Compendium of history, reminiscence, and biography of Nebraska : containing a history of the state of Nebraska also a compendium of reminiscence and biography containing biographical sketches of hundreds of prominent old settlers and representative citizens of Nebraska, Part 101

Author: Alden Publishing Company
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago : Alden Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1402

USA > Nebraska > Compendium of history, reminiscence, and biography of Nebraska : containing a history of the state of Nebraska also a compendium of reminiscence and biography containing biographical sketches of hundreds of prominent old settlers and representative citizens of Nebraska > Part 101

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Bluffs to Cheyenne, and from Council Bluffs to Denver, having this run for about eight years. He was one of the pioneer railroad men in Nebraska. In 1888 he quit the service and located perma- nently in Howard county, purchasing land on sec- tions eight and nine, township fifteen, range nine, and built up a good farm of about one hundred and fifty acres, which he has carried on up to the present time. He has been very successful in farming and stock raising, and has made money, devoting his entire attention to his work.

Mr. Obermiller was married on November 8, 1880, in Boone county, Iowa, to Lillian Warner, who was born and reared in Pennsylvania. They are the parents of four children, three of whom are now living, namely: Oda, wife of George Pratt, living in Minnesota, May, a public school- teacher in Howard county, and Osman, on the farm.

SIDNEY H. CRIPPEN.

Mr. Sidney H. Crippen, of Plainview, Ne- braska, has been familiar with northern Ne- braska since 1878, having preceded his father to the country two years.

Sidney H. Crippen was born in Rutland town- ship, Tioga county, Pennsylvania, July 23, 1846, and resided there until his migration to Nebraska. He was engaged in lumbering and saw mill work, that being a heavily timbered country in those days.

His parents, Daniel and Annie (Hodges) Crip- pen, were natives of Pennsylvania and New York. respectively. The father was also engaged in lumbering and rafting, following that vocation down the Tioga, Chemung and Susquehanna rivers to tide-water in Chesapeake Bay, and in 1880 he came to Nebraska, and filed on a home- stead in Antelope county, near the line of Pierce county. He died here in June, 1894, and the mother died in October, 1908. Another son, Jo- seph, lives on Willow Creek, in Antelope county.

Sidney H. Crippen first came to Nebraska in the fall of 1878, and, with four companions, left the railroad at Columbus, whence they proceeded on foot-the better to see the country-to Albion, where they spent a fortnight with an old Tioga county friend. Not seeing anything to their lik- ing, the five friends came to Neligh by wagon, and thence to the north end of Antelope county, where within an hour all had selected homesteads and east their lots with Nebraska.

Mr. Crippen farmed in Antelope county some ten miles southwest from Plainview for twelve years, when he sold his farm and moved to town, now being engaged in well drilling and house moving. For two years he served as city marshal and an equal period as night watchman.

In November, 1909, he was elected for his tenth term as constable, which, if he finishes his term will round out twenty years in the office. On one occasion, in November, 1904, when there was

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a disturbance on the street, he stepped in to see what was the matter. A big fellow crazed by drink, thrust a saber through Mr. Crippen's body and turned it before withdrawing the blade. No one expected the wounded man to survive, but so hardy is he that even a mutilation such as this did not kill him.

Mr. Crippen was first married in Mansfield, Pennsylvania, to Miss Juliette McConnell, a native of Tioga county, and daughter of Justus and Hannah (Bryant) McConnell. Four of their children lived to maturity and married: Martha, deceased, was the wife of Thomas Honselander, their son, Earl, being the first to confer the honor- able title of great-grandfather; Edith married Charles McCudden, of Sioux City; Mary is the wife of Oliver W. Nelson, engaged in automobile work in Plainview; and Ethel married John Weiler, also of Plainview.

Mr. Crippen was a second time married to Mrs. Matilda Morton, who, like her parents. Am- brose and Catherine (Arnold) Colson. was a na- tive of Maine. After the death of her hus- band, Edwin Morton, she brought her two daugh- ters to the west, where she had relatives, reach- ing Plainview in July, 1887, her parents following that fall. Her elder danghter, Angelia, is the wife of S. H. Finney, of Chadron, Nebraska, and Bertha married John L. Lapini, deceased, and lives in Plainview.

