USA > Kansas > Nemaha County > History of Nemaha County, Kansas > Part 54
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Henry Rottinghans attended school in his native land but in 1875, he left Germany to come to America, where he thought greater oppor- tunities would be found. He first located in Dubuque county, Iowa, where he worked out as a farm hand for $14 a month wages. In 1876 he came to Kansas and worked as a farm hand near Seneca until 1881, when he bought eighty acres of land in section 12, Richmond township. He broke the ground, planted trees and built a house, 14x20 feet and one story in height. He remained on this place until 1902, when he moved to the farm on which he now lives. He made many improvements, built barns and sheds, and has increased his holdings until he now owns 520 acres of land, all in Nemaha county, Kansas. But his main interest or hobby is the. breeding of fine imported Percheron horses. He makes exhibits of them at fairs and always gets a high compliment on their ex- cellence and frequently takes off the first prize for them. He is also a breeder of the Black Mammoth "Jacks." Mr. Rottinghaus makes a good sum yearly from his horses and takes great pleasure in his fancy animals.
February 15. 1882, he was married to Barbara Weber, who was born January 12, 1862, in Elk county, Pennsylvania, and is a daughter of Michael and Kathrine (Fischer) Weber, natives of Germany. Her parents left the Fatherland in 1861, and settled in Pennsylvania. Later on, March 4, 1870, they came to Nemaha county, Kansas. Ten children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Rottinghaus: Mrs. Mary Busman, living south of Seneca: John, Iowa; Jacob, Corning, a farmer ; Joseph, George, Frank, Albert, and Paul, living at home. Clements and Helena are dead.
Mr. Rottinghaus and his family are members of the Roman Cath- olic church. He has reached a conspicuous place among the farmers of Richmond township by his hard work and thrift. He is a judicious manager, and has proved what hard work and economy can do for any- one, who is willing to deserve success.
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Gottfred Heiniger, one of the well known and popular farmers and stockman of Richmond township, was born in Berne, Switzerland, August 12, 1869. He is a son of John and Mary (Hess) Heiniger. Tlie father was born in Switzerland in 1826, and came to America in 1895, and settled in Illinois. In 1899, he migrated to Kansas, locating in Ne- maha county, where he died the following year. The mother of Gott- fred Heiniger was born in Switzerland in 1847, and was the second wife of John Heiniger. Three children were born to this union, their names being: Gottfred, whose life story is herein written; Mrs. Emma Hencher, living in Ohio; Gottlieb, Nebraska.
Gottfred was educated in the public schools of Switzerland. He immigrated to America in 1893 and settled at Bern, Nemala county, Kansas, and worked out as a farm hand for about ten years. The fol- lowing six years he spent as a tenant on the farm in Richmond town- ship which he now owns. When he went to it as a renter, the place was only slightly improved and was not so well equipped, as it is today. Mr. Heiniger now owns 320 acres of land in Nemaha county, all of which he has bought by the fruits of his own labors and upon which he can look as a result of his industry and careful management.
In 1897, he was married to Anna Meyer, who was born in Ohio, in 1871, and came to Kansas when a very small child with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Conrad Myer, who were born in Germany. To Mr. and Mrs. Heiniger were born five children, as follows: Louise, born 1899; William and Walter, twins, born 1902; Martha, born 1903; Edward, born 1906.
Mr. Heiniger is a German Mennonite, and his wife is of the same faith. Neither is affiliated with fraternal organizations, and in politics, they are independent voters, always supporting the side which seems to be right, without regard for party names. Mr. Heiniger is a member of the school board of Gilman township, and is very much interested in giving better educational advantages to the children of the present generation. He is a conscientious and upright citizen who is respected and admired by his neighbors and by all who know him. He is one of those strong types who form the backbone of our country's citizenry, and without whom America would be weak and vacillating.
Henry L. Wikoff .- The review of the life career of Henry L. Wik- off, well known citizen and banker of Oneida, Kans., portrays the ac- complishments and achievements of an individual with a definite goal in view. His boyhood ambition aroused and his plans laid for an even- tual settlement in Kansas, he chose Oneida as the place to establish a banking concern which has grown to become one of the thriving and important concerns of the county. The two score and seven years which have been spent by Mr. Wikoff in Kansas have been productive of not only material good to himself but have been devoted unselfishly to the betterment and advancement of his home city and county.
