USA > Nebraska > Buffalo County > Buffalo County, Nebraska, and its people : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 14
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After being discharged from the army Mr. Walsh took sub-contracts under James E. Boyd, afterward governor of Nebraska, on the grading of the Union Pacific as far west as Rawlins, Wyoming. While he had had but limited educa- tional privileges, he always made excellent use of his opportunities and by read- ing and observation added continually to his fund of knowledge. He became quite a well educated man, was a fine penman, used excellent diction, and also became a master in spelling. His worth was recognized throughout the com- munity in which he made his home. He was closely identified with every move- ment of a public nature that was of interest and benefit to the town of Shelton. When he first located upon his claim Buffalo county was unorganized, although the district was known by that name. In 1870 he and several of his neighbors who arrived about the same time that he did, petitioned for the organization of Buffalo county and Governor Butler issued his proclamation establishing the county and fixing the temporary county seat at Shelton, which was then known as Wood River Center. Mr. Walsh was appointed probate judge of the new county with authority to appoint county commissioners. He served in that capacity until the first regular election, when he was elected to the same position. He was also appointed deputy county clerk under Martin Slattery and after the election the county treasurer failed to qualify and the county commissioners appointed Mr. Walsh to that position. He then resigned the office of deputy clerk but continued to act as judge and treasurer. He also filled the position of superintendent of public instruction and he was afterward elected to the office of county commissioner, in which capacity he displayed the same faithfulness to duty that had marked his course in the other offices.
Mr. Walsh was largely instrumental in securing the establishment of the postoffice at Shelton and continued to act as postmaster until 1879, within which period, through his influence, the name of the town and postoffice was changed to Shelton. It was Mr. Walsh who had the town of Shelton platted and it was he who was at the head of every movement for the advancement of the interests of the town. There was no project for the benefit and upbuilding of the com-
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munity with which he was not associated and his aid and influence were at all times given for public benefit and progress.
To Mr. and Mrs. Walsh were born nine children: J. P., who is deceased ; J. T. and W. E., both of whom are residents of Omaha; Mrs. Mary Bills, who lives in Fortuna, California; Mrs. Anna Michael, deceased; Rose, the wife of Charles Frietenbach; P. J., deceased, who resided in Laramie, Wyoming; Mrs. Maggie Barney, of Oakland, California; and Ella, the deceased wife of Fred Simpson, of Omaha.
The religious faith of Mr. Walsh was that of the Catholic church, in which he was reared and to which he always loyally adhered. His political belief was that of the democratic party and his allegiance thereto never faltered. He never had occasion to regret his determination to come to the new world, for in this country he found the opportunities which he sought and which are always open to ambitious, energetic young men. Gradually he worked his way upward, win- ning not only material success but also the high regard and goodwill of all with whom he came in contact, and his worth to the community in which he lived is acknowledged by all who knew him.
JOHN A. LARIMER.
Many interests and activities connect John A. Larimer with the public life of Kearney and Buffalo county. He is engaged in the real estate business, is a notary public and is serving on the board of supervisors. His life has been one of intense and well directed activity and his sterling worth has led to his selection for a number of public offices.
His birth occurred in Fayette county, Ohio, April 22, 1839, and he was nine years of age when he removed to McLean county, Illinois, with his parents, Robert and Elizabeth (Robinson) Larimer, who were natives of Union county. Pennsylvania, where they were reared. In 1832 they removed to Fayette county, Ohio, and in 1848 became residents of McLean county, Illinois, where Robert Larimer, who was a tanner by trade, turned his attention to general agricultural pursuits. For thirty-six years that county remained the home of the family, during which period they were prominently identified with farming interests. In 1885 they arrived in Nebraska and settled in Center township about two and a half miles northeast of Kearney. There Robert Larimer and his wife spent their remaining days, being in active connection with agricultural interests until called to their final rest. Mrs. Larimer passed away on the 19th of March, 1889, and Mr. Larimer survived her only until the Ist of September of the same year. They were Presbyterians in religious faith and were earnest Christian people who enjoyed and commanded the respect of all with whom they came in contact. Their remains now repose in the old burying ground in McLean county, Illinois.
