USA > Nebraska > A Biographical and genealogical history of southeastern Nebraska, Vol. I > Part 2
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CHARLES F. STEWART, M. D.
Dr. Charles F. Stewart, of Auburn, has practiced medicine in the territory and state of Nebraska longer than any other living physician, and from the pioneer days to the present has enjoyed a most honorable and useful career both as a professional man and as a civilian.
Dr. Stewart was born in Switzerland county, Indiana, August 28, 1832, so that he has already passed the age of threescore and ten, and is yet active and vigorous in the prosecution of his daily duties. He came to Nemaha county, in the then territory of Nebraska, in 1857, and this county has been the principal theatre of his activity in all the many subsequent years. He was acting assistant surgeon during the war of the rebellion. He was for a number of years superintendent of the Nebraska Hospital for the Insane at Lincoln He was a member of the state board of health for seven years. He has been a United States examining surgeon for the pension department for more than twenty years, and in addition to all these duties and responsibilities has been continually engaged in the practice of his profession in the territory and state, so that now, in point of years of service, he is the dean of the med- ical fraternity of Nebraska.
GEORGE L. LORE.
George L. Lore, who has been serving as county clerk of Pawnee county, Nebraska, since his election in 1901, is one of the popular county officials and a resident of Pawnee City. He is a native son of the county, and has lived within its boundaries all his life, so that he deserves men-
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tion as well for his own honorable career as also for the fact that he is a son of a pioneer homesteader and long-established citizen of the state.
His father, John P. Lore, after a long and useful life, has retired from active business affairs and is now enjoying the fruits of his labors, being a retired resident of Dubois, Pawnee county. He was born in Wayne county, Ohio, where he was reared and educated. He afterward moved to Missouri, where he married Sarah A. Liggett. After their mar- riage they left Missouri, and, with firm belief in the future of the then Territory of Nebraska as destined to become one of the great com- monwealths of the Mississippi valley, settled in South Fork township, Pawnee county, where he took up a homestead and developed a fine farm from the prairie. He has been a Republican most of his life, and served acceptably as county commissioner for three years, and also held various other offices. Four children were born to himself and wife: Charles F., of Emporia, Kansas; Mrs. Alice Potts, of Dubois, Nebraska; George L .; and Mrs. Nellie Bailey, of Carroll, Nebraska.
George L. Lore was born in South Fork township, Pawnee county, Nebraska, October 25, 1869. He was reared in the same locality, and enjoyed the advantages of a common school education, which was sup- plemented by a course at the Iowa Normal College. After he finished his scholastic career he was for ten years located at Dubois, this county, but after election to the office of county clerk in 1901 he moved to Pawnee City. He has always taken an active part in local politics, and during his incumbency of the present office has discharged his duties faithfully, conscientiously and ably, and has made friends among all classes of people.
In 1892 Mr. Lore was married to Miss Katherine Atkinson, a daughter of Albert G. and Mary Atkinson, who are now living retired in Dubois. Mr. and Mrs. Lore have two children, Eugene A. and Mil-
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dred T. Fraternally Mr. Lore is a popular member of the Knights of Pythias, belonging to the local lodge, No. 94, and has served as a dele- gate to the general lodge on several occasions. He is a member of the Methodist church. Upright in principles, pleasant in manner, able and well fitted for the duties of his office, Mr. Lore is justly regarded as a representative of the best interests of Pawnee county.
HENRY HARMON.
This venerable citizen, now living retired in Auburn, Nebraska, las entered the octogenarian ranks. Henry Harmon was born in East Ten- nessee, February 4, 1823, the son of Virginia parents. Nathan Harmon, his father, was a gunsmith by trade, at which he worked in Tennessee and Illinois, he having removed to the last named state in 1828 and set- tled in Hillsboro, Montgomery county. He married Rebecca Myers, about 1813, when both were young, the bride in her sixteenth year. Their children were: Elizabeth, who died in young womanhood; Polly, who also died in early life; George, who become the owner of large tracts of land in Missouri and Nebraska, was twice married and the father of four children, died in 1899; Lottie, deceased; Henry, whose name introduces this review ; Reuben, deceased; Davidson, a resident of Kansas City, has a wife and five children; and Mrs. Nancy Jane Beebe, who has her third husband and is the mother of five children. The father of this family died in the prime of life, and the mother married again, a Mr. Fraisher, in Missouri, by whom she had one son, Washington Fraisher, now a resident of California. She died in 1873, at the age of seventy-seven years.
