USA > Kansas > Nemaha County > History of Nemaha County, Kansas > Part 51
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Thomas Bronough married Mary Rollins, born in Kentucky in 1811, and departed this life in 1875. Thomas and Mary Bronough were par- ents of eight children, as follows : Eliza, deceased, wife of O. C. Bruner, former county treasurer : Tolliver, Union war veteran, a member of Com- pany E, Thirteenth Kansas regiment of volunteers, coming to Kansas in 1857, dying in Arkansas in 1911 ; James T., came to Kansas in 1858, and was a well known farmer near Kelly, Kans., dying in 1897; Mrs. Lucy Gilliland, living near San Diego, Cal., with a widowed daughter; Vir- ginia, wife of Thomas D. McGatagan, formerly lived near Frankfort, Kans., and lived in Oklahoma and California, dying in California ; Sarah, died at the age of ten years in Illinois ; Mary, died at the age of seventeen years, in 1867; Mrs. Elvira McBradley, living in Baileyville.
Robert M. Bronough was born May 6, 1844, in Schuyler county, Illinois. He came to Kansas with his parents in 1859, and he attended the Centralia schools in his boyhood days. At the outbreak of the Civil war, he answered the call to arms and enlisted in Company E, Thirteenth Kansas infantry, and saw much active service in the South and on the frontier. He took part in the battle of Prairie Grove,
ROBERT M. BRONOUGH AND FAMILY.
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Ark., and served in Arkansas, Indian Territory and the Red River valley country and was engaged in many minor conflicts during the course of his war service. He was mustered out of the service at Little Rock, Ark., in 1865, and received his honorable discharge on June 26, 1865. From Little Rock he accompanied his regiment to St. Louis via the Mississippi river route, and thence to Leavenworth, where the troops were paid off. From there they came by stage to Weston, Mo., and then boarded the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs railroad and rode to Atchison, Kans. After stopping at the old Massasoit Hotel over night, he and some of his comrades paid a fare of $12 each for transportation to Seneca via the Holliday stage route. After his return home he worked on his
father's farm until 1898 and then located in Baileyville, where he en- gaged in business for himself and dealt extensively in hardware, furni- ture and lumber for a number of years, but of late he has conducted a furniture store exclusively. At one time, when living on the farm, Mr. Bronough achieved considerable success as a breeder and shipper of Shorthorn cattle. He is a shareholder and vice-president of the Bailey- ville Bank, of which ex-Governor Bailey is president. In the year 1866- 1867, Mr. Bronough, with J. W. Fuller, who was county clerk at the time, changed the tax roll from alphabetical to the numerical order, as pro- vided by law.
Robert M. Bronough was married on September 12, 1866, to Miss Mary J. Cassidy, who was born in Ohio, September 12, 1845. She was a daughter of John and Eliza (Paulman) Cassidy, natives of Ohio, who immigrated to Kansas in 1865. There were four children born to this marriage, as follows : John, farmer, Center township ; Mrs. Olive Griffith, Baileyville ; Mrs. Laura Bigelow, deceased ; Thomas C., Kansas City, Mo.
Mr. Bronough is in sympathy with the Democratic party and casts his vote for its nominees. He is active in religious affairs of his com- munity and is a trustee of the Presbyterian church. He holds member- ship in the Odd Fellows fraternal order and, because of his Civil war career, he is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic Post, Seneca, Kans., and a member of the Kansas State Historical Society.
Joseph Schumacher, merchant, Kelly, Kans., was born in Damme, Germany, November 11, 1875, and is a son of Edward and Bernardina (Bergmann) Schumacher, natives of Germany. The father of Joseph Schumacher was a wagon maker in the Fatherland and both parents died in Germany.
Mr. Schumacher was reared and educated in Germany until he was thirteen years old and then emigrated from his native land to America. He first worked for his uncle, Barnard Bergmann, at St. Benedict's, and was employed on his uncle's farm for a time previous to taking employment in the general store owned by Clements Blocker at St. Benedict's. He remained at St. Benedict's until 1905 and then came to Kelly, where he farmed for two years in the nearby country. He was next employed in the general store owned by Dignan & Haug, and in
(31)
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1906 he purchased the business in partnership with Mr. Ketter. Mr. Schumacher is a good, careful business man and the store in his charge is doing a prosperous business, which exceeds $12,000 annually. For- tune has smiled upon Mr. Schumacher and he is the owner of 160 acres of good land in Adams township.
