USA > Nebraska > A Biographical and genealogical history of southeastern Nebraska, Vol. I > Part 21
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Dr. Heskett is a Master Mason and a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. In politics he was a Republican for many years, but is now a Democrat. He and his wife are members of the Metho- dist church. He is vice president of the Salem Chautauqua, which has a reputation throughout Southeastern Nebraska and has been a very successful assembly for several years.
He was married, September 15, 1874. to Miss Anna E. Coulter, a native of Jefferson county, Ohio. Five children have been born to their union : Leo B. is operator and local cashier in the railroad office at Tecumseh, Nebraska, and has a wife and one daughter; Dasie V. is the wife of Ray Huston, cashier of the Salem Bank; A. Frank is the station agent at Thompson, Nebraska, and has a wife and one daughter ;
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Charles M. farms his father's one hundred and twenty acre farm near Salem, and has a wife and two sons; and the fifth child, a son, died in infancy.
H. M. HEPPERLEN.
H. M. Hepperlen, physician and surgeon of Beatrice, Nebraska, one of the leading men of his profession in that locality, has been a resident of that state since 1881. He was born in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, January 26, 1868, and is a son of John Hepperlen, the latter having been born in Wurtemberg, Germany, but is now de- ceased. The Hepperlen family is one of the good, substantial ones of Wurtemberg. Germany, where it originated.
Dr. Hepperlen was educated in the high schools of his native county, and early evinced a taste for medicine, so that when he com- menced 'its study with Dr. C. A. Bradley he made rapid strides forward, and, entering the Keokuk (Iowa) Medical College, he was. graduated from it in 1891. In 1896 he was graduated from the Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia, with the degree of M. D. In 1897 he took a post-graduate course in New York city, and then going abroad studied at Vienna, in 1898, after which he returned to Beatrice, Nebraska, and resumed his practice, thoroughly fitted to carry on the particular branch of his profession which had always claimed much of his attention, and of which he now makes a specialty-diseases of women and surgery.
Dr. Hepperlen was married in Beatrice, Nebraska, to Miss Rosa Warner, a native of Scranton, Pennsylvania. Two children have been born to Dr. and Mrs. Hepperlen, namely : May Bernetta and Joseph T. In politics Dr. Hepperlen is a Republican, while fraternally he is a
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Knight Templar Mason belonging to Beatrice commandery. Being a close student Dr. Hepperlen is thoroughly abreast of all modern dis- coveries and is meeting with marvelous success, and although yet a young man has the confidence of the con .. nunity at large and numbers among his patients the very best people of the locality. Pleasing in manner, courteous and genial, he has made and retained a large num- ber of friends. When he came to Beatrice in 1899 he established what is known as the Dr. H. M. Hepperlen Private Hospital, for the treatment of the diseases of women and surgery.
JOHN DAVIES.
John Davies, the well known fruit farmer of Brownville, is num- bered among the early pioneers of the country, where he has made his home for the long period of thirty-four years. He was born on the border land of Wales, in Radnorshire, on the 21st of June, 1847, being a son of Edward and Mary Davies, the former of whom was a tailor and lived and died in Wales, passing away at the age of seventy years. They were the parents of three children, two daughters and a son, one of the former dying when young, and the other, Elizabeth, became the wife of a Mr. Corns and died when young, leaving three children.
In the land of his birth John Davies received but meager school advantages, and in 1869 he bade adieu to the home of his childhood and youth and sailed for the United States, landing in New York city, whence he made his way to Chicago, and one month later came to Brownville, Nebraska, arriving here on the 17th of June, 1869. When he left Chicago his wealth consisted of one hundred dollars, and after his arrival here he secured employment with John A. Carson, the first
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banker in the state, with whom he remained as coachman and in other capacities for nine years. His present fine fruit farm of thirty acres lies partly within the corporate limits of Brownville, and has been the home of Mr. and Mrs. Davies for twenty-eight years. When he secured this property it was covered with a native growth of timber, and all the improvements which now add to its value and attractive appearance stand as monuments to his thrift and buisness ability. Among these may be mentioned the pleasant and attractive residence, two stories in height and containing seven rooms, also his large barn and fruit house, while in his orchard may be found a large variety of nursery stock. He has planted one thousand apple trees, two thousand peach trees, about four acres of strawberries, and he annually garners large quantities of both the large and the small fruits.
