USA > Nebraska > A Biographical and genealogical history of southeastern Nebraska, Vol. II > Part 5
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respected citizens of Jefferson county. Like many who sail the seas and have faced its storms and its calms he has an abhorence for all that is sham and ostentatious in life and is ever true and reliable. Although now so well advanced in years he has a soldierly bearing and frank and genial nature which have endeared him to many friends.
NATHANIEL E. DAVIS.
Nathaniel E. Davis, one of the intelligent and highly esteemed citizens of Fairbury, is widely known throughout Jefferson county, hav- ing taken an active and helpful part in its improvement and upbuilding. For long years he served as county surveyor, and he has always been the advocate of progress along educational, material, social and moral lines. He was born in Niagara county, New York, on the 21st of January, 1834, his parents being Nathaniel and Sarah A. (Holmes) Davis, the former born near Saco, Maine, while the mother's birth oc- curred in Cazenovia county, New York, on January 19, 1812. The father followed agricultural pursuits throughout his business career and gave his political allegiance to the Whig party. He died at the age of seventy-one years, while his wife passed away at the age of sixty years. In their family were the following children: Sarah; Sam- nel, who was a soldier in an Illinois battery and died at LaGrange, Ten- nessee, of a fever; Nathaniel E .; Henry; Eliza, deceased; Daniel Holmes, who was a soldier of the Twenty-eighth New York Infantry and died in the service; Mary E .; Luther C .; and William E.
Nathaniel E. Davis was reared upon his home farm and early be- came familiar with the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agri- culturist. He acquired a good education and when eighteen years of
Mrs. Harriet &. Davis
Elathanel & Davis
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age began teaching. In 1855 he removed to Ogle county, Illinois, where he worked at the carpenter's trade through the summer months and in the winter season was employed as an instructor in the public schools of that locality. He was there residing at the time of the outbreak of the Civil war, and his patriotic spirit being aroused he enlisted in Ogle county, Illinois, near Rockford, in the month of August, 1862, in response to President Lincoln's call for sixty thousand men. He was assigned to duty with Company K, Ninety-second Illinois Infantry, in command of Captain Woodcock and Colonel S. D. Atkins. The reg- iment went to Rockford, Illinois, and was subsequently sent to Ken- tucky and thence to Tennessee. Mr. Davis participated in the battle of Chickamauga, and he served for some time as division postmaster. He went with General Sherman on the celebrated march to the sea and at one time acted as one of General Rosecran's body guard. He was also in the battle of Kenesaw Mountain, Resaca, Peach Tree Creek, Burnt Hickory, and proceeded on to Atlanta. There he was captured by six rebels just before the battle on the 6th of September, 1864. He was afterward taken to Andersonville, to Black Hawk and to Florence, where he was exchanged. He suffered the hardships of rebel prison life to a greater extent than tongue can tell. He was so ill at the time that he was exchanged that he did not realize that he was granted his liberty. He was then taken on a transport to Annapolis and on to Baltimore, Maryland, where he lay ill in a hospital for some time. When he was able to be moved he was honorably discharged at the close of the war at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and returned to his home with a most creditable military record.
Once more Mr. Davis went to Illinois for a short time. He did not remain in that state for any length of period, however, but came to Nebraska, and in 1865 secured a homestead claim and established his
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residence here, locating in Antelope precinct, Jefferson county. Here he built a log shanty with a dirt roof, but though the home was small, hospitality always reigned supreme there and the latch string ever hung outside. There were many hardships and difficulties to be met. There were the hot winds of summer, the blizzards of winter and there was also a grasshopper scourge in 1874, but Mr. Davis persevered and with courageous spirit worked on year after year until he had developed a fine and paying farm of two hundred acres. To this he added many modern improvements, and he now owns a valuable farming property. He also has a modern home in the town fitted up in good taste. For twenty years he served as county surveyor, and in this capacity he came to know almost every man in Jefferson county. He was the first county surveyor.
