USA > Nebraska > A Biographical and genealogical history of southeastern Nebraska, Vol. I > Part 30
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November 20, 1865, he married Salina F. Dye, who was born in Monroe county, Ohio. She bore him five children, as follows: Frank
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E., a merchant of Lewiston, Nebraska, is married and has two children; Salina M. married George H. Sheik, a merchant of Lewiston, Nebraska, Annetta B. married J. F. Halderman, cashier of the bank of Burchard; Joseph J., a stockman at Virginia, Nebraska; Charles E., a merchant of Tate, Nebraska.
After his marriage, Mr. Brown continued in the livery business a few months and then sold out and retired to a farm near Manhattan, Kansas. In 1873 he was elected sheriff of the county and moved to Manhattan, the county seat, was re-elected in 1875, and for four years he efficiently filled that responsible office. He sold his Kansas property in 1880 and moved to Tecumseh, Nebraska, and opened a hardware store, which he continued until 1884, and then disposed of it, and in May that same year went to Blaine county, Nebraska, where he helped to locate the county seat at Brewster. While there he operated a general store and stock ranch, but after nine years sold his interests and located at Burchard, Nebraska, where he opened the largest general store. This he conducted until August, 1903, when he sold out. He also deals largely in stock. He cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1860, . and has supported the Republican party since that date. Like the major- ity of the old soldiers he is a member of the G. A. R. post and is con- nected with W. A. Butler Post No. 172 of Burchard. He has been a member of the Masonic order for thirty-seven years, being the oldest Mason in the vicinity, and he is also a member of the Independent Order ot Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias orders .. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist church, where he is as active as in politics and business affairs. Upright and honorable in all his dealings he is one of the most highly respected citizens of Burchard.
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GEORGE H. FALLSTEAD.
George H. Fallstead, until recently of the firm of Powell and Fall- stead, leading real estate men of Falls City, is a native son of Richard- son county and has passed all his life within its boundaries, making his best successes within call of the place of his nativity. Farming and business transactions have occupied his attention since he left school, and his career has been one of steadily increasing success and pros- perity from the first.
Mr. Fallstead was born on a farm not far from Falls City, Decem- ber 12, 1867. His paternal ancestry is altogether German. His grand- father, John Fallstead, was a German farmer and freeholder, born about 1766, and died in his fatherland when about eighty-four years old. He reared three sons and three daughters. The son John is the father of Mr. G. H. Fallstead, and was born in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, August 28, 1827. He was reared in his native land and well educated in the German schools. He entered the German army and took part in several battles, and after coming to this country also had some military experience in fighting with the Indians. He left Bremen in 1853, and after fifty-two days of sailing arrived in New York, having spent forty dollars for his passage, and being worth only twelve dollars in money as he stood on the streets of the foreign and unfamiliar city and country where he was to carve out his destiny and fortune. He first went to Monroe, Michigan, and thence to Toledo, Ohio, where he worked in a brick yard, and later came to near Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he worked as a farm hand and also in a mill. He came to Nebraska in the pioneer times of the sixties, bringing about five hundred dollars which he had managed by his industry to accumulate, and soon pur- chased the eighty acres which forms part of his present farmstead. He was married in February, 1867, to Miss Elizabeth Pollard, who was
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born in Tennessee in 1847, a daughter of George W. Pollard, a Ten- nessee farmer. She lost her mother in infancy and was reared by strangers.
Mr. and Mrs. John Fallstead began their domestic life in a most primitive fashion in Nebraska. He had built on his eighty acres a frame house sixteen by eighteen feet, and this was the home until fortune smiled more genially on his diligent efforts. He improved his land and added forty acres thereto and there reared his family and has since made a good property, having been able to equip well all his children for life's duties and still retain a comfortable home for his and his good wife's age. Their three children are: George H .; John W., who lives on the home farm and has one daughter; and Mabel, who is also on the home place.
Mr. George H. Fallstead was reared to farm life, and engaged in that pursuit until about nine years ago, when he moved to Falls City, where he owns a nice home in Chase street. He was in the real estate business for about three years, and he and his partner made a reputation as hustling business men, carrying on a very large business in city and farm property. He sold his real estate interest to his partner in June, 1904, and is now engaged in fire and life insurance exclusively.
