USA > Nebraska > Buffalo County > Buffalo County, Nebraska, and its people : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 29
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Dr. Judd Albertus Strong was born in Columbia City, Ind., in 1868. Gradu- ated in 1892 from Fort Wayne Medical College. Practiced in Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska and Colorado, and settled in Kearney in January, 1912.
Among others who have practiced the profession of medicine in the city the following are called to mind, but the editor of this history is not further advised as to their life or services: Drs. Eliza B. Mills, George M. Mills, F. S. Packard, J. P. Woodworth, A. D. Cameron.
THE BUFFALO COUNTY BAR
Attorneys at law admitted to practice in our courts are termed "officers of our courts" and an effort was made to have prepared for this volume a "History of the Buffalo County Bar," but the brief time available in preparing the copy has not given opportunity to compile the desired history. From various sources and partly from memory the following list of attorneys at law has been compiled and if it is found names have been omitted it is not intentional, but because mem- ory in matters historical is treacherous, can not fully be depended upon. Mem- bers of the Buffalo County bar have rendered valuable service to the state and have gained state-wide distinction. Herewith, partly from memory, a brief mention is made of services thus rendered in the county and state.
Henry C. Andrews served as member of the Legislature in 1887 and also as member of the board of county commissioners.
D. P. Ashburn served as member of the Legislature in 1873 and also as a member of the county board of supervisors.
Norris Brown served as county attorney, deputy attorney-general, attorney- general and United States senator.
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HISTORY OF BUFFALO COUNTY
E. Frank Brown served as county judge in 1898-99.
John Brand served as county judge in 1880-83.
E. C. Calkins served as state senator in 1877, as regent of the state univer- sity and as a member of the Supreme Court commission.
Thomas N. Cornett as county judge in 1890-93.
A. H. Connor as member of the constitutional convention in 1875, as state senator in 1883 and also in 1889.
J. M. Easterling served as member of the Legislature in 1889, as county judge in 1894-97 and as county attorney in 1906-10.
F. J. Everitt served as county judge in 1915-16.
George E. Evans served as county attorney in 1886-90.
J. E. Gillispie served as county judge, 1888-89.
WV. L. Green served as judge of the District Court in 1896 and later as a member of Congress.
William Gaslin served several terms as judge of the District Court and was one of the most widely known judges in the state.
B. O. Hostetler served as judge of the District Court from 1904 to 1916.
F. M. Hallowell served as county judge, 1902-05, 1908-13, 1914.
Frank W. Hull served as county judge, 1884-87.
F. G. Hamer served as judge of the District Court, 1883-1890, also as justice of the Supreme Court, commencing 1912.
Thomas F. Hamer served as member of the State Legislature, 1907.
John T. Mallalieu served as regent of the university and as superintendent of schools, 1880-84, also as superintendent of the State Industrial School for a term of years.
Ira P. Marston served as county judge, 1906-07 ; as county attorney, 1890-92.
N. P. McDonald served as county superintendent, 1890-94, and as county attorney, 1900-1904.
J. E. Morrison served, by appointment, as county judge in 1913.
Edw. B. McDermott served as county attorney, 1910-14.
Fred A. Nye served as county attorney, 1896-1900.
WV. D. Oldham served as deputy attorney-general and as a member of the Supreme Court commissioners.
H. M. Sinclair served as district attorney in 1884, and as district judge in 1896.
Sam L. Savidge served as district judge in 1883.
S. W. Switzer served as a member of the Legislature in 1877.
E. E. Squires served as county attorney, 1904-06.
A. B. Tollefsen serving as county attorney in 1915-16
J. J. Whittier served as county judge, 1876-79.
D. Westervelt served as county judge, 1874-75.
Charles E. Yost served as county judge, 1900-01.
LIST OF MEMBERS OF BUFFALO COUNTY BAR
Andrews, H. C.
Brown, Frank E.
Ashburn, D. P.