John A. Larimer was reared on his father's farm in Illinois, and his educa- tion was acquired in the old time district school, but his opportunities in that direction were extremely limited and he did not find it possible to attend school for more than three months during the year and that was during the winter season when it was not necessary to work in the fields. He walked two and a half miles
. JOHN A. LARIMER
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to school and thus acquired his educational training under considerable difficulties. During the remainder of the year he was engaged in feeding cattle and in per- forming the various duties incident to the cultivation of crops.
When civil war threatened the destruction of the Union he enlisted on the 15th of August, 1861, as a member of Company C, Thirty-third Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and was mustered in on the 22d of August. In chronological sequence his military career covered the battle of Fredericktown, Missouri, after which he joined General Curtis' army at Batesville, Arkansas, and then proceeded to Helena and was in the engagement at Cache Creek, or Cotton Plant. In the winter of 1862-3 he campaigned in southeastern Missouri and then fought in the battles of Port Gibson, Champion Hills and Black River Bridge and the siege of Vicksburg. From the last named place he followed up the retreating rebels to Jackson, participating in the campaign of the Bayou Teche, and he afterward proceeded to New Orleans, whence he was ordered to Brownsville, Texas, and to Aransas Pass, and participated in the capture of Fort Esperanza. The troops then moved to Idaho and to Port Lavaca, and on the 18th of April, 1864, the members of the regiment veteranized and proceeded to New Orleans and after- ward to Brashear City, Louisiana. On the 18th of March, 1865, they participated in the Mobile expedition and took part in the reduction of Spanish Fort. They then went to Montgomery, Alabama, and there received the welcome news of the surrender of Generals Lee and Johnston. Mr. Larimer was mustered out at Vicksburg, Mississippi, on the 24th of November. 1865, and was ordered to Camp Butler, Illinois, where he received his final pay and was honorably discharged. He had been promoted to the rank of sergeant and then to orderly sergeant.
Following the close of the war Mr. Larimer engaged in farming in Illinois for a short time and later became the first merchant at Arrowsmith, that state, where he also filled the office of postmaster from March, 1872, until July, 1885. In the latter year he became a resident of Buffalo county, Nebraska, where he has since made his home. His attention was concentrated upon agricultural interests until 1902, when he left his farm and has since resided in Kearney, where at the present time he is engaged in the real estate business. He is thoroughly well informed concerning property values, knows the property that is upon the market and in the course of years has negotiated various important realty trans- actions.
While living in Illinois, Mr. Larimer was married at Springfield, Ohio, on the 13th of February, 1868, to Miss Elizabeth J. Cowan, who was born and reared in that place. They have become the parents of six children: Edward C. and Robert P., who reside in Kearney; William O., who met death in a railway accident at Grand Island, in October, 1901; Anna and Cora, both of whom died in early childhood in Illinois; and John Harvey, who makes his home in Pocatello, Idaho.
Mr. and Mrs. Larimer are members of the Presbyterian church and are loyal to its teachings and principles. Fraternally he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and has been secretary of the lodge at Kearney for the past twelve years. He maintains pleasant relationship with the "boys in blue" as a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and when in companionship his military comrades delight in recounting scenes and occurrences that marked the progress of the war. In politics he has always been a stalwart republican and
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while in Illinois he served for two terms as a member of the board of supervisors of McLean county. In 1889 he was elected a member of the board of super- visors of Buffalo county and is now serving his fifth term by reelection, a fact indicative of his personal popularity and the confidence reposed in him. He has made a most excellent record, endeavoring at all times to further the public wel- fare and care for public interests in a businesslike, progressive manner.
VIRGIL C. CHASE.
