USA > Nebraska > A Biographical and genealogical history of southeastern Nebraska, Vol. II > Part 27
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39
In Atchison county, Missouri, Mr. Freel was first married to Miss Lydia Bradley, who died in Richardson county, Nebraska, leaving five children, four of whom are still living, namely: Jasper, Theodore Thomas, Luenna and Rosa May. Felix Freel died at the age of four years. Mr. Freel was again married in 1889, his second union being with Mrs. Urvilla Jane Nicholson, a native of Morrow county, Ohio, and a daughter of Cornelius and Ruth (Hayden) Corwin. Her mother died in Morrow county, but the death of her father occurred in Jeffer-
DR. C. P. FALL HOSPITAL AND SANITARIUM
:*******
XXXXXXXX *****
903
SOUTHEASTERN NEBRASKA.
son county, Nebraska. Mrs. Freel was first married in Gage county, this state, in 1871, to Robert Nicholson, who died in Missouri, leaving three daughters, Kate, Mary and Mrs. Sarah Nadinger. Helen Nad- inger, a daughter of the last named, now makes her home with her grandmother Mrs. Freel.
Both our subject and his wife are earnest members of the Christian church, and he is also connected with the Grand Army of the Republic. By his ballot he supports the men and measures of the Republican party and has always been found as true to his duties of citizenship in times of peace as when fighting for the Union cause in the Civil war. He is a man highly respected and esteemed by all who know him, and he has many friends in his adopted county.
C. P. FALL, M. D.
C. P. Fall, M. D., who since 1888 has been one of the leading citi- zens of Beatrice, Nebraska, has established a reputation for medical and surgical skill second to none in this part of the state. Dr. Fall is a graduate of the class of 1888 of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago, Illinois. He is a native of the state of Indiana, where he was born, in Boone county, in 1863. He is a son of David and Anna (Kernodle) Fall, the former of whom was born in Tennessee and the latter in Virginia. The Fall family claims the same ancestry as Daniel Boone, and some of its early members were pioneers in Kentucky and later in Indiana. When the father of Dr. Fall located in Boone county, he erected one of the first log cabins in his locality.
Dr. Fall secured a good education in Indiana and came to Nebraska in 1881. For six years he was a resident of Aurora, Nebraska. He is
90-
SOUTHEASTERN NEBRASKA.
engaged in conducting a general hospital and sanitarium at Beatrice. He served with credit for a time as superintendent of the state institution for feeble-minded persons. He was also acting assistant surgeon in 1898 for the United States soldiers at Camp Thomas.
In 1885 at Aurora, Nebraska, Dr. Fall married Miss Anna Kemper, who was reared at Plattsville, Wisconsin, a daughter of George and Anna (Womelstorf) Kemper, both of whom are natives of Germany. One daughter has been born to Dr. and Mrs. Fall, Hazel, a student in the local schools. Dr. Fall is a valued member of the State and County Medical Societies, and the American Medical Association.
ANDREW D. BARCLAY.
Andrew D. Barclay, a leading merchant and the postmaster of Bookwalter, Pawnee county, Nebraska, has been a resident of Nebraska during most of his adult life, and is one of the best known and most successful business men of Pawnee county. Being now in the very prime of his life and powers, he is conducting his business with marked energy and is foremost in all that concerns the upbuilding and welfare of his town and county. He is essentially a man of business capacity, enterprising and progressive, and is possessed of all the qualities needed to build up a mercantile establishment such as that of which he is a co- partner.
The present business of Barclay Brothers, dealers in general mer- chandise, was founded some years ago, and its executive head was the late James M. Barclay, whose memory will always be revered as that of a leading and prominent citizen. He was postmaster before his brother Andrew took the office. He was born and reared in Will county, Illi-
905
SOUTHEASTERN NEBRASKA.
nois, and at his death left three children, Fred, Alice and Fanny, who had been deprived of their mother several years before. He was a worthy member of the Masonic fraternity, and was buried with the rites of that order.
Andrew D. Barclay was born near Joliet, Will county, Illinois, in 1857, a year after his father, James Barclay, had settled there. The latter was born in Scotland, of an old highland family that had partici- pated in some of the early Scottish wars. He was married in Scotland, and his wife's name was Rachel McMicken, who died in Illinois. He died February 6, 1904.