Beeman, Frank E.
Brown, Norris Barnd, John
Burnett, E. P. Boltin, A. H.
Byrd, Frank J.
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HISTORY OF BUFFALO COUNTY
Barney, C. E.
Huston, F. L.
Parsons, C. B.
Calkins, E. C.
Hostetler, B. O.
Pratt, Warren
Calkins, H. V.
Hallowell, F. M.
Robinson, C. A.
Carr, T. B.
Hand, W. L.
Riley, Wm.
Cornett, T. H.
Hamer, F. G.
Roe, John H.
Collard, C. A.
Hamer, T. F.
Smith, James A.
Connor, A. H.
Hartman, J. P.
Sinclair, H. M.
Chapman, J. W.
Hemiup, N. H.
Savidge, Sam. L.
Cunningham, E. E.
Moore, R. A.
Shipman, J. E.
Dorsey, D. A.
Main, Lewis P.
Switzer, S. W.
Dryden, John N.
Mallalieu, John T.
Saylor, J. E. C.
Decker, John E.
Murphy, John S.
Smith, J. T.
Devisek, Frank O.
Marston, Ira P.
Squires, E. E.
Easterling, J. M.
Marston, Maud
Sterling, R. H.
Everitt, F. J.
Miller, John A.
Sydenham, H. H.
Evans, Geo. E.
Matson, Chas. E.
Thompson, Stanley
East, B. F.
Mellett, J. E.
Tollefsen, A. B.
Foristall, J. M.
McDonald, N. P.
Whittier, J. J.
Green, W. L.
Morrison, J. E.
Wenzell, Dea
Green, Omer L.
McDermott, Edw. B.
Woodworth, H. L.
Glanville, R. C.
Niles, Henry D.
Walker, Jasper
Gaslin, Wm.
Nevius, S. M.
Woodruff, J. J.
Groff, Lewis A.
Nye, Fred A.
Westervelt, D.
Gillispie, J. E.
Newcom, Gid. E.
Yost, Charles F.
Hull, Frank W.
Newcom, A.
Hoge, John
Oldham, W. D.
REV. ASBURY COLLINS AND WIFE LOUISA E. COLLINS
Rev. Asbury Collins and his family came to Buffalo County May 11, 1871, and established in the immediate vicinity of Kearney Junction their future home. On their homestead claim, 12-8-16, now within the corporate limits of the City of Kearney, they built a house which from the first became a center of social, religious and educational activity. In the early days this home was known locally as Hotel Collins, for in the organization of school district No. 7 (Kearney) the county superintendent concludes his official notice of the first meeting to organize this district as follows: "Sent notice of due form and import to A. Collins directing first meeting to be held at hotel of A. Collins in said district on the 23d day of March, A. D., 1872, at 2:00 P. M .- C. Putnam, superin- tendent."
At this first meeting to organize the district, Mr. Collins was elected one of the school district officers, and the records show that Mr. Collins was serving as director of this district July 1, 1874.