During his early years in Nebraska, Mr. Crip- pen experienced all the hardships of the frontier. On one occasion, on coming to Plainview with his father for coal, they found but two hundred pounds for sale, which they loaded on their wagon and started home. On the way they no- ticed a neighbor and his wife busily at work near the side of a haystack and wondered what they were doing. By driving in and inquiring, he learned they were twisting hay for fuel. For the next two years his house was heated and their food all cooked with twisted hay. Corn was their fuel at times, and since moving to town Mr. Crippen has used it from time to time, paying for one lot seven cents a bushel, which was a much cheaper fuel than coal at the prices for which that commodity was selling. He saw the last flight of grasshoppers here in 1879, and although he thought them numerous, the earlier settlers who had seen them at their worst, assured him these swarms were very small.

At the time of the blizzard of October, 1880, Mr. Crippen, with some neighbors was engaged in railroad construction near Niobrara. They were camping in the canyon under the canvas top of a covered wagon, which they had set up in a grove of small willows with the tree tops laced above. With their camp fire roaring at the front of their fragile domicile, they were quite comfort- able despite the raging storm. During the bliz- zard of 1888, Mr. Crippen was in town and made two efforts to get home, but could go only a little distance before having to turn back. Going with 16

a party to the schoolhouse to rescue the children, he had the presence of mind to ring the bell which guided some who were lost on their way to the school and others who had started home and became bewildered in the storm. At his sug- gestion the bell was kept ringing until after mid- night.

Deer and antelope were plentiful and so tame that they would feed at any time near the dugout of the settlers. At one time an antelope chased back to the house a puppy that was barking at it. Such incidents are typical of the frontier, and they can never be seen again.

Mr. Crippen is a highly respected citizen, being a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and also of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In political belief. Mr. Crippen is a re- publican.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN HOLMES.

Benjamin Franklin Holmes, a successful grain and stock farmer living near Arcadia, Nebraska, and a prominent man in his community, is a native of Clayton county, Iowa, born January 25, 1869, eighth of the ten children born to Joseph M. and Mary (Powell) Holmes, the father of German and English, and the mother of English extraction. Joseph M Holmes was born in New York and died in Valley county, Nebraska, in March, 1908. and the mother, a native of Marion county, Ohio, died June 20, 1911. Besides Frank Holmes, there are four other sons and two daughters in Valley county, one son in Custer county, and one daugh- ter in Dakota ; the other children are deceased.

In 1884 Mr. Holmes accompanied his parents to Cedar connty, Nebraska, and two years later the family removed to Valley county, where the father secured a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres of land on section four, township seventeen, range fifteen. For twenty years Mr. Holmes, in partnership with his brothers, Samuel. Joseph and William, carried on farming. Wil- liam Holmes is now deceased. Together they pur- chased eight hundred acres of land in Valley county, which has since been divided into three parts, of which Frank received one.

March 20, 1907, Benjamin F. Holmes mar- ried Miss Etta Teeter, a native of Harrison county, lowa, daughter of Frank and Charity (Markley) Teeter. Her father resides in Butler county, Nebraska, and her mother died in Iowa in 1884. Mrs. Holmes has three brothers in the state of Washington, one brother in Utah, one sister re- sides with Mrs. Holmes, and two sisters are dead. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Holmes. Ivan L. and Earl E.

In 1904 Benjamin F. Holmes dissolved part- nership with his brothers and now owns three hundred and twenty acres of land on section fifteen, township seventeen, range fifteen, where he has a well developed and well equipped stock and grain farm. He is considered one of the

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most upright and useful citizens in his part of the country and stands well in his community. He served three years as road overseer and for some years was moderator of school district number fifty-nine.

Mr. Holmes with his family is a member of the church of the Bretheren, formely known as the Dunkards. In politics he is a democrat.

CHRISTIAN ENDERLY.

