144 Reams, Hon. R. C 145 Rickniann, August 145 Ricenl)augh, Charles 145 Richmond, R. B 146 Rivers, David 147 Roth, Jacob 147 Roth, V. L 147 Rozer, Wm 147 Ruckdashel, C. A 148 Rurup, Fred 148 Rurup, Charles L 148 Rupp, J. W 149 Ruton, L. A 149 Ruzicka, F. M 149 Robets, Dr. D H 149 Schmadlewskj-, Paul 150 Sheelv, J. M 150 Shultz, Andrew 151 Shultz, Wm 151 Shultz, Lothar F 153 Shultz, Arthur H 153 Shultz, Henry 154 Salladin, G. E 154 Schlueter, H. W 154 S\ielton, H. H 154 Sampson, Richard 155 Shorey, M. E 155 Seick, Henry 156 Seick, Ernest 156 Shank, John S 156 Staufer, J. L 157 Slonecker, Henry F 157 Staufer, J. R 157 Stolz, P. J 158 Stolz, J. P 158 Stolz, H. J 158 Stolz, W. B 159 Skillman, A. V 159 Skillman, Thomas 160 Smith, A. D 161 Smith, Wm. H 161 Smiley, Wm 162 Smiley, J. M 162 Schaal, Christian 163 Shaw, O. A 163 Snow Simmon 163 Slonecker George Slonecker John Slonecker Alonzo Slonecker J. W 164 164 165 165 Slonecker Russell 166 Sell John 166 Steffen.sen Niels 166 Steckly, Joel 167 Springer, V. F 167 Suhr, Fred 167 Swansen. Peter 168 Sweasey, S. T 168 Sweasey, M. L 168 Thomas, J. J 169 Taege, Otto 169 Taylor, J. G 170 Taylor, J. R. S 171 Timblin, F. M 172 Trimble, VV. R 172 Thomas, George D 172 Thompson, Wm. J 173 Thompson Mi.ss M. E 174 Tipton, F. B 174 Troyer, J. D 175 Underbill, F. J 175 Unitt, Phillip 175 Vanderhoof, H 176 Vanandel, Syrenus 177 Vrienders, J. S •. 178 Watts, Wm. L 179 Waterman, J. H 179 Wait, William H 179 Wallick, W. S 180 Warner, M. W 180* Walter, William A 180 Williams, Prof. F. C 181 Williams, Wm. S 181 Weller, Prof. George 181 Wilson, Hon. H. H 182 Wertman, C. H 183 Wilsey, J. A 183 Watson, Henry 185 Weaver, A. J 185 Wickham, H. C 185 Wickersham, B 185 Whitter, J. A 186 Whitnock, W. H 186 HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA 223 Wardsby, John 186 Wortendyke, Judge H 187 Wortendyke, Mrs. E. J 188 Wooley, Stites 189 Wise, B. S 191 Wolvin, Horace 191 Worthman, W. H. F 192 Wooley, F. R 19B Weber, Jacob 193 Wright C. J .. Wright A. C WuUenwaber, Wullenvval)er, 194 1S4 Nicholas 195 F. M 196 WuUenwaber, Phillip Wimberly, T. M Zalman, August Ziminerer, John 196 197 198 198 Zimmerman, Diederick 199