Mr. Schumacher was married November 19, 1903, to Miss Susan Kongs, of St. Benedict's. Mr. and Mrs. Schumacher are the parents of three children, as follows: Alvin, Cyril and Leanord. The mother of these children was born at St. Benedict's, April 7, 1884, a daughter of Michael and Mary (Rettele) Kongs, natives of Germany and Wiscon- sin, respectively. Mrs. Kongs is now living among her children.
Mr. Schumacher is an independent in political matters and is a member of the Kelly Cahtolic Church. He is also affiliated with the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association.
Theodore Rosengarten .- Theodore Rosengarten, farmer and stock- man, of Mitchell township, was born in Hanover, Germany, February 18, 1854, a son of William and Mary Rosengarten, who reared a family of three children of whom Theodore is the only one now living. Both par- ents died in their native land. Theodore lived in Germany until 1880, and then crossed the ocean to find fortune in America. He first located in the St. Benedict neighborhood of Nemaha county, Kansas, and bought 80 acres of land for which he paid $25 an acre. He sold this same farm for $45 an acre in 1902 and then bought his present home farm of 160 acres in Mitchell township, upon which he has made many substantial im- provements and has prospered. Mr. Rosengarten favors the Durham breed of cattle and has some very fine animals on his place.
Mr. Rosengarten was married in 1883 to Mary Tichlofen, who has borne him the following children: Henry, married to Florence Brinkler, and resides in Seneca; Frank, who took to wife May Hoops, lives in Seneca and has one child, Carmelita ; Minnie, wife of J. Brinkler, a farmer living near Seneca, and has one child, Gerald; Edward married Cecilia Nash, is farming the home place and has one child, Edna. The mother of these children was born at Waterford, Wis., June 25, 1857, and is a daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Honeymann) Tichlofen, natives of Germany. Henry Tichlofen was born in Westphalia, Germany, in 1830, and learned the carpenter's trade. He emigrated from the Fatherland in 1854, and settled in Racine county, Wisconsin. From there he came to Nemaha county, Kansas, in 1875, and worked at his trade of carpenter in Seneca until he purchased a farm of 80 acres in Richmond township for which he paid $8.00 an acre. He farmed his land until his retirement in 1902, and is now making his home with Mrs. Rosengarten. He was mar- ried in Wisconsin to Elizabeth Honeymann in 1843, and who died in 1902. The mother of Mrs. Rosengarten was born in Germany and left her native country and came to America when she was twelve years old. Mr. and Mrs. Tichlofen were the parents of eight children of whom Mrs. Rosengarten is the eldest. These children are: Mrs. Elizabeth Rosen-
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garten, wife of the subject; Henry, a farmer living near Junction City, Kans .; Mrs. Ida Underwood, Omaha, Neb .; Julius, of Kansas City, Mo .; Rose, wife of J. Donnelly, Philadelphia, Pa .; Mrs. Elizabeth Kirk, Kansas City, Kans .; Mrs. Lydia Noland, Solomon, Kans .; John, deceased.
Mr. and Mrs. Rosengarten are members of the Catholic church and contribute of their means to the support of this denomination. Mr. Ros- engarten has served as road supervisor of Mitchell township, and has filled the post of clerk of school district No. 65.
William Gerkens .- William Gerkens, merchant of St. Benedict's, Nemaha county, Kansas, was born in Westphalia, Prussia, German Em- pire. October 2, 1858, and is a son of Joseph and Angela (Entpohler) Ger- kens, natives of the fatherland, and who reared a family of five children, as follows: Frank, living in Germany and who served in the Austro- German War of 1866 and the Franco-Prussian War, 1870-1871 ; Henry, living in Germany; Mrs. Elizabeth Broek, Germany; William, the sub- ject of this review ; Mrs. Anna Attens, living on a farm near Baileyville, Kans.
Joseph Gerkens was born in Westphalia, Prussia, in 1811, and was a son of John Gerkens, who was a farmer. Joseph became a shepherd, and died in 1892. The mother of William Gerkens was born in 1819, and was a daughter of John and Elizabeth ( Evro) Entpohler, the former of whom was a school teacher in Germany. She died in 1876.
William Gerkens left his native country August 31, 1881, and made his way across the seas and the United States to Dubuque county, lowa, where he found employment as farm hand for three years, beginning with $180 for the first year and eventually receiving $205 for his second and third years of service. Wishing to see the country to the westward he set out and traveled for a time and then returned to Iowa, where he out- fitted himself as a traveling merchant, with a horse and wagon. Until 1888 he traveled over the greater part of lowa in a nomadic manner, retail- ing his wares at the farm houses by the wayside, and resting where night found him. In 1888 he made up his mind to locate in Texas, but on the way through Kansas and he became discouraged over the appearance of the country in the southern part of Kansa, and gave up that idea and came to St. Benedict's, from where he again traveled over the country retailing dry goods and notions.