Prominent among Madison county old set- tlers is Christian Enderly, who, since the fall of 1883, has made this region his home and done his share in the developing of the agricultural resources of this section of the county. He lives in a pleasant home on section twenty-four, town- ship twenty-four, range one, surrounded and loved by a host of friends, acquaintances and neighbors.

Mr. Enderly is a native of Germany, his birth occurring in Baden, November 9, 1828. He grew to his young manhood in the old country, where, in 1851, he served as a soldier in the Prussian army. While in the army, Mr. Enderly wanted to get married, but could not while in his country's service, so he and his bride-to-be, Miss Catherine Getzel, came to America, they being married November 28, 1853. Mr. and Mrs. En- derly are the parents of twelve children, whose names are as follows : August, George, Kate, Fred, Will, Edward, Minnie, Lena, Caroline and Emma, living ; and Louis and Annie, deceased.

Mr. Enderly first came to Toledo, Ohio, in 1853, and remained one year, then went to Quincy, Illinois, remaining there four years. In 1858 he went to Des Moines, Iowa, where he lived for many years.

In 1873 Mr. Enderly came to Nebraska, settl- ing in the northeastern part of the state, in Brown county. Here he took up a homestead claim, on which he put up a shanty, living in this county for ten years. In 1883, he came to Madison county, Nebraska, purchasing six acres of the finest land in the county, and has improved this to a high degree; he has on this choice land one hundred splendid fruit trees. Mr. Enderly is a gardener by occupation, and well understands his craft, as is evidence by the appearance of his beautiful home and grounds.

Mr. Enderly is a highly respected and es- teemed citizen of his locality, loved and revered by all who know him, and his friends and ac- quaintances are many. He is a member of the Lutheran church, and a democrat.

EDWARD G. TAYLOR.

Edward G. Taylor is one of the younger self- made business men of his section and has exten- sive interests in various lines throughout central Nebraska. He is director and former president

of the Loup City State Bank, which was orig- inally organized in 1904 and purchased by him and his business associates in 1906. He is presi- dent and one of the organizers of the Sherman County Telephone Company, which has a paid-up capital of fifty thousand dollars. Mr. Taylor was born at Ashton, Lee county, Illinois, December 12, 1867, a twin of Fred, (deceased), and one of a family of seven children born to John P. and Susan (Bridge) Taylor, mentioned at length elsewhere in this work. The family went to live on a farm when Edward G. Taylor was three years of age, and nine years later, in April, 1879, the parents, accompanied by their five sons and two daughters, came to Sherman county, locat- ing on a homestead farm eleven miles southeast of the county seat, Loup City. The father was one of the original homesteaders of that part of the county, and became one of the most influen- tial men in the community, erecting one of the first two frame houses in central Nebraska. .

The subject of this review remained on the home farm until reaching his majority, received the advantages of a district school education and a few years at high school at St. Paul, Nebraska, before he was twenty-one, and in 1888 entered business college at Grand Island. In the spring of 1889 he and his brother-in-law, A. N. Conklin, engaged in general mercantile business in the new town of Ashton, which was located near the Taylor homestead, and continued in this business until the spring of 1895, when Mr. Taylor sold his interest to his partner and embarked in the grain business at the same place. He was most success- ful in buying and shipping grain and stock, and in September, 1903, moved with his family to Loup City, where he had for some time been in- terested in an elevator. He continues to deal in grain and stock at several stations on the rail- road, shipping from Schaupps, Farwell, Ashton, McAlpine and Palmer, as well as Loup City, on the Burlington and Missouri Railroad. He owns one of the finest and most modern residences in the city and he and his wife are closely identi- fied with the social, educational and religious life of their community. They have many warm friends and both have shown an intelligent inter- est in local affairs and events. He is keenly in- terested along political lines and in personal views is an independent democrat, though he has never held public office or cared for political honors.

