USA > Nebraska > Buffalo County > Buffalo County, Nebraska, and its people : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 31
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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
J. D. MCCARTNEY
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in the woods until the army should pass but the animals were restive and made so much noise that they finally decided to turn them loose. After hiding their saddles in a cane patch they let the horses go and then started for the Union army, which they thought would go to Helena, Arkansas, fifty miles distant. Our subject's companion led the way until Mr. McCartney was convinced that they were traveling in a circle and he then took the lead and succeeded in reach- ing the Union lines at Helena. He knew that moss always grows the heaviest on the north side of a tree and this knowledge was of great advantage to them in finding their way across the country. One night they built a smudge and he and his companion each marked a tree in what each believed to be the east. In the morning it was found that Mr. McCartney was right, while, according to his friend, the sun rose in the west. Mr. McCartney told his story to General Curtis, of the Fourth Iowa Cavalry, at Helena and enlisted in Company G of that regiment on the Ist of August, 1862. He continued with that command until he was mustered out on the 15th of August, 1865, at Atlanta, Georgia, and four days later he was honorably discharged at Davenport, Iowa. Although he had many interesting adventures before he succeeded in enlisting in the Union army he was thereafter fortunate, escaping being wounded or taken prisoner or being confined in a hospital by sickness.
Following the war Mr. McCartney returned to Gallia, Ohio, where he re- mained for several years. He then resided for ten years in Wisconsin, after which he spent a summer in Sioux county, Iowa, but in 1882 he drove by wagon to Buffalo county, Nebraska, bringing with him three cows. He home- steaded one hundred and sixty acres of prairie and took up a timber claim of one hundred and sixty acres and for seven years lived in a sod house. At length, however, he built a commodious frame residence and he became in time one of the large landowners of Logan township, he and his son holding title to eight hundred acres. He engaged in farming until 1909, in which year he retired and took up his residence in Elm Creek, where he owns a comfortable home and where he has since lived. He still has two hundred and forty acres of land in Logan township, from which he derives a gratifying income.
Mr. McCartney was married in Gallia county, Ohio, in 1867, to Miss Louisa Dowdy, who was born in that county on the IIth of February, 1843, and is a daughter of David and Celia (Cheatwood) Dowdy, natives respectively of Vir- ginia and Kentucky, both of whom passed away in Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. McCartney have four children. E. E., a farmer of Logan township, has eight children. Susan N. married R. M. Walker, who died in 1903, and she after- ward became the wife of Charles Wilbur. She passed away five years ago, leaving three children, who are now living in Morrill county, Nebraska. Nina Belle is the wife of S. C. Cheney, of Morrill county, and they have four chil- dren. Lillie married J. C. Leemaster, also of Morrill county, and their children are three in number. Mr. and Mrs. McCartney have eighteen grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Mr. McCartney supported the republican party for many years but in 1912 voted for Woodrow Wilson for president. He was a member of the Hatton Grand Army Post at Elm Creek until that organization was disbanded and he found much satisfaction in associating with others who went to the defense of the Union in its time of need. He at one time belonged to the Baptist church
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and subsequently joined the Christian church but for several years has not attended any church. Although he is seventy-six years of age he is still hale and hearty and is active, as indolence is foreign to his nature. The success which he has won is the direct result of his untiring industry and his good management, and all who know him respect him highly.
JOHN WILSON.
John Wilson, police magistrate and justice of the peace of Kearney, was born in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, about ten miles from Pittsburgh on the 21st of February, 1849, and was there reared upon a farm until he reached the age of sixteen years. His parents, Samuel and Mary (Owens) Wilson, were natives of the north of Ireland and were Scotch Presbyterians in their religious belief. John Wilson, the father of Samuel Wilson, and in whose honor the subject of this review was named, came with his wife and children to America about the year 1825 and settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at which time Samuel Wilson was a youth of eight years. He was there reared and married, his wife's people coming to America from the same locality in Ireland as did the Wilson family. In March, 1865, he removed with his wife and children to Illinois and settled near Geneseo, in Henry county, where he remained to the time of his death, which occurred in 1906. He and his wife were the parents of six sons and three daughters.
