USA > Nebraska > A Biographical and genealogical history of southeastern Nebraska, Vol. I > Part 35
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Beebe and Colonel Crawford. He took part in the battle of Russellville, Kentucky ; Loudon, Tennessee ; and Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, being stationed at the latter place for some time. When hostilities had ceased, he was honorably discharged at Nasliville on the 20th of July, 1865.
At the age of twenty-one years Mr. Goin led to the marriage altar Miss Elizabeth Ann McVey, who was also born, reared and educated in Claiborne county, Tennessee, and their union has been blessed by eleven children, those still living being Josephine, Lewis, Philip, Margaret A., Eli, Della, Nellie, Lulu and Ethel. Levi and Maud are both deceased.
In 1869 Mr. Goin brought his family to Nebraska and settled on a farm west of Liberty in Gage county. In 1882 he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of rich bottom land, which he has converted into a fine farm, having erected thereon a good comfortable residence at a cost of fourteen hundred dollars and a barn at a cost of eight hundred. He has an orchard and grove upon his place, and a stream of running water adds to its beauty. Like his father Mr. Goin is unswerving in his allegiance to the Republican party and its principles, and he is an active church worker, serving as deacon of the Goodhope Baptist church, to which he belongs. His support is never withheld from any enterprise which he believes calculated to promote the moral, educational or social welfare of the community in which he lives, and he is recognized as a valued and useful citizen.
GREENVILLE G. SHANNON.
Prominent among the honored pioneers and representative citizens of Gage county, Nebraska, is numbered Greenville G. Shannon, whose home is in Island Grove township. He came here in territorial days and since 1857 has been identified with the interests of the state.
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Mr. Shannon was born in Giles county, Virginia, on the 9th of June, 1828, and comes of a good old family of that state. His paternal grandfather was Samuel B. Shannon, who was a native of Burkes Garden of the Old Dominion, and was of Irish extraction. Our sub- ject's father, Thomas R. Shannon, was also born in Giles county and in early manhood married Sally Allen, a native of the same state. In 1833 they removed to Hendricks county, Indiana, settling thirty miles west of Indianapolis, and in 1860 came to Pawnee county, Nebraska, where the father, who was a farmer by occupation, died at the age of sixty-six years, and the mother departed this life at the age of seventy- five. They held membership in the Methodist church and had the re- spect and confidence of all who knew them. In politics the father was first a Whig and later a Republican. He had five sons : Greenville G .; William, who was a member of the Home Guards of Nebraska during the Civil war; Thomas, who was a member of the Second Nebraska Cavalry and is now a well known hotel man of Pawnee city ; and Milton, who also served in the Second Nebraska Cavalry and is now living in Ottawa county, Kansas.
Mr. Shannon was only about five years old when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Indiana, where he was reared to habits of industry, his educational privileges being limited. In 1857 he came to the territory of Nebraska and first located in Pawnee county, where he was living at the time of the rebellion. With two of his brothers he en- listed in the Second Nebraska Cavalry, under Colonel Furnas, and this regiment made for itself a gallant record in fighting the hostile Indians in the northwest. They were rough riders and undobutedly had to en- dure more hardships on the plains than those fighting in the south. For a time they were stationed at Omaha and later at North Platte and Sioux City, Iowa. They participated in the engagement at Big White Stone
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Hills, Dakota, where eight hundred Indians were either killed or taken prisoners in battle. Many of these red men had been engaged in the massacre of the white settlers at New Ulm. Milton Shannon, a brother of Greenville, was wounded in this battle and lay for some time on the battlefield with a buffalo robe over him. The Indians killed all the wounded that fell into their hands and would have killed and scalped him had he been found. Our subject contracted typhoid fever and a chronic disease, which confined him in a hospital for some time, and he also lost his eyesigh, so that he is now blind. He thus made a great sacrifice for his country and the debt of gratitude which it owes to him can never be repaid. At the close of the war he received an honorable discharge at Nemaha, Nebraska, and returned to his home in Pawnee county. There he continued to reside until 1879, when he removed to Gage county, and here he has since made his home.