Henry L. Wikoff was born in Ontario, Ill., October 31, 1859, and
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is a son of Ezekiel and Emily (Wetmore) Wikoff, who were the par- ents of five children. Ezekiel Wikoff was born at Freehold, N. J., in 1832, and was a son of Henry Wikoff, a native of Holland, who emi- grated to New Jersey when a young man, and followed farming until his death at the age of eighty years. Ezekiel Wikoff was one of the early pioneers of Knox county, Illinois, and previous to migrating to the West, he had followed the trade of wheelwright. He included agri- culture in his vocations upon coming to Illinois, and developed a fine farm in Knox county, upon which he resided until his demise in 1865. He was the father of five children, as follows: Mrs. Cornelia Wet- more, deceased; Herbert, Manhattan, Kans .; May, dead; Henry L., the subject of this review; Frank E., banker at Oneida, Kans., born in Illi- nois in 1861. The mother of the foregoing children was born at Utica, New York, in 1827, and died at the home of her son, Henry, in 1905. She was a daughter of Col. E. F. Wetmore, of Utica, N. Y., who com- manded a New York regiment of volunteers during the Civil war.
Henry L. Wikoff received his primary education in the district schools of his native county, and studied for one year in Westfield Col- lege, Illinois. When fifteen years of age he worked as farm hand for a wage of twenty-five cents per day with "found." He later farmed the old home place in partnership with his brother, Herbert. As early as 1872. he made a trip to Kansas on a hunting expedition, and liked the coun- try so well, especially in Nemaha county, that he made up his mind to eventually locate in this county. Accordingly, in 1889, he left his na- tive county, and in partnership with his brother, Frank, opened a pri- vate bank in Oneida. This banking business was conducted in the name of Wikoff Brothers, with considerable success, until 1896, when the organization of the Oneida State Bank was effected. Mr. Wikoff is serving as vice president of this thriving financial institution.
The property interests held by Mr. Wikoff are considerable, and indicate that he possesses financial ability of a high order. He and his brother, Frank E., have become owners of 1,350 acres of good land in Nemaha county, and he owns property in Oneida. He erected a hand- some frame residence of nine rooms in 1889. He has served as mayor of Oneida and, during his term as mayor, cement sidewalks and other improvements were completed. During 1908, he filled the office of treasurer of Gilman township. He was again elected mayor of the town in 1912, and re-elected in 1914. During 1912, electric lights were installed on the streets and in the buildings of the town. Mr. Wikoff has always been a public spirited citizen, and has filled practically every office within the gift of the people of Oneida, during his twenty- seven years of residence in Kansas.
Mr. Wikoff was married in 1885 to Miss Mary Skiff, who was born at Champaign, Ill., in September, 1861. Mr. and Mrs. Wikoff have one child : Howard H., born December 6, 1888, in Illinois, and was reared in Nemaha county, Kansas. He graduated from the Oneida High School
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in 1905, and then entered the Lexington, Mo., Military Academy, from which he graduated in 1907, with a commission of second lieutenant. He then studied in Chicago University until 1909, and then matricu- lated at Kansas University, in which institution he took up the study of law in 1912, studying two years. He was admitted to practice in Illinois, and is now connected with the legal department of the Fidel- ity Trust Company of New York City, at their Chicago headquarters.
Mr. Wikoff is a Progressive in politics. He is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Modern Woodmen of America. When a boy of thir- teen years, Mr. Wikoff made his first trip to Kansas for the ostensible purpose of hunting wild game, such as prairie chickens. He was much impressed with the possibilities of the country in the vicinity of Seneca, although, at that time, there were but few houses in the county seat and not many permanent settlers in Nemaha county. Opportunity beckoned to him, however, and the passing years have proved that his judgment as to location and the future of this county were essentially correct. He has seen considerable advance and growth in northern Kansas since his first visit, and has taken an active and influential part in the development of one of the best counties of a great State.
Louis Hecht .- Louis Hecht inherits from his father, William Hecht, a disposition for hard work and perseverance which has been instru- mental in making him one of the most successful and prominent farmers in Nemaha county. William Hecht was born in Germany in 1823, and after passing his youth and young manhood in his native land, he came to America in search of better opportunity. At the age of thirty, he landed on the shores of this free land and began a struggle which tested his endurance and ambition to the last degree. In Illinois he found work in a sawmill, and later was employed as a carpenter. In 1857 he came to Nemaha county, where he bought 160 acres of land on which he built a log cabin. The land which he purchased was not under cultivation, and he drove a yoke of oxen in plowing up his land for the first time. For years he worked incessantly early and late to make both ends meet. Gradually he· achieved success and was able to accumulate some of his returns. At the time of his death, April 14, 1896, he owned 410 acres of land, which was a remarkable record, considering the difficulties which he was forced to undergo. He was $100 in debt when he reached America and labored under the additional handicap of being in a strange country and compelled to use a strange language. William Hecht was conspicu- ously successful as a farmer. But best of all, he never relied on anyone to help him out. From the start, he worked independently and saved his money and he was never under obligations to any man. Such a spirit of independence and self-reliance never fails to make success for its posses- sor, and certainly did not in this instance.