John Wilson, the eldest of this family, spent his boyhood days under the parental roof, aiding in the work of the home farm and attending the district schools of the neighborhood. Farming continued to be his occupation until 1876, when he was appointed to the office of deputy sheriff of Henry county, Illinois, serving in that capacity for ten years. In 1883 he resigned and in October of that year removed to Kearney, Nebraska, where he turned his attention to the livery business in partnership with his brother, Samuel Wilson. He continued in the livery business and in buying horses until 1888, when he was elected sheriff of Buffalo county and in that position served for two terms, or for four years in all. His second election, which occurred in 1890, was won by a majority of seventeen hundred, the largest ever given any candidate up to that time and possibly the largest ever given in the county. Still higher official honors awaited him, however, for in 1892 he was elected to the lower house of the state legislature, being one of the few that escaped the populistic landslide of that year. In 1895 he was appointed deputy collector of internal revenue under J. E. Houtz, his territory comprising all of Nebraska west of Grand Island, in which city he made his headquarters, and extending as far north as Ord and south to the Platte river. Until 1913 he was in the leasing and sales department of the Union Pacific Railroad in Kearney and in 1914 was elected police magistrate and justice of the peace in Kearney and has since occupied that position. He was chief of the Kearney fire department for fifteen years, from 1884 to 1899.
Judge Wilson was married May 25, 1881, to Miss Rosa M. Beecher, of Galva, Illinois, and to this union five children have been born: Pearl, who died at the
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age of two years ; John Howard; Archie, who passed away in infancy; Ella M .; and Richard B.
Judge Wilson is a prominent Mason and is present eminent commander of Mount Hebron Commandery at Kearney. He also belongs to Tangier Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., and is connected with the Knights of Pythias as well. In politics he is a stalwart republican and has long been recognized as one of the leaders of his party in this section of the state, his opinions carrying weight in its councils. He possesses a genial nature and a social disposition, which go far toward winning him personal popularity, but his ability has kept him in office and places him at the front as one of the leaders of public thought and action.
CHARLES W. WALLACE.
Charles W. Wallace gained a substantial competence through his well directed activities as a stock raiser and is now living retired in Ravenna. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the 22d of February, 1859. His father served in the navy during the Civil war and was killed at New Orleans and his mother died shortly after his birth, so that our subject knows practically nothing of his parents. He was bound out to a farmer and remained with him until 1876. In the spring of the following year he removed to Belle Plaine, Iowa, and for three years was employed as a farm hand in that locality but at the end of that time he came still farther west. He made the journey to Buffalo county, Nebraska, in, a covered wagon and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of railroad land on section 25, Schneider township. His previous experience in farm work well qualified him to carry on agricultural pursuits on his own account and as the years passed his resources increased. He gave the greater part of his attention to stock-raising, specializing in pure blooded Percheron and Shire horses. He was recognized as one of the most successful horse breeders of the county and for some time was secretary and treasurer of the Schneider Town- ship Imported Horse Company, composed of horse breeders. He also raised high grade hogs and cattle and seldom failed to sell his stock to good advantage. In 1912 he retired from active life and removed to Ravenna, where he purchased a good residence in the northern part of the town, where he has since lived. He is a stockholder and director of the Bell Telephone Company and is inde- pendent financially.
In December, 1879, Mr. Wallace was united in marriage to Miss Martha Shafer, a daughter of Frederick and Mary (Meisner) Shafer. Her parents were both born in Germany but became pioneer settlers of Tama county, Iowa, where the father owned and operated a good farm. He also held title to four hundred and eighty acres in Gardner township, Buffalo county, Nebraska, which he purchased for his son. He served throughout the entire Civil war for a period of four and a half years with an Iowa regiment and was taken prisoner and held for fourteen months in a prison at Tyler, Texas. He was also wounded but in spite of the hardships and suffering which he underwent his loyalty to his adopted country never wavered. He passed away in October, 1911, and his wife died in 1899. Mr. and Mrs. Wallace have become the parents of five children,
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namely : John C., a resident of Ravenna; Viola M., the wife of James Vogt, who is operating our subject's farm; Frederick S., who is assistant superin- tendent of the Industrial School at Kearney; Charles R., who is farming in Schneider township, this county; and Anna K., the wife of Wayne McWhinney, a farmer of Sherman county.