In 1869 Mr. Davis returned to the east for his bride, and on the Ist of December of that year was married in Niagara county to Miss Harriet E. Holden, a well educated lady, who had formerly been a successful teacher. She was born, reared and educated in Niagara county, and was a daughter of Ezra S. Holden, a native of Massa- chusetts. The paternal grandfather, Ezra Holden, Sr., was also born in Massachusetts and married Mrs. Deborah Hoar, a relative of the United States Senator Hoar, of Massachusetts. Their son, Ezra S. Holden, was reared in New Hampshire and was there married to Eliza- beth Davis, a native of that state and a daughter of Jason Davis, of New Hampshire. To Ezra S. and Elizabeth Holden were born twelve children, of whom one died in infancy. The others are Mrs. Nathaniel Davis; Ezra, who was a soldier of a New York regiment and was killed while defending the Union cause; Orlando, who was also one of the boys in blue in the Union army; Evander; Martha; Jason D .; Abner ; Deborah; Lucinda; Relief, deceased; and Josephine, who died
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in childhood. The father passed away when fifty-six years of age. His early political support was given the Whig party and he afterward endorsed the principles of the Republican party. His life was ever honorable and upright, and he was a worthy Christian gentleman, who held membership in the Presbyterian church and served for many years as one of its elders. His wife, also a member of the Presbyterian church, died at the age of sixty-seven years. To Mr. and Mrs. Davis have been born the following children : Lucinda, who died at the age of nine months; Jabez E., a resident of Canada; Robert E., who is a student in Hastings College at Hastings, Nebraska; Jason, who is living in the old homestead farm; and Sarah E., who is one of the successful and popular teachers of Jefferson county.
Mr. Davis is a member of Fairbury Post, G. A. R., and his wife belongs to the Relief Corps. She is also a member of the Presbyterian church and the family is prominent and popular in Fairbury and throughout Jefferson county. Mr. Davis is a man of genial nature, cordial and friendly, and those who know him entertain for him warm regard.
SETH WILSON DODGE.
Dr. Seth Wilson Dodge, physician and surgeon of Fairbury, and also mayor a second term of the same municipality, has been a resident of this part of Nebraska for over thirty-five years, and has made a fine record in his profession and as a citizen. He was a successful teacher before he entered upon the practice of medicine, and since taking up the latter career has devoted himself assiduously to its study and prac- tice. He is a man of great popularity among the citizens of Fairbury,
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as his place as their executive head would indicate, and in private and public life has been capable and public-spirited.
Dr. Dodge was born in Utica. New York, September 4, 1849, and comes of a good family. His grandparents were Calvin and Nancy (Eddy) Dodge, the former a native of Massachusetts and the latter of New York. His father was W. E. Dodge, born in New York and a farmer of that state. He married Matilda Kane, a native of New York and a daughter of Peter and Mehitable Kane, the former of whom was a soldier in the war of 1812. W. E. and Matilda Dodge had six children, three sons and three daughters, and four of them are living, the son Peter being a veterinary surgeon of Polo, Illinois. The mother of these children died at the age of seventy-five, and the father at eighty. He was a Republican, and both were members of the Meth- odist Episcopal church.
Dr. Dodge was reared until the age of sixteen in New York, and then came to Rochelle, Ogle county, Illinois, where he completed his common school education. He afterward took a course in the state Normal in Peru, Nebraska, and at the State University of Nebraska. He taught for a number of years, and was in the schools of Beatrice, Nebraska. He began the study of medicine with Dr. D. A. Walden at Beatrice, and was graduated with his medical degree from the Uni- versity of Iowa in 1882. He has served as city physician in Fairbury and was on the school board for five years. He is a Mason and also affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a repre- sentative to the grand lodge of the state. He has gained a good and representative patronage since locating in this city, and enjoys the com- plete confidence of friends and associates. He took a post-graduate course in medicine in Kansas City in 1893.
Dr. Dodge was married in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1875, to Miss
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Lotta V. Giles, a lady of education and refinement, and she was born in Peoria, Illinois, a daughter of Joseph and Susan Giles, both of whom are deceased. They have two sons: C. W. G. Dodge is a graduate of dental surgery at Chicago, in 1899, and is now practicing at Hastings, Nebraska; Gny L. graduated from the Creighton Medical School, Omaha, in 1902, and is now practicing with his father. Both sons were educated in the Nebraska State University, and they also served during the Spanish war in the Second Nebraska Regiment.
ROBERT A. CLAPP.
Robert A. Clapp, one of the foremost lawyers of Fairbury, Jef- ferson county, Nebraska, has been located in practice here for ten years, and has made rapid progress in his profession since his admission to the bar in 1892. Besides devoting himself studiously to his individual work, he has taken a prominent part in the affairs of his adopted city, has been interested in politics, and in every line of work in which he has engaged has made good.