On the 6th of August, 1875, in Brownville, Mr. Davies was united in marriage to Mrs. Amanda J. Gaunt, a native of Gibson county, Indi- ana, and a daughter of George King, who followed farming in both Indiana and Missouri, removing to the latter state at the close of the Civil war. He reared nine children, five sons and four daughters, and all are married and scattered throughout many different states, residing in Indiana, Kansas City and Colorado. By her first marriage Mrs. Davies had one daughter, who is now the wife of W. C. Sloan, of Grand Junction, Colorado, and has three daughters. The union of our subject and wife has been blessed with one son, William J., who grad- uated from the Brownville high school, and for two terms thereafter was employed as teacher. In the fall of 1901 he was a candidate for the district clerkship on the Prohibition ticket, and for the past few years he has been engaged in the fruit and real estate business with his father, the firm being known as Davies & Son. They are meeting with splendid success both as fruit growers and in the wholesale and retail
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nursery business, and are numbered among the leading business men of this community. The son married Minnie Shantz, and they have one little son, named Willie. Mr. and Mrs. John Davies are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he has served as steward and trustee, and for one year was also district steward. He gives his political support to the Prohibition party, and was its nominee for the office of county commissioner, while for a number of years past he has been a member of the school board.
A. D. ANDREWS.
A. D. Andrews, who owns a beautiful farm of three hundred and fifty-two acres in Clay township, Pawnee county, Nebraska, was born in Somerset county, Maine, June 9, 1848. He is a son of James An- drews, who was born in Maine. James Andrews was a son of Dudley Andrews, a soldier of 1812, born of English parents. James Andrews was a carpenter by trade, a good workman and one who was very suc- cessful in life. He married Frances Haines, daughter of Thomas Haines. In 1857 James Andrews and wife moved west to Floyd county, Iowa, where during the Civil war James enlisted in an Iowa regiment. He later went to Texas, near Dallas, where he died at the age of sixty, having been a firm Republican and a prominent Mason. He left two children, A. D. and Adelia F. Lepley, of Nemaha county, Kansas. The mother still survives and is now eighty years of age and a consistent member of the United Brethern church.
A. D. Andrews was reared upon the farm in Iowa and educated in the pioneer schools of his locality. At the age of fourteen he came to Nebraska, settling in Pawnee county, where on December 31, 1868,
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he married Sarah Elizabeth McCoy, who was born in Michigan, a daughter of Allen and Julia (Harless) McCoy, the former a native of Virginia and now a resident of New Mexico. These parents had the following children: George W., a soldier in the United States army who lives in New Mexico; Almirtha Jane; James Allen, a soldier in the state militia of Nebraska, but who lives in New Mexico; Sarah E .; Cyntha Ann; Letitia; Harvey, New Mexico; Charles Robert; Lydia Zella; and three who died in infancy.
Mr. Andrews settled in South Forks township in 1862, but in 1875 he came to his present farm, which is one of the best in the state. He has his farm fully equipped with all modern appliances, and it is appro- priately called Pleasant Hill. Mr. Andrews devotes his land to gen- eral farming and stock-raising. The fields are surrounded by hedge fences.
The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Andrews are as follows: Mrs. Almirtha Byers ; Minnie Gertrude Hutton ; Mary Agnes ; and Zella Mabel, the last three of whom are popular teachers of Pawnee county and were all educated at the Nebraska State Normal School; Levi James; Edith R., is a student of the State Normal School; Lillian Grace, and Clin- ton Lyle. Mr. Andrews is a very popular Republican, and the family are all connected with the United Brethern church, of which he is a trustee.
JAMES HARVEY OVERMAN. -
James Harvey Overman, who is for the second time in the last ยท thirty years serving as an efficient postmaster, lacks only a few years of having completed a half century of residence in a state which has
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only existed that length of time as a territorial organization, and he was taking up his active career in life when the territory was made one of the states of the Union. He has been engaged in the mercantile business in several Nebraska towns in addition to his career in public office, and at all times and in all places has displayed qualities of loyal citizenship, upright manhood and strictest integrity and fair dealing.
Mr. Overman's family record details much that is connected with the early life of various communities, and the representatives of the name have always filled honorable and useful places in the world. His ancestry on the paternal side is Holland Dutch, and of his grandparents he remembers little, except that his grandfather was one of the early settlers and a farmer of Indiana, where he died in 1830, in early life, leaving by his wife, who was a Miss Amick, a large family.