At the age of twenty-five years Mr. Shannon was united in mar- riage to Miss Anna Huff, a native of Indiana and a daughter of Eldred Huff, who was a prominent man of his community and served as county surveyor in Indiana for twenty years. Mrs. Shannon died in Sidney, Indiana, leaving two children, Sally and Julia. Mr. Shannon was again married in 1868, his second union being with Mrs. Esther (Sharp) Lyons, who was born in Claiborne county, Tennessee, of which state her parents were life-long residents. She had three brothers who were soldiers of the Civil war, these being Kirk, Greenville and Elihu Sharp. Her parents were George and Agnes Sharp. Mrs. Shannon was first married to Washington Lyons, who was also among the defenders of the Union during the dark days of the rebellion and was held a prisoner at Belle Isle for nine months. He died at the early age of twenty-seven years, leaving three children : Canada; Wylie W. and Scott Lyons. By his second marriage Mr. Shannon has three children : Thomas, a resident
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of Island Grove township; Mary, wife of James Call, a resident of Gage county, by whom she has two children, Elsie Esther and Della Agnes; Hazle, a resident of Liberty, Nebraska.
Mr. Shannon never wavers in his allegiance to the Republican party, for whose principles he fought during the Civil war. He joined the party on its organization and has supported all of its presidential candidates from General Fremont down to William Mckinley. Fraternally he is connected with the Grand Army of the Republic, and in years of peace, no less than those of war, he has bravely performed his duty to his country and is justly entitled to a place on the nation's roll of honor.
HARRISON REED.
Harrison Reed, better known throughout Nemaha county, Nebras- ka, as "Uncle Dick Reed," is one of the most interesting personalities and old-timers of the southeastern part of the state. He is passing the days of an unusually long and useful life in easy retirement on a farm in Glen Rock precinct, on rural route No. I from Auburn. On June I, 1857, Mr. Reed made a picturesque arrival in the town of Peru, although it was at that time an event of common occurrence. Driving two yoke of oxen to a prairie schooner, in which were his household goods and his family, and with some five cows, he made his advent to this place as the goal of a journey which had consumed from the 5th of April, and was unusually slow and toilsome on account of the stormy and backward spring. His initial starting point for the westward pilgrimage was Sulli- van county, Indiana, which he had left in the spring of 1856. On his arrival in Benton county, Iowa, he remained until the following spring, and then resumed his journey until reaching the territory of Nebraska.
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During the forty-seven years that have since elapsed he has proved him- self an individual of usefulness and influence in his community, and his assistance has more than once been rendered in the development and upbilding of this part of the country, through the period of its territorial growth and settlement and from the time of its birth into the sisterhood of states until it is now ranked as one of the full-grown and most pros- perous commonwealths of the Union. He began his career in this state in limited circumstances, having on his arrival some four hundred dollars which he and his noble wife had managed by strict economy to save, and with this as a basis he gained a gratifying degree of prosperity before reaching the days of retirement from active labor.
Uncle Dick Reed was born September 17, 1822, so that he is 110w an octogenarian and one of the oldest citizens of the county. When twenty-six years old, on February 6, 1848, he married the widow Gil- bert, nee Sarah Jane Huntsman, who was born in Kentucky, July 16, 1820. She died August 15, 1889, having been the mother of eight children, as follows: Sylvia, born in Indiana in 1849, died at the age of five; Sylvester, born in Indiana in October, 1850, resides in Auburn and has one son and two daughters; Sarah Jane died in Indiana at the age of two years; Nancy, born in Indiana, is now Mrs. Gillilan, of Custer City, Oklahoma, and has eight children living; one daughter died in in- fancy ; the next children were twins, a son and a daughter, and the former died in infancy and the latter when two years old.
William Reed, the eighth and youngest child of Harrison Reed, is now farming the home place of one hundred and sixty acres, and is a very prosperous and enterprising agriculturist and well known and popu- lar throughout the community. November 16, 1893, he married Miss Ida Head, who was born in Jasper county, Iowa, May 8, 1867, a daughter of Biggar John and Eliza (Dixon) Head, the former born in
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Highland county, Ohio, in 1813, and the latter a native of Ross county, Ohio. Her parents were married in 1844, and in 1855 came to Jasper county, Iowa, settling twenty-two miles east of Des Moines and one mile east of Prairie City, which was named by Biggar John Head. The latter paid five dollars an acre for a half section there, and this in 1871 he sold for forty-seven dollars and fifty cents an acre. He then moved to Nodaway county, Missouri, where he died in 1888, leaving all his eight children, of whom five are still living. His wife also died in Mis- souri, in 1878. Mrs. William Reed came to Nemaha county from Mis- souri in the spring of 1889, in company with a brother and a sister, the former being William Head, of Auburn, and the latter Irene Bozer, now at the Reed homestead. Mr. and Mrs. Reed have one daughter, Sylvia, a bright girl of eight years, who is a natural student and doing nicely in school. Mr. Reed owns an eighty acre tract about a mile from the home place, and is constantly making progress in his farming opera- tions and other business matters. He is a Democrat in politics, but usually votes for the man rather than the party.