Sophia (Blidsoe) Hecht, the mother of Louis, was born in 1834, and, like her husband, was of German birth. Both of her parents were of Ger-
LOUIS HECHT AND FAMILY.
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man birth and were married in their native land but came to Nemaha county, Kansas, in the early days. They were buried in the Lutheran cemetery in Nemaha township. Mrs. Hecht died in 1872. To Mr. and Mrs. Hecht were born eleven children, only three of whom are living. Those surviving are: Mrs. Minnie Stiner, Pawnee county, Nebraska ; Louis, subject of this review, third oldest son; Mrs. Eliza Boehmer, of Richardson county, Nebraska.
Louis Hecht was born in Nemaha county, Kansas, June 3, 1861, and grew up on his father's farm on which he put in many long hours of labor when he would have preferred to be splashing in the creek, or lying in the shade. He attended No. 8 district school during the short terms it was in session. At the age of twenty-two years, he rented land for a year from his father and farmed it with considerable success, and the fol- lowing year, he became heir to 160 acres of fine land in the southwest quarter of section II. By hard work he has increased his holdings to 390 acres, all of which is productive. His land was unimproved, and Mr. Hecht had to build a frame house in which to live. Originally his house was 16x24 feet in size, but later he made an addition increasing the size of it. In 1891 he built a spacious barn, 30x40 feet in size and sixteen feet high. This is one of the best barns in the township, and Mr. Hecht is justly proud of it. He has made other extensive improvements on his farm which cannot be mentioned in the space at hand, but it can be said that he is always on the alert to make additions to his farm which will increase its usefulness and value. Thirty acres of his present holdings are in tim- ber of excellent quality.
On February 28, 1884, he was married to Mary Boehmer, a daughter of Henry and Caroline (Hotham) Boehmer, natives of Oldenburg and Hessen, Germany. When young people, they left their native land and came to America, settling in Wisconsin where the father worked in the pine forests. He was married in Illinois and came to Nebraska in 1860, where he remained until his death, October 12, 1910, at the age of eighty- six years. The mother is still living on the old home place in Pawnee county, Nebraska, with her youngest son. Mr. and Mrs. Boehmer were the parents of eight living children: Henry, Richardson county, Ne- braska; Fred, Pawnee, county, Nebraska; Mrs. Mary Hecht; Mrs. Car- oline Koester, Du Bois, Neb .; Mrs. Sophia Siske, Pawnee county, Ne- braska : William, Pawnee county, Nebraska ; Mrs. Rosa Siske, Pawnee county, Nebraska ; Herman, at home.
Mr. and Mrs. Hecht are the parents of seven children, as follows: Edwin, deceased ; Carl, born January 9, 1889 ; Elmer, born September II, 1891 ; Jesse, born December 26, 1894; Lottie, born June 13, 1898; Rosa, born November 5, 1900; Leslie, born April 28, 1906. Carl is farming in Iowa. Elmer is a farmer in Nemaha township, and Lottie is his house- keeper.
Mr. Hecht is a Republican, who has been elected to the school board, on which he has served with complete satisfaction to his constituents,
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and also served as road overseer for two terms. He professes the Evan- gelical faith, and has maintained a high reputation among his neighbors for uprightness and probity. Throughout the community there is the deepest respect for his achievements and for the success he has won de- spite overwhelming difficulties.
John F. Tryon is one of the prominent farmers of Clear Creek town- ship and he has, by pure industry and good management made a com- fortable living out of his farm and the Duroc Jersey hogs of which he is justly proud. Mr. Tryon was born March 15, 1870, in Clear Creek township, Nemaha county, and was a son of Aaron and Elizabeth Ann (Gilman) Tryon. Aaron Tryon was born September 7, 1822, in Ohio, and farmed in his native State until 1856. He then came to Kansas and settled in Clear Creek township, where he homesteaded forty acres of fine farming land. He broke up the soil and put most of it in cultiva- tion. An abundance of rock was to be had in his locality and Mr. Tryon built a two-room house of native stone, which still stands and is as strong as it was the day it was built. On December 5, 1899, Aaron Tryon passed away, after having lived a long and useful life. The mother of John F. Tryon was born April 16, 1827, in Ohio, and died March 22, 1901. Both were of Irish descent and were members of the United Brethren church. Aaron Tryon's life was an interesting one and he could talk for hours about the days of the prairie schooners and of the incidents which happened while he was driving his covered wagon from Ohio to Kansas. He later held public office in Clear Creek town- ship and always executed his trust with sincerity and to the interest of his community. To this union twelve children were born, seven of whom are now living.