Andrew D. Barclay was reared on an Illinois farm and received his education in Will county. He was one of five children, the others being James, mentioned above; William, of Kansas City; Thomas, of the firm of Barclay Brothers; and Agnes, deceased. Mr. Barclay had some business training before leaving Illinois, and at the age of twenty-one went west to Colorado for two years. He was then in Hitchcock county, Nebraska, for a year, and then settled on a farm in Pawnee county, where he successfully carried on agricultural pursuits until 1897, when he was appointed to the office of postmaster and at the same time en- gaged in the merchandise business with his brother. They have gained a large patronage in the town and surrounding country through their honorable methods of dealing and enterprising ways of building up trade, and the establishment is one of the best in the county. Mr. Barclay is a bachelor, and popular with all associates. He is a strong Republican, and he is solid and stanch in his opinions so that the people know where he stands on questions affecting the public welfare.
906
SOUTHEASTERN NEBRASKA.
ARNOLD W. GROUT.
Arnold W. Grout is one of the well known residents of Wymore, Nebraska, and a veteran of the Civil war. He began his career as a soldier when he enlisted at St. Charles, Minnesota, in August, 1862, in Company D, Seventh Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, Colonel Wil- liam R. Marshall and Captain Rollo Banker commanding, being ordered to Fort Abercrombie.
Mr. Grout was born in Canada, August 17, 1835, and is a son of Ebenezer Grout, of Scotch descent. Ebenezer married Rhoda Stone, who was a daughter of George and Elizabeth Stone of Revolutionary stock. The Grout family went to Fox Lake, Wisconsin, in 1854, and to Minnesota in 1856, and located there among the early settlers of their locality. The father died in 1865, aged sixty-one years, while the mother died at the age of sixty-eight years. Both were Baptists.
Arnold W. Grout was reared in Canada and educated in the schools of his vicinity. In January, 1869, at St. Charles, he was married to Sarah B. Ramsden, who was born in Manchester, England, February 22, 1836, being a daughter of Rev. John Ramsden, a Baptist preacher. Her father is also a manufacturer of bolts and nuts. He is recog- nized as a man of education and great piety.
Mr. and Mrs. Grout have two children now living, namely : Lisette and Hattie. The latter married R. T. McCall and has a daughter Mable. In politics Mr. Grout is a Republican and is interested in local affairs. He is also a member of Coleman's Post, No. 115, G. A. R. His wife is a prominent member of the Women's Relief Corps. In religious faith both are Baptists and very good church workers. They are kindhearted people, very hospitable and well liked by all who know them.
907
SOUTHEASTERN NEBRASKA.
FRANKLIN MILLER.
Franklin Miller, of Lincoln precinct, Saline county, has resided and wrought in this portion of southeastern Nebraska since 1877, and during this twenty-seven years or more his substantiality as a man of affairs and his influence and worth as a citizen have kept pace with time and brought him to a position of prominence in the life of his com- munity. In his early years he gave his service to his country as a sol- dier, and now for many years has devoted himself successfully to the cultivation of the soil, which, in the words of Daniel Webster, "is the most important labor of man."
Mr. Miller is not yet sixty years old, but his life has been a very busy one from youth up. He was born in Medina county, Ohio, Sep- tember 29, 1846, and comes from an old family of Pennsylvania. His grandfather Peter Miller was bound out when a child, but made him- self so useful and showed so much capability that when he was of age his employer gave him one hundred and sixty acres of government land in Summit county, Ohio, and this estate is still owned in the Miller name. Samuel Miller, the son of this Ohio settler and the father of Franklin, was a native of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, and married Elizabeth Baughman, a native of Northampton county, Pennsylvania. both of whom are now deceased. In 1861 they moved to Christian county, Illinois, Samuel Miller died in 1879 at the age of sixty. He had followed carpentering and farming for a life occupation, and in poli- tics he was a Whig and a Democrat, and in religion a member of the Reformed church. He and his wife were parents of eight children, four sons and four daughters.
Mr. Franklin Miller was reared in Summit county, Ohio, near Ak- ron, but in 1861 accompanied his parents to Christian county, Illinois. He had only a fair education, and is a man of self-attainment and
908
SOUTHEASTERN NEBRASKA.
has gained what he possesses by his own efforts. He remained at home until October, 1864, and then entered the United States regular army as a recruit, being assigned to Company B, First Battalion of the Thirteenth United States Infantry, Captain Duffy and Colonel Reeves commanding. This regiment had been organized in 1861, and Mr. Miller joined it at Nashville, Tennessee, was sent to St. Louis, thence to Fort Riley, Kansas, and was on general and special duty in the west for some time. He was sent, in 1866, to Camp Cook, sixty miles from the headwaters of the Missouri river, and remained there until August, 1867, when he received his honorable discharge, after having given full and faithful service to his country. He returned to Chris- tian county, Illinois, and engaged in farming for some years.