JACKSON MAXWELL.
Jackson Maxwell is not only one of the leading citizens of Island Grove township, Gage county, Nebraska, but he is also an honored veter- an of the Civil war, having devoted the opening years of his manhood to the defense of the country. He is a native of Indiana, born in Mor- gan county, that state, on the 27th of July, 1842, and is a son of William and Lettie (Manley) Maxwell, who were natives of Pennsylvania and Indiana, respectively. On the paternal side he is of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His grandfather, James Maxwell, was a soldier of the English
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army. The maternal grandfather was John R. Manley, a pioneer of Indiana. From that state the parents of our subject started westward with the view of locating in Iowa, but the father died near Bloomington, Illinois, when en route. His widow and children proceeded on their way, and the mother is still living near Braddyville, Page county, Iowa, at the ripe old age of eiglit-one years. She is an earnest member of the Metho- dist church, to which her husband also belonged, and in politics he was a Democrat. He made farming his principal occupation throughout life. The children of the family are Jackson, J. D., John M., George W., William R. and J. T.
Jackson Maxwell grew to manhood on a farm near Albia in Monroe county, Iowa, and, being the oldest of the family, he was of great assis- tance to his mother after the father's death in carrying on the home farm and in caring for the younger children. His school privileges were somewhat limited, but he made the most of his advantages and by read- ing and observation has become a well informed man.
Mr. Maxwell was only twenty years of age when he offered his services to the country to aid in crushing out the rebellion, enlisting on the 22d of August, 1862, at President Lincoln's call for three hundred thousand more volunteers. He became a member of Company K, Thirty-sixth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and was under the command of Captain George Noble and Colonel C. W. Kitridge, of Ottumwa, Iowa. The regiment was first ordered to Keokuk and from there to Benton Barricks, Missouri, and was later in Memphis, Tennessee; Helena, Arkansas; Fort Pemberton; and Little Rock. Under the command of General Steele the regiment marched toward the Red river and were in the engagements at Camden and Pine Bluff. At the latter place Mr. Maxwell was taken prisoner by the rebels, being held as such for ten months, nine months of which time he was confined in the prison at
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Tyler, Texas, He was then taken down the Red river to Shreveport, Louisiana, where he was exchanged on the 14th of Februray, 1865, and sent to New Orleans and on to the north. Being granted a furlough he returned home and later rejoined his command at St. Charles, Ar- kansas. The war having ended and his services being no longer needed, he was honorably discharged in August, 1865, and returned home with a war record of which he may be justly proud. During his service he had the bones in one finger of the left hand broken and it has since been useless.
From Monroe county, Iowa, Mr. Maxwell removed to Shelby county, that state, and he was married in Montgomery county on the 24th of November, 1867, to Miss Nancy Thornton. She is a daughter of Joseph and Anna (Honaker) Thornton, natives of Virginia and representatives of an old and honored family of that state. For some time her parents lived in Kentucky and from there removed to Illinois. Later they went to Iowa, and after living for a time near Albia in Mon- roe county, they settled near Red Oak in Montgomery county, where Mr. Thornton died at the age of seventy-four years. His widow came to Gage county, where she died at the age of ninety-two years in 1896. In religious belief she was a Baptist and her husband was a member of the same church. By occupation he was a farmer and politically was a supporter of the Democratic party. Their family consisted of ten children, namely: Isaac, who went to California and died on his way home, being buried at sea; Elizabeth; Aaron; Susan; Thomas; Nancy, the wife of Mr. Maxwell; William M .; Francis; and two children who died young.
To Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell were born four children, but William J. died in infancy ; and Emma Jane died at the age of twenty-two years. She was an active member of the Methodist church and an earnest Chris-
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tian worker and was loved and respected by all who knew her. Her death was widely and deeply mourned. Those of the family still liv- ing are Benjamin F., who married Rosa Withers and has one child, Violet Marie; and Charles F., who married Myra Lane and has two chil- dren, Harold and Mildred.