Henry Harmon in his youth had only limited advantages for obtain-
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ing an education. He remained at home until he reached his majority, assisting his father in the shop, and then he took to himself a wife. With small means the young couple settled down to married life in Atchison county, Missouri, where they bought eighty acres of land, on which they farmed four years. From 1853 to 1855 they lived on another farm in that county. Then, selling out, they came to Nemaha county, Nebraska, pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land in Doug- las precinct, where they established their home in a lob cabin, sixteen by twenty feet in dimensions. Since then Mr. Harmon has owned two other farms and had as much as four hundred acres at one time. He has carried on general farming and stock-raising, selling some of his cattle to the Chicago market. He sold his last farm a year ago. His pleasant home, a two-story residence, on the corner of First and High streets, in Auburn, Mr. Harmon built in 1891.
Mr. Harmon was married March 1, 1849, to Miss Margaret Hand- ley, who was born in Missouri, November 1I, 1833, daughter of John and Elizabeth ( Hall) Handley, both natives of Kentucky. In the Hand- ley family were eight sons and four daughters, all of whom married and had children, and four of the number are now living. The father died at the age of eighty-eight years, in Atchison county, Missouri, and the mother followed him in death three days later, her age being seventy- six years. Mr. and Mrs. Harmon reared thirteen of their fourteen children, eight sons and six daugthers, namely: William, of Auburn, Nebraska, has a wife and three sons; John, also of Auburn, is married and has one daughter ; Mary Ann, who died at the age of nineteen years ; Rebecca, wife of Jacob Snyder, of Nance county, Nebraska, has five children ; George, of Auburn, is married and has one son and three daughters; Frank, of Oklahoma territory, has a wife, one son and two daughters; Sophrona, wife of Hugh Lockard, of Nance county, has a
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son and one daughter; Lavina, wife of William Mckinney, of Nemaha county ; Sarah, wife of William Ball, of Nemaha county, has one daugh- ter and one son; Charles is married and lives in Auburn; Andrew, of St. Paul, Minnesota, is married and has one son and two daughters; Nettie, wife of John McCarty, of Auburn; Harvey, of Columbus, Indi- ana, is married and has one son and one daughter; and Nathan, of David City, Nebraska, has a wife and one daughter. Three of the sons, Andrew, Harvey and Nathan, are ministers in the Christian church, and all are occupying honored and useful positions in life.
Some years ago, as the result of blood poisoning, Mr. Harmon suf- fered the loss of his left leg, and he now goes about with the aid of an artificial limb. He has also been afflicted with partial paralysis. Not- withstanding these afflictions, however, he retains his strength and facul- ties to a remarkable degree in his old age, and the weight of his eighty years rests lightly upon him. Both he and his good wife are devoted members of the Christian church. Politically Mr. Harmon is a Demo- crat and filled various township offices.
GEORGE E. DYE.
George E. Dye, a retired farmer and merchant of Auburn, Nebras- ka, dates his birth in the Empire state, in Yates county, August 6, 1840. Mr. Dye's father, William Dye, was born in Madison county, New York, about 1803, and died in Madison, Wisconsin, in the spring of 1865. He was a son of John Dye, a native of Rhode Island, whose death occurred in New York state about the year 1843. Both John Dye and his wife were buried in Cazenovia, New York. She, too, was a native of Rhode Island and her maiden name was Rhodes. They were the parents of
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nine children, eight sons and one daughter. The daughter died in early womanhood. The sons were James, Daniel, Jolin, Walter, Rouse, Wil- liam, Nathan and Enoch. All married and all except Walter had chil- dren. Four of these eight sons were Baptist ministers and the other four were deacons in the Baptist church, and all lived to good old age. Wil- liam Dye was a minister, and New York and Wisconsin were the field of his labors. He married Miss Ann Bailey, who was born in New York state in 1806, and who survived him a short time, her death also occurring in Wisconsin. They were the parents of five sons and two daughters, namely : Julia, who died at the age of twelve years, in Senaca, New York; William Henry, a harness-maker, located in Ottumwa, Iowa, is married and has a daughter and one son; Nathan P., who died in Nemaha county, Nebraska, in the prime of life; James R., a retired resident of San Diego, California, has two daughters; Mary E. married a cousin by the name of Dye, both being deceased, and they left one daughter. The next in order of birth was George E. The youngest, Charles L., died at the age of four years.