Mr. Fallstead lived at home until his marriage, on Christmas day, 1889. His wife's maiden name is Annie M. Birdsley. She was born in Iowa, and was two weeks old when brought across the Missouri into . Nebraska, in April, 1870. Her parents are Simon Quincy and Ellen (Teeter) Birdsley, who were married in Illinois about 1862, and the former of whom is now about seventy-five years old and the latter some eighteen years younger. Mr. and Mrs. Birdsley lost two children, and the following are living : Charles D., in Falls City, has three chil- dren; Hiram, in Washington county, Kansas, has two sons and three
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daughters: Viola Chapman lives in Falls City; Fanny, the wife of W. N. Corder, in Kansas, has two children; Mrs. Fallstead is next of the family : Lucy Billips, at Verdon, Nebraska, has one son; Jacob Birds- ley is a farmer of this county. These seven living children are all worthy men and women. The two deceased are John, who died at the age of twenty-two, and Asa, who died at the age of sixteen.
Mr. and Mrs. Fallstead have had five children: Naomi, a bright girl of thirteen, in the seventh grade and also taking piano instruction ; a son that died in infancy ; Coral Clyde, aged six, has entered school ; Dale Deloss, aged three; and Floyd Francis. Mr. Fallstead is a Dem- ocrat ; but without political aspirations or longings. He is a prominent Knight of Pythias, and in his lodge is master of finance and keeper of records and seals.
ROBERT McELHOSE.
Robert McElhose, who has been one of the esteemed residents of Pawnee county since 1894, has a life record of unusual interest and activity. He has always been noted for his substantial qualities of citi- zenship, and in more than one instance has been of service to his com- munity and during the great Civil war was a faithful and loyal follower of the flag of the Union in many marches and campaigns of the south. He is a distinctly self-made man, as the following details of his career will verify, and by his honesty and integrity lias won an enviable posi- tion in every community where he has made his home.
Mr. McElhose was born in county Antrim, Ireland, June 1, 1844, the youngest of a family of twelve children born to William and Mar- garet (Smith) McElhose. When he was three years old the family,
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with the exception of one sister, emigrated to America and landed in Philadelphia, where they remained for one year, and where the sister rejoined them. They removed from Philadelphia to a farm in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and there four years later the father of the family died, at the age of sixty years, having spent his life in farming. His wife survived him and died in Plainfield, Illinois, in 1865, at the age of seventy-five years. They were members of the Presbyterian church. Their children were named as follows: Hannah, who became the wife of James Scott; Robert; Benjamin; Margaret, who became the wife of Matthew Smith; Matilda; Sarah, who was the wife of John Gilles- pie : Eliza, who married John McCann; William, who was a soldier in the Civil war; Hugh; Richard; James; and Robert.
Robert McElhose was fifteen years old when he removed with his mother from Pennsylvania to Plainfield, Illinois, having spent the preceding years in work on the farm and in attendance at the common schools. He was then apprenticed to the blacksmith trade, but before he had served his time the war broke out. At the age of seventeen he enlisted in Company D, One Hundredth Illinois Volunteers, and served for three years, receiving his honorable discharge at Albany, New York, in July, 1865. He participated in some of the campaigns of the west- ern armies, his most important battles being those of Perryville, Stone River, and Lavergne, besides numerous skirmishes. Sickness kept him from active duty for some time, but he was always ready and willing to serve in any capacity for which he had the strength. For eleven montlis he was never off duty for a single day. He was advanced from a private to corporal and then to sergeant, which latter grade he reached before he was nineteen years old.
When the war was over he went home and completed his period of apprenticeship of three years. He worked as a journeyman for two
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years, and then moved to Kane county, Illinois, where he opened a shop of his own, having a good patronage for about five years. He then went to Cambridge, Illinois, and went into the carriage business with Sylvester Rockwell, under the firm name of McElhose and Rockwell. Two years later this partnership was dissolved, and Mr. McElhose moved to Rock Island county, Illinois, and thence in the spring of 1877 came to Page county, Iowa, where he made his home until his removal to Pawnee county, Nebraska, in 1894. He had a farm of one hundred and twenty acres in Page county, five acres of which was a magnifi- cent orchard, and he was a very successful farmer and fruit grower. Since coming to Nebraska he has continued the prosperity of former years, and is held in high esteem in business and agricultural circles.