James L. Overman, the father of James Harvey Overman, was an old and esteemed citizen of Richardson county, Nebraska. He was born in Clark county, Indiana, February 15, 1824, and died at his home in Stella, Nebraska, December 28, 1894, aged seventy years, ten months and thirteen days. At the time of his birth Indiana was almost an un- broken wilderness, and he grew up surrounded by all the pioneer condi- tions which have fitted so many men for large positions in the world's strife, and at the same time compelled them to undergo hardships and privations which in the twentieth century would seem unendurable, and which, in fact, cannot be realized by the present generation. In 1852 he moved with his family to Missouri, where he remained until 1858, when he advanced further out on what was then the western frontier and lo- cated at St. Deroin, Nebraska. He operated a ferry at this place, and many of the older families in this section of the state can yet remember having crossed the river under his guidance. Roving bands of Indians and outlaws infested the country at that time and made both residents
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and property insecure, and the children were seldom allowed to go be- yond call. Land was then worth from sixty-two and a half cents to a dollar and a quarter an acre, and went begging at that price. In March, 1861, Mr. J. L. Overman enlisted in Company D, Fifth Missouri Vol- unteer Cavalry, and served sixteen months until he was discharged for disability. He saw a great deal of the roughest kind of work in fighting the bushwhackers under Quantrell, Jesse James and others. After being discharged he engaged in the cooperage business in St. Joseph, Missouri, and for the following ten years prospered, after which he again came to St. Deroin, where he lived until 1884, when he moved to Stella, where his long and busy life was brought to a close, peacefully and quietly for one who had witnessed so many stormy scenes.
James L. Overman became a member of the Christian church when he was twenty years old, and lived and died true to that faith. He was a loyal member of Shubert Post, G. A. R. December 29, 1845, he was married to Miss Mary Daily, who was born in Clark county, Indiana, May 16, 1819, and is still living in Stella, at the age of eighty-four years, and several others from a family of sixteen brothers and sisters, of whom she was the first born, are living. There were four children born of this union : Kate is the widow of Peter Fraker, of Stella, and has three children; Andrew M., who enlisted, in 1865, at the age of fifteen, in the Forty-eighth Missouri, and because of his youthful strength and vigor gave loyal service till the end of the war, is now living in Oklahoma ter- ritory and has one son and one daughter; Arabelle, who lives in Stella, is the widow of John M. Mccullough, who died in Kansas in September, 1900, leaving one daughter, Ona, who is now serving as the assistant postmaster in her uncle's office; James H. Overman is the youngest of this family.
James Harvey Overman was born in Clark county, Indiana, January
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10, 1852, and was brought by his parents to St. Deroin, Nebraska, May 6, 1858. He had a common schooling until he was seventeen years old, and then became a clerk in his brother-in-law's store at Deroin. He has been a resident of Stella most of the time for the past twenty years, having come here soon after the town was laid out. He received his first appointment as postmaster from President Hayes, in 1879, at Deroin, serving over a year, when he moved to Corning, Missouri, and his second from President McKinley, and was also appointed by Roosevelt. April 27, 1904, as postmaster of Stella. His business life has been de- voted to merchandising and hotel-keeping. He was in business at St. Deroin from 1868 to July, 1871, in Severance, Kansas, until 1874, from then till March, 1879, in St. Deroin, for the following three years in Corning, Missouri, and since that time has been in Stella with the ex- ception of ten months spent in conducting the Enoch House in Hum- boldt.
He is now building a modern hotel at Stella, of twenty-three rooms, three stories, brick structure, furnace heat, located on Main and Third streets.
Mr. Overman was married March 24. 1878, to Miss Lucinda Marie Thomas, a native of Putnam county, Missouri. They have not been blessed with any children of their own, but their home has seldom been without young people. Their foster daughter, Mary Palmer, came to live with them at the age of twelve, and was educated in Stella, and was married there. September 22, 1895, to W. Harris, a son of a wealthy farmer, and they are now engaged in sheep ranching in North Yakima, Washington, where they took up their residence in March, 1896.