ORGANIZATION OF THE FIRST CHURCH
It was at this home in October, 1871, that the first church was organized in Buffalo County. Rev. A. G. White was presiding elder of the Omaha District
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HISTORY OF BUFFALO COUNTY
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the conference then embracing the entire State of Nebraska. On the evening of Elder White's arrival he preached at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Collins and at the close of the services the first Methodist Church was organized with the following as charter members: Asbury Collins, Louisa E. Collins, H. E. A. Sydenham, Alfred Gay and Hannah Jay. Rev. A. Collins was appointed pastor of the newly organized church. The board of trustees was appointed December 31, 1871, composed of Mrs. H. E. A. Sydenham, Alfred Gay and others. At the home of Mrs. Collins was organized the first Sabbath school in Kearney in February, 1872. Of this Sunday school Mrs. Collins says: "Every lady, excepting one, within ten miles of my home was a member of my Bible class." In 1872, Rev. Nahum Gould, a Presbyterian mis- sionary, preached each alternate Sabbath in the parlor of Mrs. Collins' home. In 1875, at the home of Mrs. Collins, was organized the first W. C. T. U. Society in the county. The charter members were Mrs. Louisa E. Collins, Mrs. D. A. Dorsey, Miss Kate Dorsey, Mrs. C. W. Dake, Mrs. H. E. A. Sydenham and Mrs. Lena Hull. Honorary members were Asbury Collins, Moses Sydenham and Hiram Hull. The officers elect of the society were: President, Mrs. Louisa E. Collins; secretary, Mrs. C. W. Dake. At a meeting held in Lincoln in 1875 Mrs. Collins was elected first vice president of the Nebraska W. C. T. U. When at later dates the distinguished and talented Miss Francis E. Willard, president of the World's W. C. T. U., whose motto is "God and Home and Native Land," came to Kearney to speak in the cause of temperance, Mrs. Collins presided on both of these occasions, at each of which the largest audience room in the city was crowded to its utmost capacity, some of those in attendance driving twenty miles and home again the same night and feeling abundantly compensated in the privilege to see and hear the most talented and distinguished woman of the nineteenth century.
When the Woman's Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Buffalo County was organized Mrs. Collins was elected president. In 1888 Mrs. Collins was elected president of the Woman's Home Missionary Society of the West Nebraska conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church and in 1890 was chosen organizer for this society for the West Nebraska con- ference. It is not possible to mention, even in a brief manner, the many and varied efforts which Mrs. Collins has put forth in the past thirty-nine years for the best interests of the City of Kearney and its inhabitants, but it can be said that in all these years she has given freely, willingly, unselfishly of her time, talents and means toward the advancement of the social, religious and educational welfare of the city.
In 1875 the heavy hand of sorrow and affliction was laid on the family of Mr. and Mrs. Collins, the occasion being the unprovoked, cold blooded murder on September 11th of their son, Milton M. Collins, aged twenty-four years and married, by Jordan P. Smith, a drunken cowboy, the "boss" of a cattle herding outfit, who having delivered a large herd of Texas cattle to the Sioux Indians in South Dakota, was with his herd outfit returning to their homes in Texas. Again in 1882, May 13th, the hand of sore affliction came with sudden and crushing force to this worthy and much loved family in the death of their son, D. F. Collins, aged twenty-four years, a graduate of the law department of Iowa
REV. AND MRS. ASBURY COLLINS
Reverend Collins, a Methodist clergyman, located on a homestead near Kearney in 1871. He was the first postmaster at Kearney Junction in 1872. Mrs. Collins helped to organize the first church and Sunday school at Kearney and the first Woman's Christian Temperance Union organization in the county. She is familiarly called "The Mother of Kearney."
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HISTORY OF BUFFALO COUNTY
University, who while hunting with Professor Brown of the Kearney High School near Stephenson siding west of Kearney, was killed by the accidental discharge of a gun while sitting in the buggy. Professor Brown had left the buggy to hunt and a neighbor getting into the buggy caused the gun to be dis- charged, killing young Collins.
On March 9, 1890, occurred the death of Rev. Asbury Collins, who having regained his health after his removal from Iowa to Nebraska, again took up the work of the ministry in the Methodist Episcopal Church in the year 1871 and continued in this work until his death. Mr. Collins was buried in the cemetery at Kearney beside his two sons.
These great and sudden afflictions, sufficient to crush all life and ambition of an ordinary individual, seemed in the case of Mrs. Collins to cause her to be more solicitous for the welfare of her friends and neighbors and in 1910 we find her still the center and inspiration of a large circle of loving and loyal friends in her own home city. At the annual meeting of the Woman's Home Missionary Society of West Nebraska conference, held in September, 1909, Mrs. Collins gave up the active management of the work of that society and was made president emetrius, a very honorable title.