John F. Tryon attended school in district No. 56. He worked on his father's farm when he was not in school and helped a great deal in making the farm bring a living income. At the age of twenty-one, he took charge of the management of his father's farm and gave him a much needed rest. John's parents lived with him on the farm and never had cause to worry about food and shelter in their declining years. At their death, John inherited the forty-acre farm and now owns 165 acres jointly with his brother, Joseph. Mr. Tryon takes a great interest in his hogs and for years he has been a breeder of Duroc Jersey hogs of a very high grade. These are the pride of the farm and no visitor comes but he must go out to see the hogs the very first thing.
He was married to Laura Lockard, February 23, 1905. She was born September 1, 1883, in Mahaska county, Iowa, and was the daugh- ter of James M. C. and Mary J. (Reed) Lockard, who were both born in Indiana. The father was born October 23, 1835, and lived on the farm until the outbreak of the Civil war, when he enlisted in the Union army on August 31, 1861, at Oskaloosa, Iowa, in Company C, Fortieth Iowa infantry. Taking an active part in the fighting, he saw service in various States of the South, including Arkansas and Tennessee. He was wounded
HISTORY OF NEMAHA COUNTY
in the battle at Little Rock, Ark., and was in the army hospital six months. The injury was in his right arm and was very serious for a time. He also had six brothers in the army. The mother of Mrs. Tryon came to Kansas in 1900, but has since returned to Iowa, where she is now living at the age of seventy-three years.
To Mr. and Mrs. Tryon have been born four children, two of whom died in infancy. The other two, Goldy and Lucy, live with their parents. Mr. Tryon is a Republican and was at one time a member of the township board. He is a regular attendant at religious services and is known among his neighbors for his good character and steady habits of life. He is one of the public-spirited citizens of his community and is always ready to do what seems to him to be for the best interests of the community.
Emery Conwell .- The review of the life of Emery Conwell, hard- ware merchant of Oneida, Kans., is an epitome of success and is a rec- ord of considerable accomplishment by a man who is yet young in years, while having risen to a high place in the business world and made good not only as an agriculturist, but as a merchant.
Emery Conwell was born in Grant county, Indiana, January 26. 1870, and is a son of A. L. Conwell and Kathrine (Higgins) Conwell, who were the parents of ten children, seven of whom are living. A. L. Conwell was born in Indiana in 1836, reared to young manhood on his father's farm, and at the outbreak of the Rebellion, he enlisted as a mem- ber of the Thirteenth Indiana cavalry. He saw much active service in the Southland, and at the close of the war he resumed his peaceful pur- suit of farming. In 1870 A. L. Conwell migrated to Richardson county, Nebraska, where he made his home until 1879, at which time he came to Nemaha county, Kansas, and bought 160 acres of land in section two, Gilman township. This place had but few improvements when Mr. Conwell became the owner of it and he developed a fine farm which served as his home until his retirement to a home in Oneida in 1896, directly after his farm home and buildings were destroyed by the great cyclone of May 17, 1896. He owns 560 acres of good land in this county and was an extensive feeder of live stock. The mother of Emery Con- well was born in Ohio in 1841, married in Indiana, and has been her husband's faithful helpmate.
Emery Conwell was reared on his father's farm and attended the district school and the public school of Oneida, Kans., eventually grad- uating from the Oneida High School. At the age of twenty-one years he rented land and began farming on his own account. Five years later he bought 160 acres of land in Gilman township, which he improved to such an extent that it is one of the finest farms in the township or county. He erected a six-room dwelling, barn and other outbuildings and made it a point to keep good graded live stock on his place. For a number of years Mr. Conwell was a successful breeder of Duroc Jersey swine. In 1910 he traded his Nemaha county farm for a tract of 260
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acres in Sedgwick county, Kansas, and has at the present time 420 acres of Kansas land, besides property in Oneida. In 1911 he traded land for a stock of hardware at Oneida and has since conducted a very successful business enterprise which requires that he carry $15,000 worth of hard- ware and furniture in stock. This stock is well housed and displayed in a building forty by eighty feet in extent.