Mr. Wallace supports the democratic party at the polls and has held a number of public offices. For years he was justice of the peace of Schneider township, for two years was a member of the board of county supervisors, for twenty . years he served on the school board and is at present assessor of Ravenna. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America. He takes a commendable interest in everything relating to the public welfare and is one of the most highly esteemed citizens of Ravenna.
FRANK FIALA.
Frank Fiala, who is living practically retired upon a valuable farm adjoining the townsite of Ravenna, is one of the most widely known and most highly esteemed residents of this section of the state. He is almost seventy-three years of age but is still straight as an arrow, active and vigorous, and is interested in all of the affairs of the day. His has been an eventful life and in its course he has experienced the rigors of hard military campaigns, has known what it means to come to a strange country without capital and to gain prosperity only to lose all that he has won by hard labor, but his courage has never faltered and his determination and energy have enabled him to gain a substantial competence which is sufficient to provide him with all of the comforts of life.
Frank Fiala was born in the village of Horelice, nine miles from Prague, the capital of Bohemia, and his natal day was the 28th of April, 1843. His parents, James and Veronica Fiala, were likewise born in that country. The father engaged in the coal business, hauling coal to the city of Prague, and in the winter of 1846 was frozen while making the trip. His widow married Joseph Horak and in 1864 they came to America and located in Washington county, Iowa, where Mr. Horak purchased land, which he operated until his demise in 1908. He had survived his wife for a year, her death occurring in 1907.
Frank Fiala started to school in his native village when he was six years of age and when twelve years old was sent to Prague, where he lived with a relative and attended school, taking up, among other things, the study of German. In IS59 war broke out between Austria and Italy and patriotic feeling ran high among the students in the University of Prague, over eight hundred of whom, including Mr. Fiala, enlisted in the Austrian army. He was a member of a company of sharpshooters and for eight months was almost constantly on the skirmish line. He received six cents per day and rations, which consisted of a daily allowance of two and a half pounds of black bread. The principal engage- ment in which he fought was the storming of the fortress of Verona, Italy. He was only sixteen years of age when he enlisted but he made a highly creditable record as a soldier and met with many thrilling experiences unusual to a boy of his years. At the close of the war he was discharged and returned to Horelice,
MRS. FRANK FIALA
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FRANK FIALA
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where he held the position of accountant and timekeeper in an iron mine until he was twenty-one years of age. In the meantime he had formed the acquaint- ance of Vojte Naprstek, who in after years became one of the leaders of the Bohemian people throughout the world. Mr. Naprstek convinced Mr. Fiala that the advantages afforded in America were superior to those offered by his country under Austrian rule and he at once began to agitate the question of emigration among the people of Horelice. Many of his friends and neigh- bors emigrated, as did his mother and stepfather, and he himself was making preparations to leave when the government called upon him to enter upon the required eight years of military duty. He accordingly entered the army and was attached to the Seventh Regiment of Cuirassiers, in which he later became a lieutenant. His regiment was stationed for a considerable period at Vienna and was transferred to various places in Hungary. At that time Maximilian, archduke of Austria, was attempting to establish an empire in Mexico and Mr. Fiala applied for a transfer to his army, believing that he could thus find an opportunity to carry out his plan of emigrating to America. However, his re- quest was refused, as the authorities learned that he intended to beconie a resi- dent of the United States after the expiration of his term of service. While in the Austrian army the Austro-Prussian war occurred and he was in a great deal of the hardest fighting. Among other engagements he participated in the bloody three days' battle of Kenig-Krac and during that engagement was wounded twice, had two horses killed under him and the third horse was wounded by a stroke of a saber directed at Mr. Fiala's person.