On September 23, 1872, Mrs. Collins was presented with a deed of the first lot disposed of in the original Town of Kearney Junction, the records in the register of deeds' office showing that the first lot entered of record as disclosed by deed index in this city (Kearney Junction) was executed September 23, 1872, by J. W. Brooks et al. (representing the townsite company) to Louisa E. Collins.
REV. WILLIAM MORSE
Rev. William Morse, a Methodist minister, came from Ripon, Wis., to Buffalo County, Neb., in March, 1872, and took a homestead claim on section 24, township 9, range 16, and arranging to have a house built thereon returned to Wisconsin for his family. "Father" Morse, as he was lovingly called by all who knew him, returned to Buffalo County with his family in June. 1872. On his arrival "Father" Morse at once took up the work of the ministry and the upbuild- ing of the Methodist Church at Kearney and in Buffalo County ; James Jenkins (a son-in-law of Reverend Mr. Morse) relates that on June 28, 1872, religious services were held at the home of "Father" Morse and of members of the church in attendance gives the names of the following: Rev. and Mrs. Wm. Morse, Rev. and Mrs. Asbury Collins, Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Smith, Miss Mary Smith, Joseph Fish, Mrs. Cuddebeck, Mrs. (Hannah) Jay, Mr. and Mrs. J. R. King, Mr. and Mrs. James Jenkins. Mr. Jenkins further relates that the first Methodist Episcopal Church services held in what is now the City of Kearney with Rev. Wm. Morse as pastor, was held in the Kearney Junction Times Build- ing located on Smith Avenue, now Twenty-fourth Street. The coming of Rev. Wm. Morse greatly strengthened the cause of Methodism (the Methodist Church) and he may not inappropriately be called the "Father" of the Methodist Church in Buffalo County.
The beginning of the organization of the Methodist Church at Gibbon and in the eastern portion of Buffalo County may be said to have had its inspiration with the coming of "Father" Morse in the summer of 1872.
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HISTORY OF BUFFALO COUNTY
In the Buffalo County Beacon, published at Gibbon, under date of July 27, 1872, appears the following: "The schoolhouse was well filled last Sabbath, July 2Ist, by an appreciative audience who listened to a sermon by Rev. Wm. Morse, Methodist Episcopal preacher on this charge. Brother Morse is recently from Ripon, Wis., and will preach at Gibbon every other Sabbath at the school- house."
Also in the same issue of the Beacon appears the following :
"Rev. Wm. Morse, formerly of Ripon, Wis., and now of our county, in com- pany with Judge (Rev.) Collins and others, took a hunt a few days since south of the Platte and succeeded in "bagging" four buffalo. The party could have killed almost any number but four beeves were all they required."
MRS. NANCY HULL-MOTHER HULL Mrs. E. R. Holmes (K. O.)
Nancy Updegraff was born April 22, 1834, near Shelbyville, Ind. She married Dr. John C. Hull in 1855. In 1872 the family removed to Colorado Springs, Colo., and after remaining there one year they came to Kearney and spent the remainder of their lives.
Their children were Chas. M., once mayor of Kearney, Frank W., Howard J. ("Tom") and Dr. Geo. M. The eldest and the youngest died in Kearney.
In IS72 Mr. and Mrs. Asbury Collins and Mr. and Mrs. Moses H. Sydenham met at the home of Mr. Collins and organized a W. C. T. U. and Mrs. Hull soon became a member and for thirty-nine years her devotion to the temperance cause knew no bounds. Naturally in fighting intemperance and trying to mitigate its consequences she was brought into intimate knowledge of much poverty which she was always striving to relieve. As a solicitor for contributions she certainly was unexcelled. In her sweet motherly way she would present an appeal so pathetic that no one thought of refusing. Long years ago it was well understood that her home was a home for the homeless, a refuge for the unfortunate and a haven for the unemployed and she was seldom without one or more of these extras in her home. If one wanted a domestic or a maid wished a place all turned to her as naturally as a sunflower turns to the sun. Her beautiful altruistic life was so entirely given to others that she reserved none for herself.