In 1867 Mr. Maxwell removed to Shelby county, Iowa, and after residing near Harlan for a time he located near Corley, where he made his home until 1883. That year witnessed his arrival in Gage county, Nebraska, and he has since been identified with the agricultural interests of this locality. He is to-day the owner of a well improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres, on which he has erected a good house and barn at a cost of ten thousand dollars. There is also a nice grove and 'orchard which add greatly to the beauty of the place, making it one of the most attractive country homes of the county.
The Republican party has always found in Mr. Maxwell a stanch supporter of its principles, and he is an honored member of the Grand Army of the Republic. Both he and his wife belong to the Methodist church, and they are numbered among the most highly respected and es- teemed citizens of their community.
WILLIAM RETCHLESS.
William Retchless, one of the old settlers and prominent citi- zens of Liberty township, Gage county, Nebraska, is one of the honored veterans of the Civil war. His career as a soldier commenced with his enlistment at Lockport, New York, August 7, 1862, for three years in the Nineteenth New York Light Artillery, under Captain William Stall and Captain E. W. Rogers. His company was taken into the Army
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of the Potomac. He participated in battle of Suffolk, Virginia, defense of Washington, Wilderness, and Spottsylvania and was there wounded. He served until February 20, 1865, when he was honorably discharged.
The birth of Mr. Retchless occurred in Cambridge, England, Octo- ber 4, 1844. He is a son of John and Esther (Smith) Retchless, both natives of England, who came to the United States in 1847, making the voyage in thirty-four days.
He was reared in New York state, and was married in Niagara county, March 11, 1867, to Salina Humphrey, who was born in England, a daughter of William and Esther Molton Humphrey, both of England. William Humphrey died at the age of forty-three years in New York, and his wife now resides in Niagara county, New York. The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs Retchless, namely : Alta Pope, Alice Hedricks, Alma Dewey, Frank, Charles, of New York, Fred, Edward, Jessie, Grace and Willie.
In 1876 Mr. Retchless removed to Pawnee county, Nebraska, and there remained until 1883, when he located in Liberty township, Gage county, Nebraska, and purchased a two hundred-acre farm. He now has one of the finest pieces of property in the community. His house is a comfortable residence, and his barns and outbuildings are in good order, while the farm is well stocked and a good windmill pro- vides water. He conducts a general farming and stock-raising busi- ness and has been very successful. In politics he is a Republican, and strongly advocates the principles of that party. He is also a G. A. R. man, and is connected with the John E. Ingham Post at Pawnee city, Nebraska. Both he and his wife make all visitors welcome to their delightful home, and they have many friends throughout the entire county, where they are so well and favorably known.
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HIRAM SCHOONOVER.
Hiram Schoonover, a fruit farmer in the precinct of Brownville, has made his home in this locality during the past nineteen years. He was born in Pennsylvania on the 24th of December, 1831, but when a small boy was taken from his native place to Mason county, Illinois. His father, Dennis Schoonover, was also a native of the Keystone state, where he followed agricultural pursuits until his removal to Illinois, where in the summer of 1863, at the age of sixty-six years, he acci- dentally shot himself, leaving a family of eight children, three sons and five daughters. The mother of these children, Anna Wise, had died in Mason county, Illinois, about 1857, when fifty-four years of age. Their eight children were as follows: Almira, who was born in 1829, is now the widow Lane and resides in Mason county; Hiram; Martha, the wife of Hugh Fannin, of Illinois; Hettie Sapp, deceased; Jacob, a farmer in Fulton county, Illinois; Wilson, who was a soldier in the Civil war, and died at the age of twenty-one years; Sally Ann, a widow residing in Mason county; and Mahala, who died at the age of ten years.
Hiram Schoonover received but limited educational advantages during his youth, and remained at home until his marriage, although from the age of twenty-three years he had been employed by others, three years of the time remaining on one farm in Cass county, Illinois, where his services were highly appreciated. In the spring of 1862, from Bath, Mason county, Illinois, he enlisted for services in the Civil war, entering Company F, Fifty-first Illinois Volunteer Infantry, for three years. On the 27th of the following June he was wounded at Kenesaw Mountain, Tennessee, the ball passing through his left arm, carrying away his right thumb, unjointing his index finger and making a ghastly wound in his right cheek. He was a universal favorite with
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his comrades and the officers, was never refused a pass, and universally received the prize on dress parade. Mr. Schoonover was honorably dis- charged at Springfield, Illinois, and for his services during the war was awarded a pension of eight dollars a month, but this has since been in- creased and during the past ten or twelve years he has been receiving seventeen dollars a month.
