History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions, Part 1

Author: Edwards, Lewis C
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1742

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Gc 978. 201 R39e 1417466

M. L.

GENEALOGY COLLECTIQ

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01103 3641

HISTORY

Richardson County

NEBRASKA

ITS PEOPLE, INDUSTRIES AND INSTITUTIONS

By LEWIS C. EDWARDS

With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families

ILLUSTRATED

1917 B. F. BOWEN & COMPANY, Inc. Indianapolis, Indiana

1417466

DEDICATION.

To the memory of the pioneers of Richardson county who worked with earnest purpose and unflinching hearts through the trials and privations of this frontier and to those generous and progressive citizens of today whose loyal support has made its publication possible, this volume is respectfully dedicated.

LEWIS C. EDWARDS.

AUTHOR'S FOREWORD

Extensive efforts have been made for years by archaeologists and ethnologists in an effort to recover and preserve for our general informa- tion everything that it has been possible to discover of other races of peoples who have inhabited this earti. In this great work the scientific men of all countries have been engaged, expending much money, time and energy in tracing the history of races with whom we sustain no kinship or direct rela- tionship.

We think it equally laudable of us in a more local way to want to know and try to preserve what little is possible of the story of those who have gone directly before us, not only for our own pleasure and benefit but for those who will follow.

It was for this reason that the work of preparing the present volume was undertaken and it was not begun a day out of season, for but few of the pioneers are still among us and in a short time they too may have moved onward.

There are yet among us those who saw Richardson county as an unpeopled wilderness and who were so charmed with its natural beauty as a land to live in that they would go no further in search of homes.

They have remained through all the years and have contributed much toward the steady march of progress which has so changed the land that but little remains to remind them of the country they once knew as a part of the Great Plains.

The story of the settlement, growth and development of Richardson county is set forth in the succeeding pages. Every effort was made to ascertain the facts in so far as it has been able to cover the ground.

It is desired herewith to make due and fulsome acknowledgment of the great kindness and uniform courtesy extended us from all sides in the preparation of the material used herein.

In this connection we feel under especial obligation to Mr. Chas. Lorec for his unfailing courtesy and kindness. His early, wide and intimate acquaintance and perfect memory of men and events connected with Rich- ardson County History is truly marvelous and have been invaluable to us.

Grateful acknowledgment also is due many persons who have con-

tributed materially to the progress of the work. AAmong these are: Joseph H. Miles, Governor John H. Morehead, Arthur J. Weaver, David D. Reavis. Mrs. Thomas J. Gist, H. C. Davis. A. R. Keim, Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Keeling. Drs. C. T. Burchard and J. A. Waggener, Supt. D. H. Weber, J. O. Shroyer, Mrs. J. R. Wilhite, Ennice Haskins, Dr. E. R. Matthers, and many others who have given us kindly words of encouragement.

LEWIS C. EDWARDS.

PUBLISHERS' PREFACE

All life and achievement is evolution ; present wisdom comes from past experience, and present commercial prosperity has come only from past exer- tion and sacrifice. The deeds and motives of the men who have gone before have been instrumental in shaping the destinies of later communities and states. The development of a new country was at once a task and a privi- legs. It required great courage, sacrifice and privation. Compare the pres- ent conditions of the people of Richardson county, Nebraska, with what they were sixty years ago. From a trackless wilderness and virgin land, the county has come to be a center of prosperity and civilization, with millions of wealth, systems of railways, educational and religious institutions, varied industries and immense agricultural and dairy interests. Can any thinking person be insensible to the fascination of the study which discloses the aspirations and efforts of the early pioneers who so strongly laid the foundation upon which has been reared the magnificent prosperity of later days? To perpetuate the story of these people and to trace and record the social, religions, educational, political and industrial progress of the community from its first inception, is the function of the local historian. A sincere purpose to preserve facts and personal memoirs that are deserving of perpetuation, and which unite the present to the past, is the motive for the present publication. The publishers desire to extend their thanks to those who have so faithfully labored to this end. Thanks are also due to the citizens of Richardson county, for the uni- form kindness with which they have regarded this undertaking, and for their many services rendered in the gaining of necessary information.