November 9, 1893, a hospital was opened on First Avenue, Kearney, and in honor of its devoted patroness it was named, Mother Hull Hospital. As nearly as practicable with limited means this institution to this day exemplifies the prin- ciples of its founder in practical benevolence. The firemen and Mother Hull were always in close touch and their annual contribution to the hospital from the proceeds of their ball was handed over cheerfully.
Mother Hull passed from earth March 16, 1911, very suddenly. Her memory lives with the older citizens of Kearney as a blessed example of practical religion.
KEARNEY'S LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW
By Miss Lena Briggs-Student State Normal School
Just back of the lake, northwest of Kearney, lies a piece of ground, pic- turesque in its rough, uneven surface.
MRS. NANCY HULL " Mother Hull"-loved and honored for her good works
REV. NAHUM GOULD
A homestead settler of Center Township in 1871. Organized the first Presbyterian Church in Kearney in 1872. Organized a Presbytery and preached at the opening of the Synod of Nebraska, October 1, 1874.
REV. L. B. FIFIELD
Homestead settler and pastor of the First Congregational Church in Kear- ney in 1872. Served as regent of State University. 1876-83.
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HISTORY OF BUFFALO COUNTY
The lower part of this ground is covered by a portion of the lake and slopes up to the top of the hill. On this side-hill are a few evidences that a house had stood there. There are trees, shrubbery, a cedar tree, a place badly caved in, and just at the top of the hill a few bricks in the grass. Standing on this hill one looks down on the lake (Kearney), beyond to the power house, normal school buildings, City of Kearney, the Platte River and the view is lost in the pros- - perous farms with their fields of wheat, alfalfa and corn.
In 1871 Rev. Nahum Gould arrived in Kearney, sent as a missionary by the synodical board of the Presbyterian Church. There was no depot or postoffice. The railroad station was at "Fort Kearney Station," now Buda. There was (where Kearney now is) a grocery store (F. N. Dart) on Twenty-fourth Street, where the Catholic Church now stands, a blacksmith shop (John Mahon) on the south side of the Union Pacific tracks and one large house in the center of section No. 2 occupied by a Methodist minister-Rev. Asbury Collins-and his family. Rev. Nahum Gould purchased (homesteaded) the piece of ground, eighty acres, north and west of Kearney and including the ground described at the beginning.
Mr. Gould's family came in 1872. This year the Town of Kearney began and grew rapidly and the buffalo grass that covered all the landscape began to be dotted with houses. Mr. Gould selected the side-hill as the location of his house and barns, either as a sheltered spot from winds or to be less conspicuous to the straggling bands of Indians. He excavated into the bank to get a level space large enough to put up a house. The house was three stories, and one could walk out onto the ground from the third story on the west, from the second on the north and from the first on the east and south.
There were two rooms, dining and kitchen, on the first floor. The second floor had three rooms, the ground being excavated out of the side-hill for the third room. The third story had three rooms.
R. D. Gould, the son, started to dig a small cave near the kitchen door for the convenience of the women. He found the ground so well adapted to the construction of a cave that it grew until there was an excavation 4 by 6 feet and 40 feet long extending into the side-hill. Along each side of the cave were rooms 4 by 6 feet and extending the entire length. In these rooms were stored vegetables, grain, fuel, harness and stores of all kinds. At present (1913) the front has caved in, but by digging the cave could be found.
The stables were located south of the house and above both house and stables. almost at the brow of the hill, the family graves were placed. A vault was built of brick and in it were buried two children, and afterward Rev. Nahum Gould himself.
Mr. Gould began his religious work soon after coming. At first Presby- terian services alternated with the Methodist in the dining room of the Junction house, home of Rev. Asbury Collins. In 1872, when houses were springing up in the town, services were held in empty houses.