In 1869 he was married to Miss Fyetta E. Kammerer, a lady of worth and singular strength of character. She was born in North- ampton county, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Joseph and Matilda (John- son) Kammerer, the former of whom died in Illinois at the age of sixty-eight and the latter at the age of fifty-four. Her parents were members of the Reformed church, and there were fifteen children in their family, five sons and ten daughters, all of whom grew up. Those living in Saline county besides Mrs. Miller are Savannah Henshue, Alice Krider, and Mrs. John Loutzenhiser. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have four children, and lost one, Milton, when three years old. Those liv- ing are: Alice, who is a successful teacher; Melvin; Myron, who has a homestead in the state of Washington ; and Roy, at home.
Mr. Miller came to Saline county in 1877, and in 1892 he purchased his present fine estate of two hundred and forty acres in Lincoln pre- cinct. He also owns eighty acres on Johnson creek, and this is farmed by his son. He has a nice modern residence, built at a cost of twelve hundred dollars, and the improvements and general cultivation and ap-
909
SOUTHEASTERN NEBRASKA.
pearance of the place indicate a master hand at the agricultural busi- ness and a thrifty and successful manager. The house and the buildings are almost hidden during the summer in a fine grove of fruit and shade trees, the barns and stock and grain buildings are well placed and ample, the fences are kept in excellent repair, and one would have to search the township through to find a prettier or more productive farmstead.
Mr. Miller takes much interest in the public welfare of his com- munity. He is a stanch Populist, has been justice of the peace in his precinct, was assessor for five years, is a member of the school board, and in all things a thoroughly good citizen. He is a man of large and rugged physique, and is genial and of a happy temperament and wide-awake and interested in all that transpires both locally and na- tionally. He is a member of the Grand Army post, is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen, and belongs to the Evangelical church.
JOHN L. TIDBALL.
John L. Tidball is the president of the First National Bank of Crete, in which city he has made his home since June, 1870. He was therefore one of the pioneer settlers of Saline county, became one of the founders of Crete and from its early development has taken an active and helpful part in its progress and upbuilding. Although an old set- tler he is not an old man, but is still in the prime of life, an active, useful factor in the business circles of Crete. His birth occurred in Newcastle, Pennsylvania, October 6, 1844. Thomas Tidball, the founder of the family in America, was a seafaring inan, who came from Eng- land, arriving in Philadelphia, on the IIth of August, 1714. On the 6th of July, 1715, he was married to Elizabeth Brownhill, also a native
910
SOUTHEASTERN NEBRASKA.
of England, and they became the parents of eleven children, six sons and five daughters : Richard, who was born May 27, 1716; Thomas; John; Sarah; Mary; Elizabeth; Alice; James; Joseph; William and Ra- chel, who was born on the Ist of June, 1740. William Tidball, the next to the youngest of the family, was born November 23, 1736, and died in 1814. He settled in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburg, about 1760. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Miss Sheely, was the mother of John Tidball, the grandfather of him whose name introduces this review. John Tidball was born in Virginia, May I, 1766, and died at Newcastle, Pennsylvania, October 22, 1846. Our subject has in his possession a manuscript giving a full and complete list of his ancestors from the time of the founding of the family in America down to 1889.
James Tidball. father of our subject, was born June 5, 1801, and married Cynthia Dunlap, whose birth occurred in Warren, Ohio, August I, 1812, the wedding being celebrated October 12, 1836. They became the parents of eight children, four sons and four daughters, of whom two sons died in early life. Clayton Tidball, born August 20, 1837, died March 28, 1855, at the age of eighteen years. Mary, the second member of the family, is the wife of Rev. William D. Patton, a Pres- byterian minister of Omaha, Nebraska, and they had three sons. Sarah C. is the widow of Rev. David Patton, who was a captain in the Civil war, going forth to battle in the Union army soon after he was ordained to the ministry, and after the war he served as pastor of the churches at Pine Grove and Petroleum in central Pennsylvania. He died at the age of forty years, leaving a widow and three children, of whom Mrs. Patton and the eldest daughter now survive. John is the next member of the Tidball family. Louisa J. is the widow of Rev. Cowgill G. Cooper and resides in Crete with two sons and one daughter. Charles
9II
SOUTHEASTERN NEBRASKA.