In placing the "History of Richardson County, Nebraska," before the citizens, the publishers can conscientiously claim that they have carried out the plan as outlined in the prospectus. Every biographical sketch in the work lias been submitted to the party interested, for correction, and therefore any error of fact, if there be any, is solely due to the person for whom the sketch was prepared. Confident that our effort to please will fully meet the appro- bation of the public, we are. ;

Respectfully,

THE PUBLISHERS.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I-TOPOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY, ETC., OF RICHARDSON COUNTY Rolling Prairies of This Section of Nebraska Were an Alluring Feature That Did Not Escape the Eye of the Settler in Quest of a Home in the New Country-Streams of Fine Water, the Banks of Which Were Well Tim- bered-Native Timber Restored by the Mastery of the Old 'Prairie Fires and the Former Aspect of the Country Has Been Changed Thereby- Quality of the Soil-Inexhaustive Quarries of Excellent Building Stone -- Tributaries of the Great Nemaha River-Description of the Area of the County-Climatic Conditions and a Scientific Analysis of the Physiographic Position of the County.

CHAPTER HI-INDIAN HISTORY AND PREHISTORIC TIMES 63

Pawnees Appear to Have Had the Best Claim as the Aboriginal Inhabitants of the Country Now Comprised in Richardson County-Story of Their Occu- pancy and of That of the Sacs and Foxes-Review of the Various Treaties Under Which the Red Man Gradually Gave Up His Lands-Evidences of Prehistoric Occupancy Based Upon the Finding of Skeletons and Relics at Several Points in County-Coming of the Missionaries to the Indians and Something of the Habits of Living and of the Religion of the Red Man.

CHAPTER III-SPANISH EXPLORATIONS

First White Men to Set Foot on the Land Now Comprised Within the Confines of This County Were the Adventurous Cavaliers of Coronado's Band Which Came Up From the Aztec Country Seeking What They Might Find in the North Country and Who Left a Record of Having Reached The Fortieth Parallel of Latitude, Together With a Report of the Condi- tions of Life of the Indians at That Time Occupying This Country-Later Visit of the French Explorers, the Coming of the Lewis and Clark Expedition the Acquirement of the Louisiana Territory and the Gradual Development of Settlements Leading Up to the Eventual Creation of Nebraska Territory and the Passing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

CHAPTER IV-EARLY SETTLEMENT AND EARLY SURVEYS

Fitting Tribute to the American Pioneer, Who Is Described as a Distinct Type Well Qualified to Enter Upon the Veritable Garden of Eden Which .\waited His Advent Out Here Beyond the Missouri-Review of Conditions Which Led to the Immigration Stream in This Direction and Bit of Refer- enee to the Character and Stock of That Hardy Band Which Sought a Wider Horizon Here On the Limitless Prairies-Influence of the Missouri River in Directing Settlement Ilitherward-Four Epochs in Settlement Period-

CONTENTS.

Roster of Pioneers Who Settled Here Prior to 1860, Together With a Brief Review of Conditions They Faced and the Hardships They Were Compelled to Undergo While Making Habitable a Place for Those Who Should Come After-Land Speculation, Claim Jumpers, Jayhawkers, the "Underground Railroad" and Something Regarding the Various Separate "Colonies" Which Settled Here, Closing With a Review of the Early Surveys of County, and a Story of the Iron Monument.

CHAPTER V-ORGANIZATION OF RICHARDSON COUNTY. 133

Name of County Was Given in Compliment to First Territorial Governor- Temporary Organization in 1854 Was Definitely Established by the Terri- torial Legislature in 1855, and the First Election Was Held in This Latter Year-First County Officers Chosen-Original Boundaries of County-The llalf Breed Tract-First Census and Polling Places-Organization of Pre- cinets-Legislative Acts With Reference to the County and the Gradual Development of a Stable Form of Local Government.