George E. Dye was educated in the common schools of his native state. He removed with his parents from place to place, where his father was engaged in the work of the ministry, and he remained a member of the home circle until 1862. In August of that year, at Whitewater, Wis- consin, he volunteered for service in the Union ranks and entered the army as a musician in Company D, Twenty-eighth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. The fortunes of this command he shared for three years, meantime being promoted to the leadership of the regimental band. He was a non-commissioned officer of the staff. At Helena, Arkansas, he was ill with typhoid fever and he also had a serious illness at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and when he returned to Wisconsin at the close of his service in 1865, it was with health much impaired. A well built man and with a
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fine constitution naturally, he in time recovered his health, and has since led an active, useful life. The exposures incident to war, however, sel- dom fail to leave their effects. Now, although still active in mind and body, Mr. Dye is a sufferer and is somewhat crippled from rheumatism.
In 1869 Mr. Dye removed from Whitewater, Wisconsin, to Nebraska and settled in Nemaha county. His first land purchase here was eighty acres, for which he gave $7.50 per acre, and which he sold in 1881 for the sum of three thousand dollars. He then bought one hundred and thirty-one acres, at a purchase price of two thousand six hundred dollars, and later added thirty-four acres, a part of which he has since disposed of. He moved to Auburn in February, 1901, and bought his present home. He also owns other property in town, including the building occupied by the postoffice.
Mr. Dye married, in March, 1866, Miss Mary E. Grant, a native of Jefferson county, 'Wisconsin, born in 1847. She is a distant relative of General Grant. Willard Grant, her father, was a man well known in Jefferson county. He was a mechanic, teacher and farmer, and served at different times in various public offices, township and county, and he was also elected to and served in the Wisconsin state leigslature. Mrs. Grant was Miss Sarah Dye, she being a daughter of Mr. Dye's uncle, James Dye. In the Grant family were seven children, of whom six are now living. Mr. and Mrs. Dye have had five children, as follows : Charles G., who is married and resides on a farm in Nemaha county ; Edith E., who died at the age of twenty-six years; and Jessie V., Anna Blanche and Emery G., at home. The two daughters are graduates of the Auburn high school. All the children have inherited talent for music. The daugliters are music teachers and the younger son is cornetist in the Auburn band. Mr. Dye is a musician and for many years was a leader and teacher of bands.
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Mr. Dye was formerly a Republican, but recently has been an inde- pendent in his political views, voting for men and measures rather than keeping close to party lines. He has membership in the Ancient Order United Workmen and in the Grand Army of the Republic, being identi- fied with Corley Post, No. 173. of which he is senior vice commander.
AUSTIN C. MUTZ.
Austin C. Mutz, the well known nurseryman at Auburn, Nebraska, is a native of the Hoosier state, and dates his birth at Edinburg, February 18, 1850.
Mr. Mutz, as his name suggests, is of German origin. His grand- father and grandmother Mutz were natives of Germany. Emigrating with their family to America, they settled first in Pennsylvania and subsequently moved farther west, locating near Dayton, Ohio, where they spent the rest of their lives and died, his death occurring at the age of eighty years, and hers seven years later, at the age of seventy-seven. They left five sons and one daughter, namely: John, the father of Austin C .; Jacob, a retired farmer living near Edinburg, Indiana ; Adam, a druggist, died in Indiana, in 1899, leaving a family of sons and daughters; Peter, a resident of Aberdeen, South Dakota; Abram, a grocer of Edinburg, Indiana, is married and has a son and daughter ; and Mary, wife of a' Mr. Darner, of Dayton, Ohio.