Mr. Clapp was born in St. James, Minnesota, January 31, 1872, a son of Rev. Robert A. Clapp, a Baptist minister well known in the west, having performed his duties with zeal and energy for the long period of half a century. He was a native of New York, and married Miss Velina Knickerbocker, who came of one of the oldest New York and eastern families. She died in 1896, at the age of sixty-one, leav- ing three children : John, of Wenatchee, Washington ; Miss Mamie K., of Chicago; and Robert A.
In consequence of his father's frequent changes of residence, Mr. Clapp was reared and received his education in various places. He
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attended the schools at Fox Lake and Darlington, Wisconsin, and lived for a time in Kansas City, Missouri, and Salt Lake City, Utah. He was in the Normal and Collegiate Institute at Fairfield, Nebraska. He was admitted to the bar in 1892, and finished his legal education in 1893, at the Nebraska State University. He was attorney for the Farm- ers' Mutual Insurance Company at Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1894. He has been a resident of Fairbury since 1897. He is a stanch Republican in politics, and has been mayor of Fairbury, and popular among all classes of citizens.
Fraternally he affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows. He has been a delegate to the local, county and state conven- tions of his party since taking up his residence here, and has always been found ready to aid with advice and means any matter undertaken for the general welfare. On May 26, 1897. Mr. Clapp was married at Columbus, Nebraska, to Miss Alphonsine Cushing, an educated and cultured young woman, and they have two children, Alphonsine B. and Robert C.
JOHN B. WELSH.
John B. Welsh is a retired farmer living in Fairbury, Nebraska, and is also a self-made man who in his business career has depended entirely upon his own efforts and has thereby worked his way upward from a humble position to one of affluence, so that his capital is now sufficient to supply him with all of the necessities and comforts as well as many of the luxuries of life. He has made his home in Jefferson county since 1871.
Mr. Welsh is a native of Canada, his birth having occurred near the Vermont line in 1842. His father, Morris Welsh, was born in Ire-
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land, acquired his education there and in early life crossed the Atlantic to Canada. He worked until he had money sufficient to send back to Ireland that he might have his promised bride, Miss Julis McGuire, join him in the new world. She was born and reared in his old home neighborhood on the Emerald Isle and after reaching America they were married. Subsequently they removed to Knox county, Ohio, and in that state both spent their remaining days, the father passing away at the age of sixty-seven years, while the mother died at the age of sixty-six years. They were Protestants in religious faith, and in his political views Morris Welsh was a stanch Republican. They had six children : Ed, who was a soldier of the Fourteenth Indiana Infantry in the Civil war and was killed at the battle of Gettysburg; William, a member of the Twentieth Ohio Infantry; Mathew, who belonged to the Second Ohio Heavy Artillery ; John B .; Morris, who was an orderly under General Kilpatrick for two years and enlisted for service with the Ninth Ohio Infantry; and Mrs. Joanna Sapp. All of the five sons were soldiers of the Civil war. This is a record of which the family has every reason to be proud, for few families can show a record for greater loyalty or bravery.
John B. Welsh was reared on the old family homestead in Ohio and in the public schools there acquired his education. He was hardly more than a boy when on the 23d of August, 1861, he responded to the country's call for aid, enlisting at Toledo, Ohio, as a member of Com- pany C, Third Ohio Cavalry, under command of Captain Howland and Colonel Zahm. Mr. Welsh participated in the battles of Shiloh, and for twenty-one days was connected with the siege of Corinth. He afterward went into Huntsville, Alabama, and was in all of the skir- mishes and engagements of that raid. Later the command proceeded to Memphis and on to Charleston. He was also at Woodville, Ala-
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bama, and later returned to Kentucky. He participated in the battle of Crab Orchard, Kentucky, and of Franklin, Tennessee, and was with General McCook's division of the Army of the Tennessee at the bat- tle of Stone River. At length Mr. Welsh was honorably discharged on account of physical disability at Louisville, Kentucky, in 1863, and returned to his home in Mount Vernon, Ohio. Afterwards he again enlisted on the 21st of February, 1864, joining Company I, of the Second Ohio Heavy Artillery under command of Captain Alonzo J. Thompson and Colonel Gibson. Going to the south he was at Cleveland and at Knoxville, Tennessee, and was also engaged in garrison duty until the close of the war, when he was again honorably discharged at Columbus, Ohio, on the 23d of August, 1865. He held the rank of corporal and made for himself a gallant record as a brave and efficient soldier.