CHAPTER VI-LOCATION OF COUNTY SEAT 154

Historian Has Been at Pains to Examine the Official Records With a View to Determining the Influences Underlying the Long Struggle Which Per- sisted in the Early Days of the County in the Matter of the Location of the County Seat and Which Finally Resulted in the Rejection of the Respective Claims of Archer and of Salem and the Establishment of the Seat of Local Government at Falls City-Vote by Precinets Attesting the Final Choice of the People-County Buildings and a Word Regarding Early Political Conditions in the County.

CHAPTER VII-ROSTER OF COUNTY . OFFICERS.

171

In the List Given in This Chapter of Those Who Have Served the People of Richardson County in an Official Capacity, It Is Gratifying to Note That Some of the Very Ablest Men in the County Have Thus Rendered Efficient Service and That the County Government Has From the Very Beginning Been Singularly Free From Scandal-Names of Officers, Including County Clerks, Probate Judges, County Judges, Registers of Deeds, Clerks of Dis- trict Court. County Treasurers, Sheriffs, County Commissioners, Superin- tendents of Public Instruction, Surveyors, Coroners, Supervisors, County Attorneys and the New Commissioners Appointed Under the Recently Adopted Commission Form of County Government.

CHAPTER VIII-ORGANIZATION OF TOWNSHIPS AND PRECINCTS. 190

Here Will Be Found the Stories Regarding the Formation of the Several Townships or Precinets Which Form Units of Civic Government in the General Government of the County, Beginning With Barada, Which Was Named for Old Antoine Barada, One of the Most Interesting and Picturesque Figures of the Plains Country in the Early Days, Together With an Interest- ing Collection of Narratives of Incidents Relating to the Early Life of the County and Personal and Illuminating Reference to Many of Those Hardy Figures Which Made Possible the Settlement of This Favored Region- Population Statistics and Something in Relation to Townsites That Early Were located for Public Allotment and Sale.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IX-INCORPORATION OF TOWNS AND PRECINCTS 215

In This Chapter There Is Set Out in Interesting Form a Mass of Official Information Taken From the Records of the County and Bearing on the Original Orders of Incorporation of the Towns and Precincts of the County, Together With Further References to the Men Who Were the Foremost Figures in Such Transactions, With Stories Relating to Many of Them, and a Brief History of the Various Towns and Villages Which Have From the Beginning Constituted Valuable Social and Commercial Centers for the Peo- ple of the Several Communities in the County.

CHAPTER X-SERIES OF FIRST EVENTS 245

Nothing in the History of Any Community Carries More of Interest Than a Narration of the First Incidents Bearing on the Settlement of Such a Com- munity, and This Chapter Relating to the "Firsts" of Richardson County Ought to Be Regarded as One of the Most Interesting in the Book, for Here Will Be Found Set Out in Orderly Array the Story of the Beginnings ot Things in This Region Based Upon the Activities of Those Who Were Among the First of Those Who Dared and Did in the Days of the Beginning of the Establishment of a Definite Social Order on This Side of the Missouri.

CHAPTER XI-AGRICULTURE AND STOCKRAISING 253

From the Days of the Unbroken Growths of Luxuriant Prairie Grass Which Covered the Rich Plains Throughout This Region to the Present Period of Highly Developed and Specialized Agriculture Is Not a Far Cry as Mcas- ured in Years, for There Are Those Still Living Here Who Helped to Turn the First Furrows in These Prairies, But in the Measure of Results Accom- plished an Astonishing Distance Has Been Covered, and This Chapter Is Designed to Present the Story of the Wonderful Development That Has Marked Agricultural Processes During the Comparatively Short Period in Which the White Man Has Been in Possession of the Country.

CHAPTER XII-EARLY TRANSPORTATION, NAVIGATION AND RAIL- ROADS

292

Herein Will Be Found the Story of the Development of the Means of Travel and Transportation From the Days of the River Steamboat and the "Prairie Schooner" to the Present Day of the Transcontinental Steel "Flyers" and the High-Powered Automobiles, Which Latter, in Particular, Are Serving to Bind Communities More Closely Together and to Bring the Farm Into Close Communication With the Markets and Social Centers-Interesting Story of the Old Days of the River Boats and the Great Trains of the Freighters Along the Overland Trails of a Day Gone By-First Effort in Behalf of a Railroad-When the Railroad Reached Falls City-Excursion to Atchison-Coming of the AAutomobile and a Comparison With Conditions That Existed in the Days of the Old Overland Stage.