Virgil C. Chase came to Kearney in August, 1885, and on the Ist of Septem- ber of that year established a retail clothing business. He has since pursued the even tenor of his way, and as one who knows him well expressed it, "he can always be relied upon to do the right thing in the right place and at the right time." In other words, he has the qualities of the reliable, substantial, thorough- going and enterprising business man and his work is therefore of value to the community in which he lives. He was born in Franklin county, Kentucky, on the 6th of December, 1858, and is one of a family of ten children, four of whom are now living, who were born of the marriage of James A. and Jane (Johnson) Chase, who were also natives of Kentucky. The father was a Cumberland Pres- byterian minister and the great-grandfather was a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition and made surveys through the Platte valley before the advent of the white settlers. Rev. James A. Chase early became an abolitionist, and owing to the fact that his father was an extensive slave owner, they became estranged. During the Civil war he piloted the Union recruits through the enemy's lines until they reached the Federal forces. All through his life he gave his attention to ministerial work and was not denied the full harvest nor the aftermath of his labors. He passed away in Lincoln, Illinois, in 1884, after a residence there covering twenty years.
Virgil C. Chase was the eighth of nine sons and was the eighth in order of birth among his father's ten children. When his parents removed to Illinois . he was but a small lad and there he was reared to manhood, spending his boy- hood days upon the home farm and attending the district schools. He later added to his knowledge by study in the Lincoln University at Lincoln, Illinois, which he entered in 1875 and from which he was graduated in 1880 with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. For two years he engaged in teaching school, after which he turned his attention to mercantile pursuits, filling a clerkship for three years. At the end of that period he removed to Kearney and on the Ist of Sep- tember, 1885, opened a store for the sale of men's clothing and furnishings. He has since continued the business with more than an average degree of success, his prosperity being attributable to his close attention to business and his square dealing with the public at all times. He has ever recognized the fact that satis- fied customers are the best advertisement and he also attributes not a little of his success to the wise counsel and assistance of his wife.
On the 27th of December, 1882, Mr. Chase was united in marriage to Miss Lillian Zimmerman, of Ashmore, Illinois. To them have been born four chil- dren, namely : Ruby, James Roy, Norma L. and Virgil R. In his political views
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Mr. Chase is a republican but has never in any sense been an aspirant for public office. His fellow townsmen, appreciative of his worth and ability, however, have three times elected him a member of the city council and as a member of the board of aldermen he has exercised his official prerogatives in support of many progressive measures for the benefit of the community. He also served for two terms as a member of the school board. While on the council he advocated all important measures for the municipal welfare and labored effectively and earnestly to decrease the bonded indebtedness of Kearney. He belongs to the Commercial Club and cooperates also with its movements and projected plans for municipal and material welfare in Kearney. Fraternally he is identified with the Modern Woodmen and the Ancient Order of United Workmen and both he and his wife are consistent and faithful members of the Presbyterian church, in the work of which they are actively and helpfully interested. In a word, their influence is always on the side of progress and improvement and their labors have been far-reaching and resultant.
JACOB SCHNOOR.
Jacob Schnoor, of Amherst, has been manager of the Gilcrist Lumber Com- pany since its organization and is also the owner of farm property, on which he is engaged in live stock dealing. He was born in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, January 12, 1867, a son of Claus and Cecelia Schnoor, who spent their entire lives in the fatherland.
Jacob Schnoor was thrown upon his own resources when quite young and was a youth of only sixteen years when he sailed from Germany for the new world, making the voyage alone, since which time he has been dependent entirely upon his own resources. He located first in Crawford county, Iowa, and in 1890 he arrived in Buffalo county, where he found employment with the Gilcrist Lum- ber Company, which had just established business in Amherst following the founding of the town. Mr. Schnoor has remained manager of the business throughout this entire period, has carefully directed its interests and has developed a trade of substantial and gratifying proportions. He is an enterprising and progressive business man, ready to meet any emergency, and his substantial quali- ties have made him well liked. In addition to his connection with the lumber trade he is the owner of two hundred and four acres of land in Grant township and he and his sons have engaged in stock farming. Mr. Schnoor has bought and shipped stock for several years and has made that branch of his business an important source of income.