In 1889. with a stock of goods valued at about $200, he started a gen- eral merchandise store at St. Benedict's, and during the years that have passed he has prospered and is now comfortably well off in this world's goods. His little stock of goods has grown during the years until he now carries a stock worth $3.000 and has a steady, substantial trade among the people of this vicinity.
Mr. Gerkens was married in 1889 to Bernadina Sturve, born in Stein- felt. Oldenburg, Germany, in 1851. She came to St. Benedict's with her mother in 1882. Both parents of Mrs. Gerkens are dead, her mother hav- ing departed this life in 1894. One child has blessed this happy marriage. namely, Mary, born March 17, 1891.
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Mr. Gerkens is a Democrat in politics and he and his wife and daughter are members of St. Benedict's Catholic Church. Mr. Gerkens' hobby is the breeding and raising of St. Bernard, Hartz Mountain Canary birds, and he understands perfectly how to raise the feathered songsters, which he loves so well.
Henry B. Nichols .- The late Henry B. Nichols, of Seneca, Kans., was one of the best known and best loved men of the pioneer and latter days in Nemaha county. Forty and more years ago the Nichols home, east of Seneca, was famed for its hospitality and was looked upon as a stopping and resting place for the settlers who were then coming into the county. The welcome which strangers would receive from Mr. and Mrs. Nichols would go a long way toward making their new neighbors from far lands feel at home in Kansas. Henry B. Nichols was a gentleman of the old school whose education and attainments fitted him for the role which he played in the life of his adopted community, and it was said of him shortly after his demise, by one who knew him well: "He was a kind man whose example I would wish my children to follow." What a tribute !
Henry B. Nichols was born on a farm near Clyde, Ohio, February 22, 1843, and was a son of Henry and Harriet (Bemis) Nichols, the for- mer a native of Vermont and the latter a native of Canadice, N. Y. The Nichols family is one of the old families of America, of Welsh ancestry, and whose members were allied with the Quaker church at the beginning of that faith. Henry B. Nichols was yet a boy when the call came from President Lincoln for troops with which to quell the rebellion of the Southern States. He responded and enlisted in Company K, One Hun- dredth Ohio infantry, during the first year of the great war and served throughout the conflict. He enlisted under Col. Rutherford B. Hayes, who later became President of the United States.
In one of the great battles in which his regiment participated, Mr. Nichols was wounded in the left shoulder and taken prisoner by the Confederates, who placed him in durance in the famous Belle Isle prison just across the river from Libby. Before being captured he contrived to make a sling for his wounded arm, and under this sling he hid a small sum of money, which he intended to send home for emergency. This money was overlooked when he was searched by his captors, and by his telling the guard he was badly wounded, they let him pass without a thorough search of his person. After his exchange, and he had regained his health, he again returned to the battlefields of the South with his regi- ment and was again wounded, this time being shot through both legs, the wound incapacitating him for further service for some time. After his marriage in 1865, Mr. Nichols farmed in Ohio until his removal to Kansas in 1871. He settled on a farm one and one-half mile east of Seneca and developed it into a fine property now known as the Mat Schneider farm. He followed the vocation of agriculturist until his retirement to a home in Seneca in 1893. His demise occurred January 21, 1909.
HENRY B. NICHOLS.
MRS. H. B. NICHOLS.
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Henry B. Nichols was married on December 12, 1865, to Mildred M. Brush, and one child has blessed this union, Miss Allie R. Nichols, born March 28, 1875, on the family farm in Richmond township, and now re- siding in Seneca. Miss Nichols is the owner of a fine farm of 160 acres and maintains the old Nichols home in Seneca. Mrs. Mildred (Brush) Nichols was born near Clyde, Ohio, December 29, 1846, and died April 18, 19II.
This well respected and highly esteemed couple left behind them an example of right living and usefulness that is well worth emulation by the rising generation. Both attended the Congregational church, of which Miss Nichols is a member, and she is also connected with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. . Henry B. Nichols was a Re- publican during his whole life, but never sought political preferment. He was an influential member of the Seneca Grand Army of the Re- public Post, of which he was commander. With him, kindness and hos- pitality was a virtue and bred within him ; he died full of honors and hon- ored and respected by all who knew him as a good and worthy citizen.