CHAPTER XHI-SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION 326

In This Chapter County Superintendent Weber Presents an Interesting Review of the School Activities of Richardson County From the Time of the County's Early Settlement and the Humble "Subscription" Schools to the

CONTENTS.

Present Day of the Highly Specialized School System Comprising the Well- Organized Schools of the Cities and Villages and the Equally Well-Organ- ized Consolidated Schools of the Rural Districts, All Being Operated Under a Definite Plan, With a View to Securing the Best .Attainable Results in the Way of Educating the Youth of the County.

CHAPTER XIV-CHURCHES OF RICHARDSON COUNTY 373

Church History of a Locality Is Inseparable From Its Growth and Devel- opment, the Influence of the Church Being Felt in Every Force That Goes to Make Up a Prosperous and Moral Community, and in No Phase of the Development of Richardson County Has There Been a Stronger Influence for Good Than the Church Organizations of the County; a Story of Which, Together With Many Interesting Incidents Relating to the Religious Ob- servances of the Pioneers Has Been Compiled Under the Direction of David D. Reavis and Is Here Set Out for the Information and Inspiration of the Present Gencration and the Guidance of the Future.

CHAPTER XV-NEWSPAPERS OF RICHARDSON COUNTY 404

In This Chapter the Historian Has Presented a Comprehensive and Enter- taining Review of the Operations of "the Fourth Estate" in Richardson County and Has Incidentally Preserved for the Edification of the Present and the Information of Future Generations of Readers Numerous Stories of the Doings of the Newspaper Editors Who Proved Such Powerful and Influential Factors in the General Life of the Community in the Old Days, and Whose Unselfish and Untiring Efforts in Behalf of the New Country Worked Such Wonders of Accomplishment in the Way of Assisting in the Development of the Various Interests of the County at a Time When the "Getting Out" of a Newspaper Was Very Much More a Pure Labor of Love Than It Is Today-Veteran Editor's Tribute to the Old-Timers in Local Newspaperdom.

CHAPTER XVI-PHYSICIANS OF RICHARDSON COUNTY

428

Close and Intimate Relation Borne by the Family Physician to the Real Life of the Community to Which He Ministers Makes Him One of the Most Vital Factors for Good in That Community, and in the Chapter to Which the Reader Here Refers the Importance of This Situation Is Clearly Brought Ont, the Medical History of the County of Richardson Being Interestingly and Entertainingly Reviewed by Doctor Burchard and Doctor Waggener, Whose Long and Intimate Acquaintance With the Conditions They Portray Gives to Their Narratives an Informative Importance That Will Be Valued and Appreciated More and More as the Years Pass.

CHAPTER XVII-THE BENCH AND THE BAR.

449

No History Is Complete Without Some Specific Reference to the Courts and Lawyers of the Section That History Seeks to Cover, for to the Bench and to the Bar Fall a No Unimportant and a No Indecisive Part in the Development of the Human Progress Upon Which History Is Based, and the Development of Social Conditions in Richardson County Has Been No Exception to This Rule, the Courts and the Lawyers Having Played Con- spicuous Parts in the Creation of the Splendid Conditions Amid Which the People of This County Today Find Themselves, All of Which Is Enter- tainingly Set Out in the Chapter Ilere U'nder Consideration.

472

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XVIII-BANKS AND BANKING.

During the Pioneer Period in Richardson County There Were No Banks and Very Little Banking Business Done Except Such as Was Conducted by the Early Merchants, But as Settlement Developed and Communities Expanded the Necessity for the Establishment of Recognized Mediums Through Which the Credit Facilities of the Community Might Systematically Operate Led to the Organization of Properly Accredited Banks, Until Now There Is No Appreciable Social Center in the County That Is Not Provided With One or More Stable Financial Institutions for the Proper Accommoda- tion of the Community Thus Served, and This Chapter Gives in a Nutshell the Story of the Creation of These Banking Institutions, Together With a Statement Relative to the Respective Present Status of Each.