Mr. Conwell was married November 18, 1896 to Miss Belle Brokaw, born in Illinois in 1875, a daughter of John and Letitia (Van Nuys) Brokaw, who migrated to Kansas in 1880 and made a settlement in Gilman township, this county. Both parents of Mrs. Conwell were natives of New England and are descended from old American stock. Mr. Brokaw is now living in retirement in Gilman township with his two daughters, Mrs. Mary Johnson and Mrs. Belle Conwell. Mrs. Brokaw is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Conwell are the parents of five children, as follows: Goldia, Lois, Lenis, Bernice and Wilma, all of whom are at home with their parents.
Politically, Mr. Conwell is allied with the Republican party. He is fraternally allied with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His religious affiliations are with the Christian church, of which organiza- tion he is an elder. Mr. Conwell is a deliberate, careful, conscientious business man who carefully weighs each undertaking or proposition until convinced of its merits and then proceeds to accomplish the task set to the best of his ability.
Jacob Fleisch .- "The Groves Were God's First Temples."-Evident- ly Jacob Fleisch and his wife of Nemaha township were born with a love of the beautiful embedded deeply within their souls-for, during their whole life, they have been lovers of the beauties of nature, and have en- deavored to express this deep love by means of assisting nature in beauti- fying the treeless prairie of Nemaha county by an extensive planting of forest trees and flowers. The grounds around the Fleisch country estate are perfect bowers of beauty and a riot of gorgeous color in flowering shrubs and plants, cared for by Mr. and Mrs. Fleisch. Nearly the half of his 320 acres of land is taken up with woods which he has planted with his own hands. Fifty acres or more are planted to walnut trees, ten acres are of hedge trees, and a veritable forest of great, maple trees extends almost as far as the eye can reach. When Mr. Fleisch moved to his prairie farm over forty-five years ago, he missed the woods and flowers of his native Buckeye State and proceeded to remedy its defects by a systematic planting of trees and flowers. As a result he has what is probably the most beautiful estate in all of northern Kansas, and has what is perhaps the most extensive private forest in the length and breadth of Kansas.
Jacob Fleisch was born in Preble county, Ohio, October 16, 1838, and is a son of Michael and Kathrine (Hawk) Fleisch, natives of Ger- many. Michael Fleisch emigrated from Germany to Pennsylvania, and migrated from there to make a settlement in Preble county, Ohio, where
JACOB FLEISCH.
MRS. JACOB FLEISCH.
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he died in 1891, at the age of seventy-nine years. He was twice married, his first wife being the mother of Jacob Fleisch, the subject, and died in 1874, at the age of seventy-five years. Michael Fleisch was the father of fourteen children, of whom three are living, as follows: John Vanier, of Humboldt, Neb .; Joseph, of Preble county, Ohio, and Jacob, with whom this review is concerned.
Jacob Fleisch was reared to young manhood on the parental farm in Preble county, Ohio, and migrated to Kansas in 1870. He purchased a tract of unbroken prairie land in Nemaha township, section 1, Nemaha county, which he has improved with good buildings, flowers and a verita- ble forest of maple, walnut and other deciduous trees. One hundred and sixty acres of his half section of land is planted to trees and the farm pre- sents a striking and unique appearance as contrasted with the neighbor- ing places. Mr. Fleisch keeps his acreage in a high state of cultivation, and has prospered during the many years he has been a resident of Kansas.
Mr. Fleisch was married June 22, 1876, in Preble county, Ohio, to Miss Mary Jane Gard, who was born in Preble county, Ohio, January 20, 1838, and is a daughter of Joseph and Sadie (Bishop) Gard. Her father was a native of Preble county, and her mother was born in North Caro- lina, dying in 1882 at the age of seventy-two years. Joseph Gard de- parted this life in 1886 at the age of seventy-five years. He followed farming as a vocation. Previous to her marriage, Mrs. Fleisch was a very successful teacher. No children have been born to this worthy couple, who have always been hard and diligent workers. They are a jolly, happy and hospitable wedded pair who enjoy life and take a keen interest in local and State affairs, and believe in keeping up with the times in every possible way by extensive reading and study. Mr. Fleisch has the welfare of his county at heart, and he and Mrs. Fleisch are of the true pioneer type who have progressed with their county and State. Mr. Fleisch is a strong exponent of good roads and is a builder of good roads, being not only an advocate but a practical demonstrator of the value of a system of highways. While he is not a member of any church denomi- nation, he and Mrs. Fleisch endeavor to live upright and Christian lives. Politically, Mr. Fleisch is an independent in his views and is inclined to favor the Socialistic idea. He is broad minded and liberal in all of his views, and is one of the best citizens of Nemaha county.
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