M., born March 5, 1849, died September 26, 1851. Margaret is the widow of Rev. Alonzo Lawrence, of Lincoln, Nebraska, and has one daughter. Riley, born September 26, 1854, is a lumber merchant of Lincoln, Nebraska. The father died at Moberly, Missouri, September 5, 1883, and the mother, who was born on the Ist of August, 1812, died in Crete, May 25, 1886. Her father was James Dunlap, who was twice married. He was a farmer by occupation and removed from Pennsylvania to Ohio, becoming one of the pioneer settlers of the latter state. There his death occurred at the advanced age of eighty years. He lived an upright and honorable life, and long served as deacon of the Presbyterian church in which he held membership.
John L. Tidball pursued his education in the high school at New- castle, Pennsylvania, and at twenty-one years of age went to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he entered the Duff Commercial College, in 1865. He afterward located in Warren, Ohio, where he was employed as bookkeeper in a wholesale grocery house for four years. He settled in Ashland, Nebraska, June 19, 1869, and was there engaged in the lumber business as a member of the firm of Tidball & Iddings. In June, 1870, he came to Crete, where he engaged in general merchan- dising as a member of the firm of Vollantine, Tidball & Company, the silent partner being William Hain. Mr. Tidball built the first store in Crete. The firm had the contract to furnish the supplies for the rail- road and had several places of business, but made Crete their head- quarters. They continued in business together for three years, and in 1873 the firm of Tidball & Fuller, lumber merchants, was formed and had a continuous existence until 1895, during which time they established many yards, having business in from eighteen to twenty places. Mr. Tidball is a man of excellent business ability and keen foresight, and readily recognizes an opportunity. On the 22d of May, 1882, he or-
912
SOUTHEASTERN NEBRASKA.
ganized the First National Bank at Crete and has been its president continuously since. In the incorporation he was associated with John R. Clark, who was the cashier of the First National Bank of Lincoln; H. S. Fuller, who became vice president; John P. Clarey, who became cashier; and R. M. Tidball, a brother of our subject, who was one of the directors. The bank was capitalized for fifty thousand dollars under the name of the First National Bank of Crete. It has had a steady growth and has become one of the strong, reliable financial insti- tutions of the state.
Mr. Tidball was married on the 10th of October, 1871, to Miss Emma S. Fuller, of Warren, Ohio, a daughter of the late Judge Ira L. Fuller, who was the leading lawyer of the northern part of Ohio. Judge Fuller married Miss Mary B. Stevens, and they became the parents of eight children, three sons and five daughters. His death occurred in Warren, Ohio, October 8, 1874, when he was about sixty years of age, his birth having occurred in Broome county, New York, in November, 1814. He was married at Newton Falls, Ohio, October 12, 1840, to Miss Mary B. Stevens, whose birth occurred in Warren, Ohio, October 25, 1822. She is now a widow residing in Crete, and although she is an octogenarian she retains her physical and mental faculties to a remarkable degree. To Mr. and Mrs. Tidball have been born five children. Clayton Fuller, born January 22, 1873, is a dealer in coal and lumber. He married Bessie Murphy and they have four children, two sons and two daughters. Mary Tidball is the wife of Rev. Lucius F. Reed, a Congregational minister now located at Montpelier, Vermont. Katherine L. is the wife of A. D. Johnston, assistant cashier of the First National Bank at Cheyenne, Wyoming, and they have one daughter. John L. Tidball, Jr., is now attending Doane College as a member of the class of 1905. Harriet P. Tidball is also a student in
913
SOUTHEASTERN NEBRASKA.
Doane College, and the married daughters are both graduates of that institution.
Mr. Tidball has been identified with the Masonic fraternity for thirty-seven years, became a charter member of the lodge at Crete and is now a past master. He also belongs to Mount Zion Chapter, No. 17, R. A. M .; Mount Morah Commandery, No. 4, K. T., of Lincoln, Ne- braska; and to Gesostris Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Lincoln. He is also connected with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In politics a Republican, he has served for twenty-one consecutive years as a member of the school board and is also a trustee of Doane College. He is a member of the Congregational church, of which he is a trustee, and he takes a deep and active interest in everything pertaining to the substantial, intellectual and moral development of this community. His large brick residence was erected in 1882, and is one of the best homes of Crete, standing in the midst of a plat of ground covering eight lots, shaded by beautiful trees. It is approached from the north over a pictur- esque bridge. His first home was a modest frame dwelling, in which he lived from 1871 until 1882, but as his financial resources increased he took great delight in providing his present fine residence for his family. He is well known and highly respected not only as one of the successful business men of Crete, but also as one whose career will bear the closest investigation and scrutiny, and whose life record has always been characterized by those things which are honorable and commendable between man and man.