CHAPTER XIX-MILITARY HISTORY 487

Though Nebraska Had Not Been Admitted to Statehood at the Time of the Breaking Out of the Civil War the Hardy Pioneers Who Had Even Then Found a Foothold On the Soil Here Did Well Their Part in That Struggle in Defense of the Union, as the Reader Will Find Is Made Clear in the Chapter Here Referred to, Wherein Is Set Out the Story of the Participation of Richardson County in That Struggle, as Well as the Story of Her Par- ticipation in the Subsequent Spanish-American War and in the Present Great World War, in Which Latter Supreme Struggle So Many of the Active and Determined Young Men of This County Are Taking Part at the Time These Words Are Being Written.

CHAPTER XX-FALLS CITY, THE COUNTY SEAT 501

In This Chapter There Is Set Out at Informative Length and in an Enter- taining Fashion the History of the County Seat of Richardson County From the Days of Its Inception to the Present Day of Its Important Develop- ment, With a View to Giving the Reader Some Notion of the Various Steps in This Process of Development and of Preserving for the Future a Record of the Same.

CHAPTER XXI-THE CITY OF HUMBOLDT 538

The Historian Has Here Set Out a Comprehensive Review of the Various Phases Through Which the Second City in Richardson County Has Passed in Attaining Its Present High State of Development, and Has Presented at the Same Time an Interesting Collection of Pioneer Reminiscences Relating to Humboldt and the Humboldt Neighborhood, With Biographical Sketches of Many of the Earliest Settlers Therein.

CHAPTER XXU-HISTORICAL SKETCH OF DAWSON 561 Beginning With a Story of the First Pre-Emptors Along the Rich Valley of the Nemaha, William Fenton Has Presented in This Chapter a Review of the Beginning and the Development of the Pleasant Village of Dawson and Hlas Set Out in That Connection Much Exceedingly Interesting Information Relating to the Early Days of That Neighborhood.

CHAPTER XXIII-DEFUNCT TOWNS OF RICHARDSON COUNTY 575

The "Old-Timer" Will Find Numerous References in This Chapter Relating to Towns and Townsites That Gave Promise in the Days of the Pioneers . That Will Revive Many Pleasant Recollections in llis Mind of the Days Gone By, for Here Are Set Out, as Tales That Were Told, the Stories of

CONTENTS.

the Departed Glories of Such One-Time Ambitious Sites as Those of Archer. Yankton, Winnebago, Stumps Station, Shasta, Elmore, Cottage Grove, Elk- ton, Breckenridge, Peora, Springfield. Geneva, Flowerdale, Dorrington, Nora- ville, Monterey, Meonond, Pleasant Valley, Old St. Stephens, and the Be- ginning and End of Arago, Which at One Time llad a Population Right Around Fifteen Hundred and Which Now Boasts of a Bare Half Dozen Families.

CHAPTER XXIV-SIDELIGHTS ON COUNTY HISTORY 603

This Ought to Prove One of the Most Interesting Chapters in the Book. for Here Are Given at First Hand Numerous Stories of the Old Days, Pre- serving the Recollections of the Pioneers With Respect to a Number of the Most Interesting and Important Events in the Early Days of the Settlement of the County; a Symposium That Will Prove of Incalculable Value to Those Who in After Years May Feel Called On to Compile a Later History of the County.

CHAPTER XXV-SOME PROMINENT PIONEERS 665 For the Information of the Present Generation There Are Presented Here a Number of Brief Biographical Sketches of Some of the Sturdy Pioneers Who Helped to Bring This Region to a Habitable State and Make Clear a Way for the Enjoyment of the Many Blessings of a Settled Social Order: Included in This Distinguished Roll Being Such Names as Those of John B. Didier, David Thomas Brinegar. Jonathan J. Marvin, Jesse Crook. David Kinney, Francis L. Goldsberry. David Dorrington, David R. Holt, Thomas C. Cunningham, James Henry Lane, Fulton Peters, Antoine Barada, James Robert Cain, Sr., David L. Thompson, Dillard Walker, Mrs. Mary S. Quick. James 1 .. Overman and Others.