At the end of five of his eight years' service Mr. Fiala asked for a furlough of thirty days and, taking advantage of his opportunity, took ship for America and landed at New York city in February, 1869. He did not have a dollar but succeeded in borrowing twenty dollars from friends and started for Chicago with a party of immigrants. After a very disagreeable trip which lasted ten days he reached that city and found work as a runner for an immigrant hotel, thus securing enough money to pay his fare to Iowa, where his mother, step- father and other relatives were located. He was employed as a hired man near Richmond, Iowa, for a time and while there met a Bohemian girl who had recently removed from New York with her parents. They were married after an acquaintance of one day, although at that time Mr. Fiala did not have enough money to pay for the license. He began farming on his own account, but at the end of a year found that his profit was but seventy dollars and determined to turn his attention to other pursuits. His wife was an expert cigar maker, having learned the trade in New York and they concluded to return to that city and there secured work almost immediately. Mr. Fiala also learned the cigar maker's trade and was the first president of the Cigar Makers Union of New York city. The panic of 1873 affected the cigar indus- try as seriously as it did other commercial enterprises and Mr. and Mrs. Fiala determined to again try their fortune in the west. They had saved some capital and established a cigar factory in Iowa City, which they conducted suc- cessfully for about five years, but in 1878 the factory and stock were destroyed by fire, involving a loss of twenty thousand dollars.
Mr. Fiala again found himself penniless and was compelled to start life anew. While living in Iowa City he had made the acquaintance of Edward Vol. II-16
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Rosewater, the editor of the Omaha Bee, and also John Rositzky, the pub- lisher of an influential Bohemian paper, Pokrok Zapadn, and they told him of the opportunities offered energetic, ambitious men in Nebraska. He went to Kearney in April, 1878, and after investigating conditions in the state decided in favor of Sherman county. He removed his family there, taking up a home- stead of one hundred and sixty acres three miles north of Ravenna. He also took up a one hundred and sixty acre timber claim on section 28, township 13, range 14, and at once began the improvement of his land. He found con- ditions even more satisfactory than he had thought and as the years passed his resources constantly increased. After farming successfully for seventeen years he sold his land in this state and went to Florida, investing his capital in timber lands. He took several cars of cattle and horses with him but within a year his stock sickened and died and he also lost heavily in his land investments. In addition to this misfortune he and nearly all of his family were taken sick and one son died there. For the third time he was without capital, but he secured funds from loyal friends and started to return to Nebraska with his family. His money was gone by the time he reached Missouri and he remained there for a year.
In the fall of 1896 he and his family took up their residence in Grand Is- land, and his wife and one of his daughters found employment in a Grand Island cigar factory, while he obtained a position with a Bohemian news- paper, which he represented throughout the state for a year. During that time he also represented a cigar house on the road, and he was also a representative of the Union Fire Insurance Company. At the end of five years the combined efforts of the family had accumulated sufficient capital to purchase a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Sherman county two miles from Ravenna. Mr. Fiala again concentrated his energies upon agricultural pursuits and again his labors were rewarded by prosperity. A few years later he purchased a valuable tract of eighty acres adjoining the townsite of Ravenna on the north and this is now the family home, the quarter section having been sold in 1911 at a substantial advance over the cost price. Part of the eighty acres has also been disposed of as a subdivision of Ravenna. The family are now in very comfortable circumstances and Mr. Fiala is living practically retired, enjoying a leisure which is richly deserved and leaving the operation of the home farm to his son. In 1885 he organized the Union Fire Insurance Company of Nebraska, of which he became vice president and a director, but at the time of his removal to Florida he resigned those offices. However, since returning to Nebraska he has again become connected with that concern and is now serving as its agent.
Mr. Fiala was married on the 19th of April, 1870, to Miss Anna Bratnsov- sky, a daughter of Frank and Josephine Bratnsovsky, natives of Bohemia, who emigrated to America in 1864. After living for a short time in New York city they continued their way westward and settled in Washington county, Iowa, where they purchased land. The father devoted the remainder of his life to farming and met with gratifying success in that occupation. He died in 1898 at Des Moines, and the mother passed away in that city in 1883.