Often a service was announced to take place the next Sunday on a lot on which there was not a stick of timber. The next Sunday a house, all enclosed, with boards across nail kegs for pews, was ready for services. A necessary part of these services was the first organ in Kearney, brought here by Mr. Gould. Vol.I -16
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HISTORY OF BUFFALO COUNTY
It had a rosewood case and cost $250. Every Saturday night the organ was moved to the place of next day's services and Monday taken home again.
In time the Presbyterians bought, for church purposes, a wooden building, built and used for a saloon, and located north of Rodger's grocery store. When planning the furnishing for the new room several wished to purchase chan- deliers that could be used when they built their church building. Mrs. L. B. Cunningham had spoken for the chandeliers. A member believed it better to buy lights in keeping with the room, and Mrs. Hurlburt, daughter of Rev. Mr. Gould, made the remark, "they better buy lights in keeping with the room for they might use electricity to light the church when built." At that date electricity for lighting purposes was unheard of, but when the (present) Presby- terian Church was built it had electric lights. It was Mr. Gould's ambition to make a beautiful place of his home on the hill. The view was magnificent and he surrounded his house by a series of terraces. He hoped his children would all settle on his land, but he died in 1875 leaving a very peculiar will. The land was divided into ten acre tracts, one for each of his eight children. The child building first could have the pick of the tracts. Mrs. Hurlburt had first choice and built a brick house on top of the hill, since burned. Mrs. Greenman had next choice, but none of the rest built, and they settled the division by agreement among themselves.
The old house and surrounding ten acres went to R. D. Gould, who lived there several years, but eventually the house was deserted.
In the meantime the canal was built, the lake constructed, covering the lower part of R. D. Gould's ten acres. The boom days came on, a pavilion was built on the lake, there was boating, and at night when the band played in the pavilion there was dancing.
Soon ghost stories concerning the vacant house began to be circulated. The lights from the pavilion shown upon the windows and made the house appear lighted. Investigation made these lights appear to move from room to room. The peculiar location and the burial vault above all gave strength to the stories. Some one stuffed a suit of clothes, making a dummy, and hung it in the house. Stories of suicide and murder were common topics of conversation and it was called "the haunted house."
One evening two men were boating on the lake and they began to discuss the haunted house and ghosts in general. The braver of the two decided to investigate and prove the reality or unreality of ghosts, but his companion feared molesting the spirits. So the brave one started for the house, his companion promising to wait for him in the boat. He went to the house and entered. His companion circled around the top of the hill and by hurrying entered the top story from the west. As the brave ghost-hunter entered one of the lower rooms there was groaning, moaning, shrieks and cries. The brave ghost-hunter did not stop for further investigation but jumped out of the window into the cedar tree that can still be seen on the hill. He had some trouble extricating himself and dropped to the ground, scratched, bleeding and thoroughly frightened. He ran back to the lake and found his companion sitting idly in the boat and told him his proof of the reality of ghosts while the author of the shrieks and groans chuckled inwardly.
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HISTORY OF BUFFALO COUNTY
At the time of the boom, when land near the city sold for enormous prices, all these ten acre tracts were sold for $10,000 each. All except one were sold to or through the agency of H. D. Watson. About one-third was paid down and on some tracts small payments were afterward collected, but on none were paid much more than one-third of the selling price. In settling for one of the tracts Mr. Watson paid $1,000 for one acre and the remaining nine acres went back to the original owner.
But the poorest tract of all, the one containing the haunted house, on which there was not a level spot, was bought by Marshall E. Hunter, who resided in the East, for which he paid in full $10,000.
The bodies buried in the vault on the hill were removed. As the owner did not come immediately to claim his own by possession the house was torn down and taken away. When the owner finally came to see his beautiful terraced home with its three-story house he found a side-hill, a cedar tree, part of a lake, a few bricks and a number of ghost stories.
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