Mr. McElhose has been a stanch adherent of the Republican party since he cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln, being at that time under age and a soldier in the ranks of his country. He is popular Grand Army man and affiliates with the post at Pawnee. November I, 1867, Mr. McElhose was married to Miss Lottie Wicks, who was born in Michigan in 1847, a daughter of Ira and Mary (Hand) Wicks, natives of Massachusetts. She died in 1870, leaving two children, Ira, who lives in Los Angeles, California, and Roy, deceased. Septem- ber 7, 1876, Mr. McElhose married Miss Alice Monfort, who was born in Galesburg, Illinois, August 3, 1851, and was one of three children. Her father died when she was a baby, and her mother in 1885. Mr. and Mrs. McElhose have three children, Bertha M., Maggie S. and Roy.
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SAMUEL E. SLOCUM.
Samuel E. Slocum is one of the earliest settlers of southeastern Nebraska, and has resided in Richardson county for nearly forty years. He is one of the patriarchs, but the vigor and vivacity of the past years have by no means deserted him, and he may well be said to be eighty- nine years young. He has a good account to give of every year of his long career, and his age of usefulness is crowned in happy retirement, with serene contemplation of the years agone and with beatific visions of the bourne to which his spirit journeys. Despite his long and event- ful life, his memory travels with sure and active step along all the ways he lias come, from the time of boyhood pleasures in the old Green Moun- tain state, through the restless activity of young manhood, and thence through the sober realities of the past fifty years. He truly deserves the honor and veneration which all who know freely accord him.
Mr. Slocum was born in Addison county, Vermont, January I, 1815, or, as his father used to tell him, on the first day of the year, the first of the month, the first of the week, and at sunrise. His earliest ancestors were from England, whence three Slocum brothers came years ago and settled in Rhode Island. His grandfather, Samuel Slocum, was a farmer of Addison county, Vermont, where he died at the age of eighty years. He held a commission as lieutenant in the army of the Revolution, and his son Samuel fought in the war of 1812, and the latter's son, Samuel E., was a babe in the cradle when Jackson fought the battle of New Orleans. Samuel Slocum, the father of Samuel E. Slocum, was born near Providence, Rhode Island, and died in 1865, in Richardson county, Nebraska, when aged eighty-four years. He fol- lowed the sea from the age of thirteen to twenty-six, rising from cabin boy to the position of captain of a vessel. He married Mary Sherman, of Rhode Island, and they had the following children: Henry Sher-
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man died in Minnesota in middle life, leaving one son and two daugh- ters; Samuel E. is the next; Elizabeth died in Meadville, Pennsyl- vania, in middle life, leaving a family; George, a resident of Chautau- qua county, New York, was the first justice of the peace of the county and held the office for twenty-eight years; Fitzgerald, proprietor of a hotel at Lake City, Minnesota, has two sons and seven daughters; Ruth, Mrs. William Stringham, living at Lake City, Minnesota; Amanda, of Lake City, has four sons and one daughter; Manley, a carpenter and contractor of California, has two daughters and one son; Lucy is deceased.
Mr. Samuel E. Slocum was reared on a Vermont farm, with his educational equipment acquired in the district schools and his further training for life gained on his father's small farm. On May I of the year he was nineteen years old he went to Brighton, New York, and was employed on a farm there from May 9 till the following October. His father then came through, being on his way to a more western place of settlement, and he joined the rest of the family and located with them in Crawford county, Pennsylvania, where he helped clear a farm from the woods. Crawford county was his home for nineteen years, and in that time he grew to manhood and gained a foothold in the world of affairs.
In 1855 he sold his seventy acre farm in Pennsylvania and migrated west as far as Clayton county, Iowa, where he bought an improved half section on which he lived for eight years. He then sold and went up into Minnesota, where he bought a quarter section of wild land for a thousand dollars, and after three years of labor spent on it he sold the place for three thousand dollars. He had raised over thirteen hun- dred bushels of wheat, seven hundred of oats, besides large amounts of corn and potatoes. In September, 1865, he arrived in Richardson
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county, Nebraska. On Saturday night he stopped at the home of his daughter, Mrs. John P. King, and on the following Wednesday was making hay on his own land. He was a prosperous agriculturist for many years, but is now retired from active duties, making his home alternately with his sons James and George, both in this county.