In the year following his return from the army Mr. Welsh was married, on the 6th of January, 1866, in Mount Vernon, Ohio, to Miss Blanche Moxley, and they have traveled life's journey together as man and wife for thirty-eight years. She was born and reared in Knox count- ty, Ohio, and is a daughter of Caleb and Margaret Moxley, the former a native of New England. In their family were eight children : Otto, Joanna, Elizabeth, Caleb, Risdon S., Ellen, Savilla, and Mrs. Welsh. The father of this family was a farmer by occupation and always en- gaged in the tilling of the soil in order to support his wife and children. Both were members of the Methodist church, and because of their fidel- ity to the teachings of that denomination they enjoyed the warmest regard and confidence of their fellow men. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Welsh was blessed with six children: Mrs. Emma Noble; Walter, who is living in Jefferson county, Nebraska; William, who resides in Endicote precinct; Mrs. Alice Boggs, also of Endicote precinct; Mrs.
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Myrtle McCord, who is living on the old homestead; and James, who is clerking in a hardware store in Fairbury.
It was in the year 1870 that Mr. Welsh came to Nebraska and in the following year he secured a homestead claim in Antelope township. On this he built a log cabin, ten by ten feet. In it he had a window formed of but a single pane of glass. He came to found a home, and though it required energy and courage to do this he bravely faced the situations and conditions of pioneer life. He was enabled to supply the table during the first few years with wild game, for buffalo, deer and turkeys were to be found in this portion of the state. For months he would use no money, but depended upon game and the products of the garden for all that the family needed. Hot winds parched the crops and there was a grasshopper scourge in 1874, blizzards made the win- ters almost unbearable, but with great courage and resolution Mr. Welsh and his family continued in the work of making a home upon the frontier. At length he sold the homestead farm and purchased two other tracts of land. He now has a fine modern residence in the town, furnished in good style with a view to comfort as well as beauty. He likewise owns two other good town houses, and one of his farms is sit- uated in Antelope precinct, while the other is in Endicote precinct. He is a good business man, enterprising and progressive, and whatever he has undertaken he has carried forward to successful completion. He certainly deserves great credit for what he has accomplished, as he has met hardships and difficulties which would have utterly discouraged many a man of less resolute spirit. In politics he is a Republican and he belongs to Russell Post, G. A. R. His name is honored throughout the community as that of a self-made man and a pioneer resident, who while promoting his own success has also contributed to the general progress of the community.
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MILLS LOUDERBACK.
Mills Louderback, who is residing in Thompson, Nebraska, was born in Brown county, Ohio, November 13, 1828, and is a son of Thomas Louderback, whose birth occurred in the same county, while the grandfather, Michael Louderback, was a native of Germany and became the founder of the family in America. Thomas Louderback was reared in Brown county, Ohio, acquired his education there and was married in that county to Miss Sarah Springer, who was also a native of the Buckeye state and was a daughter of Uriah Springer, whose birth occurred in Pennsylvania. To Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Louderback were born eight children, namely: Liberty, Mills, Levi, William, Mary, Theresa, Martha and Flora. Of this number William was a soldier of the Civil war, belonging to the Thirty-third Illinois Infantry, and died at home while on a furlough. Thomas was like- wise a member of the same regiment. He lost his health while par- ticipating in the military engagements of the northern army and died soon after the close of the war. The father of this family was a Dem- ocrat, in his political views strongly endorsing the principles advo- cated by Jackson. In religious faith he was a Baptist, and his life was ever upright and honorable. Both he and his wife died in Illinois, where they had made many warm friends, being highly respected for their excellent traits of heart and mind.
Mills Louderback was brought by his parents to Illinois, and upon the home farm he was reared, being early instructed in the value of industry, integrity and economy in the active affairs of life. The fam- ily home was established in Livingston county near Pontiac, and he acquired his education in the public schools there. He was married in that county in 1853 to Miss Harriet Corbin, who was born and reared there and died at the age of thirty-five years. She left five
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children : Mathew, W. E., Mary C., Sarah Isodene and Martha Jane. Mr. Louderback was again married, in 1876, in Livingston county, Illi- nois, his second union being with Mrs. Sarah J. Bradfield, the widow of Joseph Bradfield, who died while serving in the United States army. He left two children, Mrs. Zephur A. Long and Joseph. Mr. Bradfield was a native of Ohio and became a most loyal citizen of his adopted country. At the time of the outbreak of the Civil war his patriotic spirit was aroused and he enlisted in the Firty-third Illinois Infantry as a member of Company G. He participated in the siege of Vicks- burg and afterward died in the Marine Hospital of New Orleans, Louisiana.