John Mutz, the eldest of the above named family, was born in Pennsylvania, and was eight years old at the time his parents moved to Ohio, where he was reared. Going to Indiana when a young man, he was there married, May 19, 1847, to Phoebe Williams, a native of that state, born in 1832, daughter of Caleb Williams, an Indiana farmer who
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was a pioneer to Mills county, Iowa, where he died in old age, leaving widow, six daughters and one son. John and Phoebe Mutz became the parents of eight children, as follows : G. W., a carpenter and contractor, Cass county, Nebraska; Austin C., whose name heads this review; Walter, a farmer of Maryville, Missouri; William A., a farmer of Pen- der, Nebraska ; Otto, a large land owner, ex-state senator and publisher of the Western Rancher, Ainsworth, Nebraska; Albert B., of Auburn; Ann Jeanette, widow of John Majors, residing at Lincoln, Nebraska; and Hattie M., wife of A. T. Stewart, of Chicago. In 1856 John Mutz moved with his family to Mills county, Iowa, and the following year, 1857, came to Nebraska, where he and his good wife reared their children and spent the rest of their lives, their wedded life covering more than half a century. He died in Chicago, January 6, 1899, at the age of seventy-seven years ; and her death occurred at the home place in Auburn, where they lived for more than twenty years, February 13, 1899. In their religious views they differed somewhat, Mrs. Mutz being a Methodist and Mr. Mutz a Lutheran. Politically, he was a Democrat, and in territorial days filled the office of county commissioner of Cass county.
Austin C. Mutz received his schooling at Eight-Mile Grove, in Cass county, Nebraska. He remained at home until he reached his majority, when he started out to make his own way in the world, and has been variously occupied, his attention having been given chiefly to farming and the nursery business. For four years he resided at Beatrice, Nebraska, and traveled for the Phoenix Nursery of Bloomington, Illi- nois. For twenty years he has resided in or near Auburn. In 1893 he bought the ground where his nursery is located, and where in 1901 he built the pleasant cottage he and his wife occupy. After coming into the ownership of this property he planted an orchard, and a nursery of
MR. AND MRS. JOHN H. SHOOK
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one hundred thousand trees, and here he has since been doing both a wholesale and retail business.
July 2, 1884, Austin C. Mutz married Miss Mary Seybolt, a native of Greenville, Orange county, New York, and a daughter of Luther R. and Harriet (Moore) Seybolt, both natives of Orange county, New York, and now residents of Cass county, Nebraska. Mrs. Mutz has an only brother, John B. Seybolt. Mr. and Mrs. Mutz lost their only child, a daughter, that died at the age of two months, August 31, 1888; but they have an adopted child, Otto Mutz, fifteen years of age, a native of New York and a son of German parents.
Politically Mr. Mutz is a Bryan Democrat. He has always been more or less interested in educational matters. When a young man he went to Jewell county, Kansas, homesteaded a tract of land and built a house, and in his own house taught a school. He was a member of the school board of Auburn three years. Mrs. Mutz is a Methodist.
JOHN HAMILTON SHOOK.
John Hamilton Shook, of Auburn, Nebraska, is a man whose more than threescore years of life cover a varied experience, including a Civil war service, numerous travels and frontier incidents. Mr. Shook came to Nebraska at an early day and has done his part toward bringing about the development which has been wrought here. A detailed review of his army life and his pioneer and later experience would require a large volume, and would be interesting reading, too, but in this connec- tion for want of space we can present only a brief sketch.
John Hamilton Shook was born in Carlinville, Illinois, July 31, 1838, and traces his ancestry on the paternal side back to his great-grandfather
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Shook, who was of German birth and who was for many years engaged in farming in Pennsylvania, where he died at a ripe old age. James Shook, his father, was born in Pennsylvania about the year 1797, and was reared in Tennessee. He died in Macoupin county, Illinois, at the age of forty-five years. Abraham Shook, the father of James, was born in Pennsylvania about 1775 and died in Tennessee in 1845. He was a Presbyterian minister. Of his family of four sons and three daughters, all married and reared families, and two of his sons were ministers of the gospel-Isaac, a Baptist minister in Ohio, and Abraham, a Presby- terian, preaching in Tennessee and Indiana. Each of these two sons lived to good old age and each was the father of four children. James Shook was twice married. By his first wife he had two sons and two daughters, namely : James, a farmer in Whiteside county, Illinois, died at the age of fifty-two years, leaving seven children, three sons and four daughters; Ellen, wife of Wilson T. Stout, died in 1863, leaving four children; Mary Jane, wife of Eli Daily, died in 1902, leaving seven children ; and Robinson, who went west early in the fifties and was hon- ored with a seat in the Oregon territorial and state legislatures, died some years ago, leaving three sons. In Carlinville, Illinois, in 1836, James Shook married for his second wife a Mrs. Good, widow of Ezekiel Good, and daughter of a British soldier whose name was Knickerbocker but was afterward changed to Bird. She was born in New York in 1800. By her first husband she had one son and three daughters, viz. : Sarah Ann, wife of a Mr. Bogess, died leaving two daughters and one son; Elizabeth, wife of Bennett Solomon, died about 1860 in Girard, Illinois, leaving two daughters; Minerva, wife of Lewis Johnson, of Carlinville, Illinois, has one son and one daughter ; and Thomas Good, a bachelor, is a well-to-do farmer of Arkansas. The children of the second marriage of James Shook were four sons, as follows: John