Mr. Slocum has been married three times, and all the marriages took place while he was living in Pennsylvania. His first union, in 1837, was with Mary V. Line, a lady of most estimable virtues, who died sixteen years later, leaving two sons and three daughters, of whom Mrs. J. P. King is the eldest. His second marriage was to Martha M. Maxwell, who died at the birth of her first child. He was married in 1854 to Miss Elizabeth Smith, a daughter of John Smith, and they had a most happy and useful marital life of forty-six years. Mrs. Slocum died on the farm in Nebraska, May 2, 1900, when almost eighty years old. She and her husband were Methodists of many years' standing, and she was a most pious and worthy woman. Mr. Slocum was formerly a Whig, but a Republican since the party was organized.
W. W. WRIGHT.
W. W. Wright, county treasurer of Gage county, Nebraska, and a prominent resident of Beatrice, has been in this locality since 1880 and has held his present office since 1901. Mr. Wright was born near Mon- roeville, Huron county, Ohio, April 8, 1857, and is a son of James Wright, who was born in Lincolnshire, England, and came to the United States when a young man, settling in Ohio. The maiden name of his wife was Eliza Wakefield, born and reared in England, and married in this country. They first resided in Huron county, but later
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located in Wood county, Ohio, where the father was a prosperous farmer and stock-raiser. In politics he was a Republican, and his religious convictions made him an Episcopalian, while his wife was a Methodist. The following family were born to them: Charles H .; William W .; Mary, deceased; Emma; James; Lydia; Riley, deceased; Etta; Frank; Dudley; three died in infancy.
Mr. W. W. Wright was reared in Ohio and then went to Nebraska. During his boyhood he was taught the principles of integrity and hon- esty. He developed his muscle on the farm and received his education in the public schools. After attaining his majority he was a successful teacher for some time in Nebraska, coming here in 1880 and locating at Blue Springs, Gage county. Later he moved to Wymore, where he invested largely in real estate, bought and sold land with marked suc- cess and followed that business until he was elected to his present office of county treasurer.
In May, 1902, he married Tillie Kuhn, a native of Flat Rock, Ohio. She is a daughter of Alfred and Susanna Kuhn, and the former is now deceased. Mr. Wright has always been an ardent Republican, active in the work of the party, and served in various offices of responsi- bility. He has also represented his party as a delegate to various con- ventions. Fraternally he is a Mason and is a member of the blue lodge and chapter. He served as high priest of the local lodge for fourteen years. He is now grand scribe of the Grand Chapter of Nebraska. He is a man of personal magnetism, jovial in manner and one who makes and retains many friends. He moved to Beatrice in 1901, where he still resides.
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CAPTAIN ISAAC N. HICKMAN.
Captain Isaac N. Hickman, of Beatrice, Gage county, Nebraska, is one of the honored veterans and members of the G. A. R. post of this city. His war record began in August, 1862, when he enlisted at St. Louis, Missouri, in Company A, Thirtieth Missouri Volunteer Infantry although he had been active as a recruiting officer prior to this and was therefore elected second lieutenant. The regiment was placed under the command of General Sherman, First Brigade, First Division, Fifteenth Army Corps, and he was promoted for gallant service to Captain of the Sixth United States heavy artillery under Colonel B. G. Farrar, and had charge at Natchez of the fortifications. At the close of the war, after an honorable record too lengthy to insert in full in this brief space, Captain Hickman remained at Natchez until 1866, and then removed to St. Louis, where he served on the police force of that city for some time.
The birth of Captain Hickman took place in Jefferson county, Mis- souri, in 1841, the same year that King Edward was born. His ancestors were the Hickmans of Kentucky, early settlers of Kentucky, a number of whom participated in the war of 1812. He is a son of William Hickman, of Kentucky, and Mary Jane (Wilson) Hickman who was born in Jefferson county, Missouri, of an old southern family. Both are now deceased, the father dying on a farm at the age of forty-two. In politics he was a Whig, and in religion a Baptist as was also his wife, who died at the age of seventy.
Captain Hickman was reared in Jefferson county, and while se- curing what education he could he learned both the cooper and mason's trade and became very successful as a brickmason, following the latter trade for some years. His next business venture was the conducting of a store at Highridge, Jefferson county, Missouri, and he was engaged
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in that line when he entered the war. As before stated, he served on the St. Louis police force, but in 1871 he removed to Nebraska, settling in October of that year at Beatrice, where he was married to Mrs. Phoebe (Roads) Nesley, widow of David Nesley, who had served in an Ohio regiment, but died in Illinois leaving a widow and two chil- dren, namely: Emma died at the age of twelve; Minnie died at the age of eight. Mrs. Hickman was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, and is a daughter of Elias and Nancy Roads, who came to Nebraska and died in Beatrice. The following children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hickman : Walter A., a business man of Beatrice; Charles M .; and Wil- liam who died at the age of fifteen months.