914
SOUTHEASTERN NEBRASKA.
DR. ISAAC M. FRY.
Dr. Isaac M. Fry, who is the leading dentist of Hebron, Nebraska, has practiced his profession in this city for over a quarter of a century, and is thus ranked among the old-time residents. He is one of the capa- ble and skillful representatives of a profession which has kept pace with the wonderful progress made in the allied science of surgery, and which has done so much to alleviate many of the ills of man and served to increase his health and happiness manifold. Dr. Fry is a product of the school of experience and hard effort, for in the main he has relied on his own toil and the study of dental literature and books to bring him to the front in his occupation. He has gained the high esteem of his associates in business and social life, and is honored for the part he has played in advancing the welfare and prosperity of the citizens of Hebron and Thayer county.
Dr. Fry was born in Seneca county, Ohio, February 3, 1842, and is descended on the paternal side from old Holland anestors. His father, Enoch Fry, was born in Maryland in 1811 and died in 1892. He married Miss Rhoda Wolf, who was born near Columbus, Ohio. Her father, John Wolf, was a native of Pennsylvania, whence he re- moved to the Buckeye state and became one of the influential men of his community.
Dr. Fry, the third of eleven children in the family of his parents, spent the years of his youth in the labor of the farm in Ohio, and was educated in the public schools. His first experience on his own account was acting as a nursery salesman, and then he taught school for awhile. In 1864, when twenty-two years old, he set out for the west via the overland route, and ou this trip first became acquainted with his future home in the state of Nebraska. He went through Montana and Salt Lake City, to California, and remained there two years. At Suisun,
915
SOUTHEASTERN NEBRASKA.
California, he took up the study of dentistry under Dr. Howe, and laid the foundation for his later training. He returned to Ohio by the water route, and then took a collegiate course of one year. He began the practice of his profession in the state of Missouri, and while there met with an accident in which he lost a leg. He took up his perma- nent residence in Hebron in 1875, and has since carried on a most satis- factory practice. At the same time for a few years here he farmed and raised stock, but has since devoted his time and energy to his pro- fession.
Dr. Fry's first wife was Miss Clementina West, who was born in Vermont and reared in Ohio. She was the mother of one child, Ezra W., who died in infancy. Dr. Fry was afterward married in Kansas to Mrs. Ellen Ellis, a native also of Ohio, and they have had six children, as fol- lows : Rhoda R., Paul B., Cora B., Maggie A. and Beulah M., and Emma L., deceased.
During the Civil war Dr. Fry enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty-third Ohio Infantry, but was discharged by reason of physical disability. He was afterwards enlisted with the Ohio state militia, but owing to his trip across the plains he did not engage with them in actual service. He has always been identified with the Republican party, al- though without seeking political preferment. He affiliates with the Knights and Ladies of Security and with the Modern Woodmen of America. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Hebron when it had only six members. He was licensed to preach as a local minister, and held regular services at different school- houses for some years. He was appointed as supply to a circuit in Fill- more county for one year, and was later appointed as a supply to finish three-fourths of a year at Reynolds, Nebraska.
Dr. Fry's character is versatile and broad, and from the serious rou-
916
SOUTHEASTERN NEBRASKA.
tine of gaining a livelihood he has often turned aside into more pleasant paths and allowed his intellectual and spiritual nature to browse upon the less common interests of the world. His father often called him a genius on account of his tendency, when a boy on the farm, to do mechani- cal work in his own original way. In later life he has come to believe there is no genius except that of honest toil in the use of every faculty of his being for the glory of God and the good of his fellow men, but nevertheless his originating faculty has given him two practical devices for which he has patents, and there is another patent pending on a tooth crown. He is also developing other inventions that he hopes to patent and introduce, among them being an improvement in artificial limbs. Since he has worn a limb of his own make for many years past, he has been able to experiment at his own expense, and turn his own misfortune to account for his fellow men.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.