Mrs. Overman's father, Elijah P. Thomas, was born at Maysville, Kentucky, February 11, 1827. His great-grandfather came from Wales. and his grandfather, Solomon Thomas, was a soldier in the Revolution,
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going from his native state of Virginia. John Thomas, the father of Elijah P. Thomas, was born in Kentucky about 1795, and when about seventeen years old became a soldier in the war of 1812. He was a miller and a farmer. He married Margaret Harmer, of Champaign county, Ohio, and they reared nine of their twelve children, all of whom married and had children, and the oldest, William Thomas, is living in Oregon at the age of eighty-three years. Their mother died in Putnam county, Missouri, in old age, and their father died in Scotland county, Missouri, at the age of eighty.
Elijah P. Thomas was married September 15, 1859. in Knoxville, Iowa, to Miss Samantha Ann Hillis, who was born March 18, 1833, a daughter of J. D. B. Hillis, M. D., who was born in Bourbon county, Ken- tucky, January 10, 1810, was college bred, and married Lucinda Stearett, who was born in Ohio, near Urbana, in 1813, and died in 1843, leaving three children, as follows: Samantha Ann; Mary E. Stephens, a widow ; and Minerva, the wife of H. H. Pierce,. of Portland, Oregon, and her first husband was a brother of Elijah Thomas, Stephen Thomas, who died in the hospital during the Civil war. The father of these daugh- ters, was assistant surgeon to the Second Wisconsin Cavalry and was present at the surrender of Vicksburg. Elijah Thomas and his wife were hotel-keepers in Missouri, and are now living retired in Stella, Nebraska.
FRED. S. HASSLER.
Fred. S. Hassler, editor and proprietor of The Pawnee City Press, is one of the oldest and best known newspaper men of the state of Nebraska, having been connected with the profession in this state for a full third of a century. The Press is one of the influential papers of
FRED. S. HASSLER
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southeastern Nebraska, ably edited and conducted in the interests of progress and public welfare. The plant is number one in all its equip- ment, and perfect workmanship marks the paper throughout. Mr. Hass- ler has been very successful in the conduct of The Press for the past fifteen years, and has made it an organ for good and social uplift throughout the county.
Mr. Hassler arrived in Pawnee City when it was a mere village, coming from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he had been engaged in work on the Chronicle and the Gasette. He had learned his trade on the Greensburg (Pennsylvania) Herald, and subsequently worked on the Meadville Republican, the first daily paper started in Meadville, Pennsylvania. He came to Pawnee City on the first day of November, 1870, and immediately associated himself with the late Judge J. L. Edwards in the publication of the Pawnee Tribune, which name was afterwards changed to the Pawnee Republican, under which title it is still published. Mr. Hassler sold this paper to his brother and uncle, and then bought the Pawnee Banner, which he ultimately sold, buying the Table Rock Argus. In 1886, when the town of Dubois was started in Pawnee county, he established the Times in that place, but eventually sold both this and the Argus to purchase the Beaver City (Nebraska) Tribune, which he conducted until 1889, then selling it to F. N. Mer- win, now private secretary of Hon. George W. Norris, congressman of the Fifth Nebraska district. Mr. Hassler then returned to Pawnee City and became the owner of The Press, which he has published ever since.
Mr. Hassler's two oldest children, William Nessley and Walter Earle, are now connected with the Livingston (Montana) Post. His three daughters, Mabel, Hazel and Helen, are at home with their parents, at their residence on Western avenue. Mrs. Hassler is a cousin of the late ex-Governor David Butler, and her father was an early pioneer
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Nebraskan, and a member of the legislature which removed the state capital from Omaha to Lincoln. Mr. Hassler is a brother-in-law of Hon. W. B. Raper, and an uncle by marriage of County Attorney John B. Raper, of Pawnee City, both well known residents of southeastern Nebraska.
Mr. Hassler was the first city clerk when Pawnee City was incorpor- ated, and served in that capacity for two terms. He has endeavored to give his best influence for the good of county and state, and instances might be mentioned where these efforts have been highly appreciated by his fellow citizens.
CYRUS C. MEADER.