It was in 1891 that Mr. Schnoor was united in marriage to Miss Betty Ken- ney, who was born in Austria but was reared in this county. They have become the parents of eight children: Arthur, who is. married and has homesteaded in Wyoming; and Mayme, Walter, Frank, Theodore, John, Reba and Meta, all at home. In his political views Mr. Schnoor is a republican, well versed on the questions and issues of the day, but is not an office seeker. Fraternally he is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America but his interest and activities center chiefly upon his business, and his concentration, close application and
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indefatigable energy have brought to him the substantial measure of success which is today his and which ranks him with the representative residents of Amherst and the county.
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S. A. A. WALKER.
S. A. A. Walker, who is the owner of a well patronized hardware store in Gibbon, is a Canadian by birth and his natal day was the 23d of March, 1873. He is one of a family of ten children, all of whom are living and whose parents are Robert and Margaret (Baird) Walker, natives respectively of Ireland and Canada. In 1842 the father went to the Dominion with his parents and was there reared and educated. He was married in Canada and continued to reside there until 1884, when with his family he removed to Custer county, Nebraska, whence ten years later he came to Buffalo county. While living in Custer county he engaged in farming but after removing to this county conducted a hotel in Gibbon for four years and then retired.
S. A. A. Walker was reared under the parental roof and received a good education, graduating from the high school at Gibbon. He entered the business world as a clerk in the hardware store of L. J. Babcock and in 1901 purchased the business from his employer. He has since conducted the store and his comprehensive knowledge of the hardware business, combined with his natural ability, has enabled him to manage his affairs successfully. He is accorded a large and representative patronage and is ranked among the leading business men of Gibbon. He also owns eleven lots and business and residence property in Gibbon and derives a substantial addition to his income from his rents.
Mr. Walker was married in 1894 to Miss Nettie E. Bayley, a daughter of J. M. and Adaline (Adams) Bayley, who were born in Pennsylvania but in 1871 removed to this county, where they are still living. Mrs. Walker is one of a family of five children, of whom four survive. She has become the mother of a son, Leroy Allen, who was born on the 24th of October, 1909.
Mr. Walker casts his ballot in support of the democratic party and for four years was a member of the village board. He is identified with Granite Lodge, No. 189, A. F. & A. M., in which he has filled all of the chairs, and with Gibbon Lodge, No. 35, A. O. U. W., and in religious faith both he and his wife are Presbyterians. He is widely known and highly esteemed not only because of his energy and sound judgment but also because of his sterling integrity.
WILLIAM SCHRAMM.
William Schramm is the oldest merchant now living in Kearney. He has made his home here for more than four decades and for more than three decades has been actively engaged in the drug trade. His life history if written in detail would give a most interesting account of the development of the west, for he has lived in this section of the country from the time when the Indians were far more numerous than the white settlers and when the government protected the
,
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citizens and the travelers upon the western plains by the maintenance of a num- ber of forts, the soldiers attempting to hold in check the depredations of the red men upon life and property.
Mr. Schramm was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, January 31, 1843, his parents being John G. and Amelia E. (Lowell) Schramm, both of whom were of German nativity. The father was reared in his native country and there studied to become a chemist. He married in Germany and his children, five in number, were all born in that country save the youngest. About the year 1840 he came to the United States with his family, crossing the ocean on one of the slow-going vessels of that period. For a time he resided in Ohio and then removed to Burlington, Iowa, where he died about 1851.
William Schramm was reared to manhood in Iowa and pursued his educa- tion in the public schools of Burlington. When still quite young he became a clerk in a drug store, but being in frail health the confinement of the store proved detrimental to him and he therefore followed the advice of his physician to go west and seek a more congenial climate that would enable him to remain in the open. This was about the year 1863 and for a time he was employed as a driver in freighting government goods between the frontier posts west of the Missouri river. For two winters he traded with the old Jack Morrow outfit among the Indians and learned to talk and understand their language fairly well. This trading could be carried on only during the winter seasons, for in the sum- mer months when the weather was favorable the Indians followed their nomadic life, roaming around seeking game wherever it could be found and frequently going upon the warpath. While thus engaged Mr. Schramm occasionally passed through old Fort Kearney before the present city of Kearney was dreamed of. Their trading or freighting route was mostly south of the Platte river.