John T. Pugh .- John T. Pugh, the efficient superintendent of the Nemaha county Poor Farm, was born on a farm in Fayette county, Illi- nois, February 5. 1863, and is a son of William W. and Elizabeth (Denton) Pugh. William W. Pugh was born in Tennessee, December 9, '1829, and removed with his parents to Illinois when a youth. He was reared on the Illinois farm and learned to till the soil under his father's tutelage. In 1875 the Pugh family left Illinois and migrated to Wilson county, Kansas, and later moved to a farm near Perry, Okla., where Will- iam W. died in 1903. In his younger days he was a school teacher in Illinois and was a well read man. William W. and Elizabeth Pugh were the parents of the following children : John T., with whom this review is concerned ; Edward, a hardware merchant located in Oregon ; Mrs. Mary Watkins, living on a farm near Goff, Kans .; William M., Beloit, Kans .; Mrs. Anna Reeves, Wichita, Kans .; one child died in infancy. The mother of these children was born in 1840 in Fayette county, Illinois, and de- parted this life November 8, 1878. Mr. and Mrs. Pugh were members of the Christian church and at the time of his demise, William W. Pugh was the owner of a fine farm of 160 acres of land.
John T. Pugh was reared to manhood on his father's farm in Wilson county, and received a district school education. When he attained his majority he rented a farm in Wilson county, Kansas, which he cultivated until 1890, and then came to Nemaha county. He first rented land in Adams township. He was appointed in 1913 to the position of superin- tendent of the county farm of 200 acres by the county commissioners of Nemaha county. At the present writing there are eight wards of the county in the home under Mr. Pugh's charge.
Mr. Pugh was married in 1883 to Miss Viola McClure, who has borne him the following children: Mrs. Audie Stone, living in Oregon; Mrs. Effie Heinen, of Adams township; Carl, a farmer in Center township;
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Orpha, deceased. Mrs. Pugh was born September 11. 1865. in Fulton county, Indiana, a daughter of Robert and Esther ( Hickman) McClure, early settlers of Wilson county, Kansas.
Mr. Pugh is a Republican in politics and a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. Since taking charge of the County Farm he has given evidence of decided ability to successfully manage the farm and has the confidence of the county commissioners and the people of Nemaha county in general.
Rev. Father Gregory Neumayr .- Rev. Father Gregory Neumayr, O. S. B., pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Church, St. Benedict's, Kans., was born at Munich, Germany, 1866, and attended the schools of his native city. He began his studies for the priesthood in 1879, at the Benedictine Seminary, of Scheyern, Germany. When he attained the age of eighteen years he immigrated to America, and in 1883 he was admitted to member- ship in the Benedictine Order at Atchison, Kans.
Father Gregory was ordained for the priesthood in 1891, and his first parish work was at the Straubb Settlement near Avoca, Neb. His next charge was at Burlington, Iowa, after which he became assistant in the church at Atchison, Kans. In 1895 he was sent to Purcell, Kans., and had charge of the erection of a church at that place, He remained at Purcell for two years, and in 1910 took charge of the Effingham, Kans .. Catholic Church. He remained at Effingham until September 13, 1914, when he was given the pastorate of St. Mary's Church at St. Benedict, Kans.
Emil J. Jonach, Jr., merchant, Kelly, Kans., is a native Kansan. He was born on a farm near Woodlawn, Nemaha county, October 10, 1883, and is a son of Emil J. and Martha (Laughlin) Jonach, natives of Ger- many. Emil Jonach, Sr., was born at Frankenhausen, Germany, February 22, 1833, and followed the trade of barber in his native land, and also studied medicine. He emigrated from the Fatherland in 1850 and first lived in New York City where he conducted a barber shop until 1856. When Kansas was opened for settlement in the early fifties, he was among the first to come to the new State and, in 1856, made a settlement in Capioma township. He homesteaded 160 acres of land and broke up his land with horses. As the years passed and prosperity smiled upon Mr. Jonach, he accumulated a total of 780 acres of land in the county, and retired from active farm work in 1901. He has been one of the promi- nent citizens of his township and, being a well read man, has been called upon by the citizens, to serve as a justice of the peace and as a member of the school board. He makes his residence in Capioma township, and among his children. Mr. Jonach served his country in the Union army, and saw service on the frontier during the Indian troubles. His wife, Martha, was born in Indiana.
Emil J. Jonach, Jr., was reared to young manhood on his father's farm, and was educated in the district school of his neighborhood. In 1908, he bought 160 acres of land in Capioma township, and farmed it in
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partnership with his brother, Charles, until 1911, when he sold the farm to his father, and engaged in the merchandise business in Kelly. Mr. Jonach has been very successful in his business, and is one of the live business men of the hustling town of Kelly.