Mills Louderback also left his home at the time of the Civil war, enlisting at Pontiac, Illinois, on the 12th of August, 1862, in response to President Lincoln's call for sixty thousand men. He joined Com- pany C of the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Illinois Infantry under command of Captain Perry, while later Captain A. McMurray was in command of the company. The regiment was equipped and sent south, being ordered to Louisville, and Mr. Louderback participated in some engagements and skirmishes in Kentucky and Tennessee. He was afterward under the command of General Sherman in the Atlanta campaign and the march to the sea, participating in the battles of Res- aca, Kenesaw Mountain, Lookout Mountain, New Hope Church and Burnt Hickory. He also participated in the engagement of Peach Tree Creek not long before the capitulation of Atlanta. He was with the Twentieth Army Corps under General Thomas, and with that Division of the army went to Savannah, Georgia, and participated in the Caro- lina campaign and in the battle of Bentonville, which was the last en- gagement in which General Sherman fought. With his command Mr. Louderback proceeded to Raleigh, North Carolina, and later he par-
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ticipated in the grand review in Washington, D. C. Throughout the greater part of the war he was at the front, proving a devoted and loyal soldier to his country's welfare, and in June, 1865, he received an honorable discharge at Washington, D. C.
After the war Mr. Louderback continued to make his home in Illinois until 1878, when he came with his family to Nebraska, settling in Jefferson county, where he secured eighty acres of land, which he has developed into an excellent farm. He gives his political allegiance to the Prohibition party, and is a member of the Freewill Baptist church, to which his wife likewise belongs. He favors religion and higher ed- ucation, and in fact is found as a champion of all measures for the gen- eral progress and improvement. He is a man of fine appearance, weigh- ing two hundred and fifteen pounds, is frank and jovial in manner and his word is as good as his bond.
WINFIELD SCOTT WILLOUGHBY.
For twenty-one years Winfield Scott Willoughby has been a resi- dent of Nebraska and makes his home in Reynolds. He is a valued citizen of this community, for like most veterans of the Civil war he is as true to his country in days of peace as he was when he followed the old flag upon the battlefields of the south. He was born in Iroquois county, Illinois, on the 7th of May, 1847, a representative of one of the old families of that locality, his father, John Willoughby, having lo- cated in that county in 1839. He was a native of Tennessee and in early life was left an orphan, after which he was bound out to Bishop Roberts, of the Methodist Episcopal church. The Bishop removed from Tennessee to Lawrence county, Indiana, and there John Wil-
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loughby was reared to manhood upon a farm, continuing to reside there until eighteen years of age. He then went to Illinois, and when nine- teen years of age he was married to Miss Polly Brock, who was born and reared in Lawrence county, Indiana. They are both now deceased, the mother having passed away in 1854, while the father died in 1892, at the age of seventy-five years, upon the old homestead farm which he had purchased from the government for a dollar and a quarter per acre. For many years he had given his time and energies to its culti- vation and improvement, and he developed it from a wild tract into one of rich fertility, yielding to him golden harvests. He gave his political allegiance to the Whig party in early days, and upon the or- ganization of the new Republican party he joined its ranks and continued one of its stalwart supporters until his demise. In his religious faith he was liberal, and belonged to no church. In their family were seven children, but only two are now living, Winfield Scott and Mrs. Polly Reynolds.
Mr. W. S. Willoughby was reared upon the old home farm in Illinois, spending the days of his boyhood and youth in the usual man- ner of farm lads of the period. He worked in the fields through the summer months and attended the public schools in the winter seasons, and at the age of eighteen years he put aside all personal considerations that he might aid his country as a defender of the Union cause. It was in February, 1865, that he enlisted at Ash Grove, Iroquois county, be- coming a member of Company D, One Hundred and Fiftieth Illinois Infantry under Captain Hiram B. Venom, Lieutenant-Colonel C. Spring- er and William Keener. The regiment was ordered to Camp Butler at Springfield, Illinois, and not long afterward Mr. Willoughby was taken ill with typhoid fever, being very sick for six weeks. Later the com- mand was ordered to Bridgeport, Alabama, and afterward went to
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