Cyrus C. Meader, one of the prosperous farmers of section 25, Clay township, of Pawnee county, Nebraska, owns a beautiful home of three hundred and twenty acres. He was born in Waukesha county, Wisconsin, August 26, 1844, and is a son of Gideon Meader, who was born at Farmington, Vermont, a son of James Meader, also a native of Vermont. Gideon Meader was reared on a Vermont farm, and when he attained to maturity moved to Montreal, Canada, where he married Louisa Purrington, a daughter of Elijah Purrington. Francis Cook, a relative of Louisa Purrington, came to this country on the Mayflower. In the year 1841 Gideon and his wife went to Waukesha county, Wiscon- sin, and later to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and from there to Nemaha county, Nebraska, where he died at the age of fifty-two years. For a num- ber of years he was a successful farmer and in politics was a sturdy Repub- lican. The mother died at the age of seventy-nine years and both were Quakers in their religious persuasion. The children born to these parents were as follows: Nathan; Cyrus C .; Arina Maria, of Elmo, Missouri ;
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Curtis, of Seattle, Washington; Eunice Parker, of Victor, Montana; Joshua, a merchant of Elmo, Missouri.
Cyrus C. Meader was reared in Fond du Lac county on a farm and carly learned the meaning of hard work. He never had many educational advantages. On May 4, 1864, he was married to Josephine Martin. She was born at Jericho, Vermont, a daughter of Porter Martin. Porter Mar- tin was born in Vermont and reared near the old home of Colonel Ethan Allen. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. Porter Martin married Margaret Griffith, also a native of Vermont, who died at the age of forty- seven years. For many years he was a sailor on the lakes. In politics he was a Republican. Six children were born to Porter Martin and wife, Josephine; Myron ; Betsy ; Fannie, of Smith county, Kansas; Giles, of Lincoln, Nebraska ; Clarence, of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.
In 1864, Mr. and Mrs. Meader went to Polk county, Iowa, and re- mained there one winter. In 1865 they removed to Nebraska and lived in Nemaha county until fall of 1868, then moved to Pawnee county, Ne- braska, on one hundred and twenty acres, which they sold and later bought three hundred and twenty acres. They now have a beautiful rural home in Clay township, on which they have erected a house at a cost of one thousand and three hundred dollars. On the south side is a fine bear- ing orchard. He makes a specialty of raising hogs and cattle.
Mr. Meader has always been a good Republican and has strongly espoused the cause of good roads. He has served as road supervisor for sixteen years. He is a member of the United Brethren church and is one of the trustees and an ex-superintendent. Genial, kind-hearted, indus- trious, always ready to give to those in need, Mr. Meader is held in high- est esteem by his fellow townsmen and has many friends throughout the country.
The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Meader are : Bertha Dickinson, of
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Puyallup, Washington; Lillian Edgerton, of Puyallup, Washington : Gideon, of Snohomish, Washington; Harry, of Clay township; Blanche, school teacher; and Herbert, the two latter residing at home.
ROBERT T. SCOTT.
Robert T. Scott, proprietor of the Green Dale stock farm and the owner of the best herd of shorthorn cattle in Southeastern Nebraska, was born in Roxburyshire, Scotland, in 1840. He is a son of Matthew and Kittie (Temple) Scott, both of whom died in Scotland, the father when our subject was small.
At the age of fourteen years Mr. R. T. Scott came to America and went to live with his uncle, Henry Scott, at Toulon, Stark county, Illi- nois, and grew to maturity on the farm. In June, 1861, he enlisted for service in the Civil war, in Company B, Nineteenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and participated in many of the important battles of the war, the most important being Stone River, Missionary Ridge, Chickamauga, Buzzard's Roost, Resaca and Nashville, and serving under some of the most distinguished and gallant officers. His record is an honorable one and he was honorably discharged in 1864.
Mr. Scott then came to Pawnee county, Nebraska, and located five miles southwest of his present home, but thirty years ago he sold that property and came to Green Dale. Here Mr. Scott owns a fine estate of six hundred and sixty acres, rich bottom land, and no better can be found in the state. It is watered by Turkey creek and Johnson's creek, and thus he overcomes the greatest drawback to farming or stock-raising in Ne- braska. The abundance of water also insures plenty of shade, and in a fine grove of walnut, oak and boxelder the old settlers of this locality
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meet to tell of early experiences and to greet old friends. Mr. Scott has a blue grass pasture which rivals those of Kentucky, and his meadows and corn fields put those of Illinois to shame. Mr. Scott has spent many thouands of dollars in making improvements here and in introducing his fine herds, but he has also realized many thousands on account of their value. Mr. Scott has here an ideal country home, his residence and other buildings being adornments to the landscape. He is the pioneer breeder of shorthorn cattle and owns a herd of one hundred registered animals. He also breeds Poland China hogs. He has done much to raise the standard in cattle and other stock in this section.
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