Mr. and Mrs. Fiala have become the parents of fourteen children, as fol- lows: Toney, who was born in New York city in May, 1871 ; Anna, whose
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birth occurred in New York on the 28th of May, 1872; Frank, born in Iowa City, Iowa, in September, 1873; Amos, whose birth occurred in Iowa City in June, 1875, and who died on the 22d of September, 1906; Charles, who was born in Iowa City on the 17th of October, 1877; Emma, whose birth occurred on the 12th of October, 1878, and who died on the 2d of September. 1908, leaving five children; Joseph, who was born on the 22d of February, 1881, and is a resident of Spokane, Washington; Clara, who was born in Sherman county, Nebraska, in August, 1882; Libbie, whose birth occurred in Sherman county on the 21st of May, 1884; William, born in Sherman county on the 15th of September, 1885; James, born on the 21st of November, 1887; Vlasta, born July 19, 1889; John, whose birth occurred on the 5th of February, 1891, and who died on the 19th of that month; and Albert, who was born on the 7th of February, 1892, and died on the 28th of March, 1895.
Mr. Fiala is a stalwart adherent of the democratic party and has always taken the keenest interest in public affairs. He has at all times manifested that high order of patriotism which is ready to subordinate personal interests to the general welfare and at the time of the Spanish-American war he signi- fied his willingness to serve his country as a soldier, offering to raise a regiment of Bohemian-American volunteers for service whenever needed. Governor Holcomb personally thanked Mr. Fiala and promised him the privilege asked in case more troops were required, but, as Nebraska's quota was already more than filled, he was not given the opportunity to raise his regiment. For six years he served as justice of the peace in Sherman county, this state, and he was also elected county supervisor and county treasurer, but would not accept those offices. Fraternally he belongs to the Bohemian Lodge and he was a charter member of both the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, but has since demitted from those organizations. For many years the has been recognized as one of the leading citizens of Bohemian descent in Nebraska and it was largely due to his influence that the Bohemian settlements in this locality were formed. Moreover, during the pioneer days of the county he often sheltered immigrants who had recently arrived and were without funds and there are many families who are now in prosperous circumstances who owe their success largely to him, as he aided them in getting a start in this new country. He was reared in the faith of the Roman Catholic church but is now a free thinker, and he has often been called upon to officiate at the funeral of those holding similar beliefs. He has always conformed his life to high stan- dards of ethics and his genuine worth is acknowledged by all who have been brought in contact with him in any relation of life.
HARRY N. JONES, D. D. S.
Dentistry may be said to be almost unique among occupations, as it is at once a profession, a trade and a business. Such being the case, it follows that in order to attain the highest success in it, one must be thoroughly conversant withi the theory of the profession, must be expert with the many tools and appliances incidental to the practice of modern dentistry and must possess business qualifica-
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tions adequate to dealing with the financial side. In all of these particulars Dr. Harry N. Jones is well qualified and therefore has attained prestige among the able representatives of dentistry in Kearney, where he has maintained an office since January, 1909. He was born in Fremont county, Iowa, near Sidney, on the 17th of October, 1875, and in his youthful days accompanied his parents on their removal to Kansas, the family home being established upon a farm near Mankato, where he was reared. He there attended the public schools of the dis- trict and afterward continued his education in the high school of Minden, Nebraska, while later he spent three years as a student in the State University at Lincoln. He was in the period of early manhood at the time of the outbreak of the war with Spain and, loyal to his native country, he enlisted in 1898 as a member of Company D, First Nebraska Volunteer Infantry. With his regiment he went to Manila and saw active service for five months in the Philippines, participating with his regiment in nearly all of the military engagements that occurred on the islands. He then returned to the United States and was honorably discharged at San Francisco, August 23, 1899, coming out without a wound, although he was many times in the thickest of the fight.
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