CHAPTER XXVI-REMINISCENCES OF A WAYFARER 681 In This Exceedingly Interesting and Engaging Bit of Autobiography Writ- ten by the Hon. Isham Reavis in 1909 the Reader Will Find One of the Most Entertaining and Informative Collections of Reminiscences of the Old Days in Nebraska That Has Ever Been Written, Including References to the Days Back "in the Beginning of Things" When This Region Was as Completely Isolated From the World and Civilization as Was Alaska at the Opening of the Past Century.

CHAPTER XXVII-HISTORICAL SKETCHES 711

Here Are Collected a Series of Valuable Reminiscent Papers From the Hands of Such Pioneers as David Dorrington. E. H. Johnson, William Witherow. Jesse Crook, Thomas F. Brown, Isaac Crook, William G. Goolshy. J. C. Lincoln, Elisha Dorian and Antoine Barada Relating to Incidents of the Early Days.

CHAPTER XXVIII-MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS OF INTEREST 735

In This Concluding Chapter There Are Presented, Just as Its Title Indi- cates, Several Matters of Engrossing Local Interest That Fit In Well to the General Scheme of the Book, Covering Details of Pioneer History Not Elsewhere Touched On; Typical Tales of Pioneers Told First Hand and Thus Informative to a Degree Not Possible of Attainment by One Who Jlas Merely Heard Them Instead of Having Lived Them.

HISTORICAL INDEX

Adventurous Homeseekers

101.

Agricultural Development 282

Agriculture and Stockraising_

_253-291

Barada Precinct-

Alfalfa No Longer an Experiment_ 250 Altitude

Alumni of Falls City High School_ 341

Alumni of Humboldt High School_ 351

American Pioneer, a Distinct Type 99

Apple Orchards

265-276

Arago Precinct-

Early Settlers from Buffalo

198

Establishment of

148

Old Pork-packing Plant

198, 655

Population of

211

Seat of Early Metropolis

. 577

Settled in 1858

198

Arago, the Old Town of_293, 429. 577. 585 Archer Camp Meeting Grove 195

Archer, Old Town of-

Backset in 1856.

220

First County Seat

219

First Settler

199

Incorporation of

222

Made County Seat

149

Promoters of

220

Old Cemetery, the

225

Seat of Government Departs 199

Townsite Vacated

153

When Laid Out

168

Who Laid It Out

578

Arability of Land

Area of County 34.36

Area of the State of Nebraska 97

Auto Enlarges Social Life

289

Automobile, the

322

Average Size of Farms

Awakening of the Farmers

290

Banks and Banking

472-480

Barada, Antoine

252. 733

Boundaries of

190

First Settled by French

190

Old Home of Governor Morehead 192

Old Settlers of

192

Population of

211-

Story of Antoine Barada

190

The King Settlement

192

Bar of Richardson County

449

Base Line Established

129

Battle with Missouri Bandits

492

Beef Cattle

259

Beginning and End of Arago. 585

Bench and Bar. the.

449-471

Bitter County-Seat Feud.

169, 700

"Black Land" Farms

Blizzards

625, 716

"Bloody Flux" Proves Epidemic.

110

Bluffton

240

Bohemian Benevolent Association_ 118 Bohemian Settlement at Humboldt 116

Bonded Indebtedness

214

"Boomers" Face Ruin

109

Boundaries of County

36, 134, 143

Boundary Road, Marking of

145

Breckenridge

581

Brinegar, David Thomas

668

Broady. Judge Jefferson H.

456

Brown, John

113, 628

Brown, Thomas F.

721

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History of Richardson County, Nebraska : its people, industries and institutions, Part 1

Author: Edwards, Lewis C Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen Number of Pages: 1742

Author: Edwards, Lewis C
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1742