On the 28th of February, 1865, in Mason county, Illinois, Mr. Schoonover was united in marriage to Miss Mary Jane Floss, a native of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Joseph Floss, a farmer and gunsmith by occupation. Mrs. Schoonover now has in her posses- sion a rifle which he made. He wedded Mary Jane Ryter, a native of Ireland, while he was born in Pennsylvania. They reared but four of their eight children, having lost two sons and two daughters in infancy, and their living children are: Sarah Ann Williams, who resides in California and has eight children : Mrs. Schoonover; and Emma Wil- liams, who resides in Illinois and is the mother of two children. Mrs. Floss was called to her final rest in 1886, when sixty-seven years of age, but her hubsand survived until 1892, passing away when eighty years of age. In her native land she was an Episcopalian although a member of a Catholic family, and in this country she was connected with the Methodist church. From Pennsylvania this couple moved to Illinois in 1848, and in 1865 came to Nemaha county, Nebraska, settling in Brownville, where they purchased lots and built a cottage home.
Mrs. Schoonover was married when eighteen years of age, and has become the mother of nine children, as follows: Mary Ellen, the wife of Frank Millsaps, a resident of Idaho and the mother of two sons; Henry resides on a ranch in South Dakota and has two sons and a daugh- ter; Clara Dooley died in 1903, leaving a little daughter; Ollie Frost re- sides in Chicago, and has been twice married, having one son by her first
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husband, Willard Foster; Anna Foxley resides in Portland, Oregon, and has one little daughter; Effie Marshall makes her home in South Dakota; Hiram Francis died at the age of four years; Mary Eva assists her mother at home; and David is seventeen years of age, and in addi- tion to assisting his father with the work of the home farm is also em- ployed by others.
In 1881, over twenty-two years ago, Mr. and Mrs. Schoonover pur- chased two acres of land in Brownville precinct, erected their pleasant home and also planted their fine orchard, consisting of about three hun- dred apple and peach trees, besides much small fruit. Many years ago Mr. Schoonover became converted to the Christian religion in the Metho- dist Episcopal church, but ere his probation had expired he joined the Baptist denomination, and was immersed before going to war. In his political affiliations he is a Prohibitionist from the ranks of the Republi- can party. He is a member of G. A. R., Ben Thompson Post, of Brownville.
JONATHAN CARPENTER.
Jonathan Carpenter, of Liberty, Gage county, Nebraska, is one of the old settlers of this locality, having come here in 1879, and he is one of the veterans of the Cival war. His enlistment took place in Washington county, Maryland, August 27, 1861, in Company B, First Maryland Cavalry, under Colonel Cole and Captain Firey, and he was honorably discharged September 17, 1864.
Mr. Carpenter was born in Washington county, Maryland, July 31, 1841, the same year of the birth of King Edward of England. He is a son of Jeremiah Carpenter, and a grandson of Henry Carpenter, a
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German by birth. The family was originally known by the name of Zimmerman, which translated means Carpenter. The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Susan Cross, and she was also born in Washington county, Maryland, and was a daughter of Colonel Cross, an officer in the Revolutionary war. Our subject's parents moved to Ne- braska and settled at Ellis, where the mother died at the age of eighty years, and the father still lives there aged eighty-six. They had the following children: Henry, Jonathan, Jerry, Theodore, Levi, Josiah, Martin, Amanda, Alice. Both parents were members of the Church of God.
Jonathan Carpenter resided in Maryland until he came west in 1879. His marriage occurred in Pennsylvania in 1866 to Maria L. Baughman, who comes of a good German family. She is a daughter of Jacob Baugh- man. In 1879 Mr. Carpenter settled in Gage county, where he has since made his home and become one of the prosperous men of the com- munity. His children were two in number : Henry of Seneca, Kansas, who married Jennie Stevens and has four children, viz .- Floyd, Dewey, Roy and Herbert; Amanda E., who died young. In politics Mr. Car- penter is a Republican and has held several township offices with credit to himself. In G. A. R. matters he is very prominent and enjoys the reunions where he meets old comrades. Frank, genial in manner, upright in living, he is highly esteemed, and his word is literally taken to be as good as his bond.
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