Captain Hickman resides at 901 Market street. In politics he is a Republican and is a prominent member of Rawlins Post No. 35. Fra- ternally he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and has passed all the chairs. Both he and his wife have many friends in Beatrice. Since locating in Beatrice he has followed general con- tracting and building.
HENRY C. LAPP.
Henry C. Lapp, engineer of the water works and the electric light and power plant at Falls City, is an old resident of this city, having made it his home for twenty-eight years, since 1876. He saw a good deal of life and the world before he settled down to permanency in southeastern Nebraska, and his career throughout has been useful and varied enought to give it spice and interest. He is one of the fore- most citizens of Richardson county, with his place of esteem assured by years of diligent and honorable effort.
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Mr. Lapp was born in Stephenson county, Illinois, September II, 1855. The family originated in Lapland, with its first authentic rec- ord extending back to 1665, and various migrations were made, from Norway to Sweden, thence to Germany, from there to Vir- ginia, to Canada, and to Illinois. Mr. Lapp's great-grandfather was a Virginia planter, who on account of religoius scruples freed his slaves. Martin Lapp, the grandfather, was born in Virginia, and was a meniber of the religious sect of Mennonites. He was an early settler of Illinois, and his son Martin, who was born in Canada, about seven miles from Niagara Falls, was also an Illinois settler, and became the father of Henry C. Lapp. Grandfather Martin Lapp married Katie Her- shey, who was born in Pennsylvania in February 1796, and of their three sons, Abraham and Christopher still live, the latter being engaged in gold mining in Montana, and being the father of eleven children. Mar- tin Lapp, the father of Mr. H. C. Lapp, was married twice. His first wife was Miss Freeror, of Stephenson county, Illinois, and her family were Germans, who emigrated first to Philadelphia and thence to Illinois. His second wife was Miss Lizzie Gholing.
Henry C. Lapp lost his mother in 1857, and he has no recollection of the noble and good woman of whom he was the only son. He was reared in Illinois by his grandparents Lapp. He has made his own way since 1866, and left with his grandfather, who was his guardian, some twenty-seven hundred dollars, of which he received none. He was in St. Louis when they were building the big bridge across the Missis- , sippi, and worked and made his home in Springfield, Missouri, until 1871. From there he went to Waterloo, Iowa, and thence to northern Illinois. He was a fireman on a locomotive until 1876, and made his arrival in Fall City in June of that year, being on his way to San Francisco. He was with a surveying outfit in western Nebraska for a
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time, but has since been in this city, and has been the efficient engineer of the water works for some years. He had only a dollar and a quarter to his name when he was married, but his thrift and industry have gained him a goodly share of the world's goods. Ten years ago he built his cosy home of nine rooms, and he owns sixteen city lots.
Mr. Lapp was married in Falls City, June 17, 1879, to Miss Eleanora C. Fikes, who was born near Rock Island, Illinois, April 9, 1860. She has one brother, Charles, of Santa Cruz, California. Her father, John Fikes, was a farmer in New York, Illinois, Iowa and Ne- braska, coming to this state in 1864, and in 1886 went to California, where he died at the age of sixty-eight. Mr. and Mrs. Lapp have three children : Mattie is the wife of Dr. Foster, a veterinarian in Falls City ; Miss Addie resides at home; and Sidney was born May 14, 1889. Mr. Lapp is a Chapter Mason, an Odd Fellow and a Knight of Pythias. In politics he is an independent voter. His family are members of the Episcopal church.
LEWIS ACHENBACH.
Among the veterans of the Civil war who are honored by their fellow townsmen in the city of Beatrice, Gage county, Nebraska, none stand higher than the gentleman whose name heads this notice. His enlistment took place in December, 1863, at Waukegan, Lake county, Illinois, in Company I, Seventeenth Illinois Cavalry, one of the best cavalry regiments of the state, Col. Beverage (who won glory and honor in Virginia) and Captain Nathan Vose commanding. The regi- ment was ordered to Alton, Illinois, to guard prisoners. Later it was engaged in the Missouri campaign. In 1865 Mr. Achenbach suf-
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