In 1869 he went to Omaha and in April, 1872, he removed to what is now Kearney, at that time a tiny hamlet containing but three buildings-a residence built by Captain Anderson, who was afterward sheriff of the county; Dart's grocery store and a building of four rooms so constructed that each room was in the corner of a claim, so that the owners thereof could live upon and prove up their claims and thus comply with the law which compelled residence upon the property. Two of these owners were James A. and George E. Smith. Mr. Schramm preempted a quarter section of land on Wood river and resided thereon for a year and a half. In the fall of 1873 he came to Kearney and began packing ice from Wood river. He also weighed coal and grain for the firm of More & Seaman and for a short time he also conducted a furniture store and utilized his three teams in draying. He was thus variously engaged until 1884, when he opened a drug store and since that time has carried on the business, covering a period of thirty-two years.
Mr. Schramm was called upon to mourn the loss of his first wife on the 28th of February, 1911. There were six children born of that marriage: Oscar Hugo, who died in 1891 ; William, who died in the early '7os, when about eighteen months old; Luella, who died at the age of ten years; Jennie, who died when three years of age; Herman H., who also died in early childhood; and Grace L., now Mrs. J. A. Brink, of Denver, Colorado. On the 28th of September, 1913. Mr. Schramm was united in marriage to Miss Essie B. Traver.
Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of Pythias, and his religious
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faith is indicated in his membership in the Presbyterian church. Politically he is affiliated with no party, voting according to the dictates of his judgment. For four years he served as city treasurer and at all times he has cooperated in plans and movements for the upbuilding and benefit of the city in which he resides. Here he has made his home for forty-two years and has witnessed every change that has occurred in the development of Kearney from its infancy to the present time. Men have come and gone until he is now the oldest living settler of the place. He has prospered to a reasonable extent and at one time was the owner of two drug stores, one of which, however, he sold to a clerk, S. A. D. Henline, who likewise is now considered one of the early merchants of the town. There is no phase of frontier life in Nebraska with which Mr. Schramm is not familiar, and he relates many interesting incidents of the early days and of the events which have shaped later progress and improvement.
DALLAS HENDERSON.
Dallas Henderson, actively engaged in farming in Center township and win- ning success through well directed energy, was born March 27, 1876, in the town- ship which is still his home, his parents being Abram and Elenor (Rught) Henderson, who were natives of Illinois and Pennsylvania respectively. Follow- ing the Civil war, Mr. Henderson removed to Misssouri and in 1872 came to Buffalo county, which was then a frontier district, giving little indication of future growth and improvement. He homesteaded a farm in Center township and bore his part in the early development of the district, but in 1879 was called to his final rest. His widow survives and is still living on the old home- stead property which has now been her home for forty-four years.
Dallas Henderson is one of a family of eleven children, seven of whom are still living. His youthful experiences were those which usually fall to the farm lad, his time being divided between the duties of the schoolroom, the pleasures of the playground and the work of the fields. He continued at home until eighteen years of age and then began teaching school. He afterward attended the Lincoln Normal School for a year, but before that he spent four years as a student in the Kearney Military School. With the outbreak of the Spanish- American war in 1898 his patriotic spirit was aroused and he enlisted for service in the Philippines as a member of Company I, First Nebraska Regiment. He served for a year and was engaged in almost continuous fighting during that period. He was wounded in the right leg and for six weeks remained in the hospital. While at the front he was promoted to the rank of corporal, and at the end of the year he received an honorable discharge. Mr. Henderson then remained in the Philippines, where he engaged in teaching school for four years, conducting the first night school taught on the Islands. In 1903 he returned to his home in Nebraska and purchased a farm in Thornton township, on which he lived for two years. He then sold that property and bought the farm of one hundred and sixty acres whereon he now resides, the place being pleasantly located on section 9, Center township. He has since concentrated his energies upon the improvement of the place, has erected good buildings, has divided his
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