Mr. Jonach, Jr., was married, in 1910, to Miss May Barnett, and this union has been blessed with one child, namely: Emil J., Jr., born Jan- uary 21, 1912, in Kelly. Mrs. Jonach was born February 14, 1890, in Brown county, Kansas, and was reared in Nemaha county. She is a well educated lady, and taught school for two years in this county. Her parents, O. G. and Mary R. (Miller) Barnett, are natives of Illinois, and were early settlers in Kansas. They reside on a farm south of Oneida, Kans.
Mr. Jonach is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mrs. Jonach belongs to Eastern Star Lodge No. 357 of Seneca, Kans.
Bernard Bergmann .- Bernard Bergmann, retired farmer, St. Bene- dict, Kans., was born in Oldenburg, Germany, March II, 1853, and is a son of Franz A. and Mary A. (Haskamp) Bergmann, who were the par- ents of nine children, three of whom are living in America. Franz Berg- mann was born in 1816, and became a sailor and fisherman. For three vears he served in the German army, and in 1880 he immigrated to Amer- ica, first settling in Iowa, where he farmed with his children, who had preceded him to this country, namely: Bernard, Joseph, and Clements. The elder Bergmann remained in Iowa until 1897. and then came to Seneca, Kans., where he died January 31, 1901. His wife was born in Germany in 1821 and died near St. Benedict's parish at the home of her son, Frank, on January 28, 1904.
Bernard Bergmann, subject of this review, attended the schools of his native land, learned the trade of cigar maker and worked in a cigar factory in Germany until 1872. He then immigrated to America and farmed for ten years in Iowa, coming to Nemaha county, Kansas, in 1882. He bought 80 acres of land in Clear Creek township upon which a small shanty had been built. He at once set about putting up good improve- ments, and erected a comfortable two story house, and a barn 44x54 feet in dimensions. Mr. Bergmann became a breeder of Standard Percheron horses and mammoth Jacks, which he exhibited with considerable success . at the county fairs. He made a success of his farming operations and his live stock breeding and as the years passed he added to his possessions until he became the owner of 240 acres of well improved land, in addi- tion to giving his son a fine farm of 160 acres, comprising the home place. Mr. Bergmann retired in 1906, and moved to St. Benedict's, where he erected a fine two story modern home, which is easily the finest resi- dence in the village.
Mr. Bergmann was married to Caroline Lange, in Iowa, in 1878, and to this marriage have been born six children. as follows: Mrs. Mary Huesling, wife of J. Huesling, born December 18, 1879, died
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May 15, 1904, born at New Vienna, Iowa, and died at St. Benedict's; Kathrine, wife of George Heiman, Marion township, born No- vember 28, 1880, and died in St. Joseph's Hospital, March IO, IIO; Frank, farming the home place of the Bergmanns, married Dena Hul- sing; Lena, wife of Frank Melcher a farmer and large land owner, of Richmond township (see sketch) ; Joehanna, wife of Henry Engelken, Richmond township; Lawrence, married Ernestina Skoch, and lives on the Bergmann farm in Clear Creek township. The mother of this fine family was born in June, 1854, in Steinfelt, Oldenburg, Germany, a daughter of Herman Henry and Catherine (Olberding) Lange, and left her native land with her father in 1885 and settled in Iowa. She departed this life October 18, 1899, and is now buried in St. Benedict's cemetery. She was a good and faithful helpmate to Bernard Bergmann, and a kind and wise mother to her children.
The Bergmann family are all members of the Catholic church. Mr. Bermann is a Democrat who is, quite influential in the affairs of his party in Nemaha county. He served as clerk and road supervisor of Richmond township, and filled other. positions with credit to himself and the people. The career of this splendid American citizen of Ger- man birth is a striking and forceful example of what is frequently ac- complished in this land by members of this sturdy and industrious race. When he arrived in this country he was just a poor German emigrant boy who had paid for his passage across the seas by many days of hard labor in the fields. By means of tireless industry, economy, foresight, and good financial judgment he has risen to become one of the wealthy and respected citizens of Nemaha county, who takes a just and rightful pride in the fact that he is self made and owes no man for his prestige and present comfortable state of affluence.
Bernard Henry Rottinghaus .- The success which has attended the efforts of the average German born farmer or those of German descent in Nemaha county is, in many instances, amazing when one compares their accomplishments with those of the mass of farmers who form the population of this county. Sometimes it seems unaccountable, but the evidence of an individual success such as has been won by Bernard Henry Rottinghaus is here in Illinois township in the concrete and con- sists of over 400 acres of well tilled farm land, a handsome modern farm home of ten rooms, fat, sleek cattle of the best breeds, hogs, and fine horses, all accumulated during the thirty years since Mr. Rottinghaus came to America from Germany, a poor immigrant lad. He is also a stockholder and director of the Kelly State Bank.
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