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Hamilton and William B., twins. The latter is a resident of Lovington, Moultrie county, Illinois, where he is at this writing filling the office of probate judge; George R., now of Grand Valley, Colorado, was for a number of years a resident of Nemaha county, Nebraska, where he figured prominently in public affairs, serving six years as county surveyor and five terms in the territorial legislature, in both upper and lower houses. He is a veteran of the Civil war, having served in the Seventh and One Hundred and Forty-eighth regiments of Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He has reared a family of three sons and four daughters. The youngest brother of our subject, Albert, died at Hillsdale, Nebraska, in 1882, of disease contracted while he was a soldier in the Civil war. He left three sons. James Shook, the father of this large family, died in middle life, as already stated, and his widow did not long survive him, her death occurring in 1851. Side by side they rest in the little cemetery in Carlinville, Illinois. Both were church members, she a Presbyterian and he a Baptist.
John Hamilton Shook had limited advantages for obtaining an education in his youth. When only seven years old he was put to work driving a yoke of steers. His mother dying when he was only thirteen years old, he went to live with his half-sister, Mrs. Johnson, and remained a member of her family until he was twenty. Then, in March, 1859, he came to Nebraska, in company with his brother William. They made the journey by boat to Kansas City and were en route for Pike's Peak. Hearing discouraging reports from Pike's Peak, they changed their plans and came to southeastern Nebraska. Here they bought six yoke of oxen and plows and spent the summer in breaking prairie. They entered one hundred and sixty acres of land, each giving his note for two hundred dollars for one year, at thirty per cent. interest. When they landed here John H. had one hundred and thirty dollars and his brother
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ninety dollars, not enough with which to purchase their teams, but their credit was good and they went in debt and in due time discharged their obligations. That fall they returned to Illinois, and in the spring of the following year John H. came back to Nebraska, alone, and engaged in farming on his brother-in-law's land. In 1860 the crop was poor, but it was better the next year and industry and good management brought success to Mr. Shook. He became the owner of two hundred and fifty acres, eleven acres of which were timber land. At this time civil war was inaugurated, and Mr. Shook enlisted in Company F, Fifteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, October 10, 1861, and served until January, 1865. His service included thirty-six different engagements, prominent among them being Pittsburg Landing, Corinth, the siege of Vicksburg and the siege of Atlanta.
. At the close of the war Mr. Shook returned to Nebraska and en- gaged in the sawmilling business on the Missouri river. His brother also became interested in this business and they were associated together under the firm name of Shook & Brother, until 1884, operating exten- sively, owning no less than three thousand acres in Nebraska at one time and employing forty men. They also owned three thousand two hundred acres of land in Texas. In Richardson county, Nebraska, where Mr. Shook made his home for some years, he owned a thousand acres of land and annually fed and sold two hundred head of cattle. He has disposed of all his holdings, however, and at this writing has only the five-acre place in Auburn, on' which he built his present residence in 1890. He has a rented farm near Auburn, where he keeps a number of horses, cattle and hogs.
Mr. Shook married, in August, 1870, Miss Ella Pike, a native of Iowa, born in 1852; and their union has been blessed in the birth of five children. Their eldest son, William, is a practicing physician at
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Shubert, Richardson county, Nebraska. He has a wife and one daugh- ter. The next in order of birth is Arthur, a postal clerk on the Union Pacific Railroad. Charles T. is attending college at Bellevue, Nebraska, and John R. is at home. A daughter died in infancy.
Mr. Shook is a Master Mason and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. Politically he is a Republican. During his long resi- cence in Nebraska he has many times been honored with official position. and in whatever office he has been called he has responded with faithful and efficient service. He was constable in 1860. For seven years he - was postmaster of Hillsdale, was on the school board twenty-nine years, and twelve years was county commissioner, elected first in 1874. In 1895 he was elected to the lower house of the state legislature, and while a member of that body served on the Soldiers' Relief Committee.
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