Mr. Taylor was married to Miss Lydia, daugh- ter of William H. and Harriet Brown, at her home near Ashton, December 12, 1889. She was born in Iowa and came with her family to Sherman county in the spring of 1885. Her father was one of the early settlers of the state, to which he had come in 1877. He is a veteran of the civil war, participated in many of its battles and was wounded three times. He now lives with his daughter, Mrs. Taylor, in Loup City, his wife hav- ing passed away in August, 1902. Mr. Taylor and wife have two children, Earl Brown and Lu-

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cile Harriet. Mr. Taylor is a Presbyterian, and a staunch republican.

During the early days, many were the hard- ships the family endured. Coarse weeds and corn- stalks were their only fuel for a time. Water for stock and family use had to be hauled four miles, until a well was dug, theirs being the first on the table land. The October blizzard of 1880, which inaugurated the winter of the deep snow, caused them much inconvenience. The father was away, working at St. Paul, leaving the boys to look after the farm work. The stable, which was in a ra- vine, was completely covered by snow during the three days of storm; water and feed were passed down through a hole dng in the roof and when the storm had abated, a tunnel had to be dug through the deep drifts to the door before the stock could be led out. The blizzard of January 12, 1888, found Mr. Taylor at school in St. Paul.

WILLIAM H. CRITES.

Among the leading public spirited citizens of Merrick county, Nebraska, the name of William H. Crites merits a foremost place. He is a man of more than ordinary ability and has gained the esteem and confidence of the people of his state and county.

William H. Crites was born on a farm in Sci- oto county, Ohio, March 6, 1841, and was the sec- ond of nine children born to John and Cecelia (Heath) Crites, who had six sons and three daughters. John Crites was a native of Virginia, and Cecelia Heath was born in Ohio. In the month of February, 1853, our subject's father and family moved to Mason county, Illinois, go- ing by steamboat, and landed at Havana, March 4th. Six months later they settled on a farm.

William H. Crites, subject of this sketch, in his twelfth year went out on the farm of John Aux- ier, in Mason county, Illinois, and herded cattle seven months, going to school during the three months of the winter term. Mr. Crites spent his youthful days in Mason county, having the usual experiences of the farm boy in those early days.

Mr. Crites, on August 12, 1861, enlisted in Company E, Twenty-seventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and was honorably discharged from ser- vice September 20, 1864, in Springfield, Illinois.

The war record of Mr. Crites is of unusual interest, as he was active in a large number of principal engagements; a list of which is herewith given : Belmont, Union City, Island Number Ten, Farmington, Siege of Corinth, Levergne, Stone River, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, Rocky Face, Resaca, Dallas, Mud Creek, Peachtree Creek, Kenesaw Mountain and Atlanta. He was wounded a number of times and had many nar- row escapes from capture by the enemy. Upon being mustered out Mr. Crites returned to Mason county, Illinois, and to the farm.

Mr. Crites married in Lincoln, Logan county,

Illinois, September 18, 1867, Miss Phoebe Saxton, a native of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Crites are the parents of the following children: Myrtle, who is married to Mr. Walter Gillette, has five chil- dren and lives in Idaho; Iva, married to Mr. Fred Marsh, has six children and lives in Merrick county, Nebraska ; Clay H., deceased, survived by his widow and four children who live in Central City ; Evan, who is married and has one child, re- sides in Merrick county, nine miles north of Cen- tral City; Ella, married to Mr. John Kyes, has two children and lives near Archer, Nebraska ; Ethel, who is married to Mr. Ernest Hanna, has one child and lives at Lexington, Nebraska; and Frank, who is attending Friends college at Whit- tier, in California.

After marriage, Mason county, Illinois, was the home of Mr. and Mrs. Crites, with the excep- tion of three years' residence in Menard county, Illinois.

Leaving Menard county in September, 1871, they came to Lone Tree station on the Union Pa- cific railroad. Lone Tree is now Central City, Nebraska. Here they took up a pre-emption claim, and in 1873 homesteaded land twelve miles northwest of Lone Tree. In 1874, during the hard times caused by the grasshoppers, Mr. Crites went out on a buffalo hunt, lasting some months, to procure meat for his family, and also for money derived from the sale of hides, etc. They lived on the homestead where they followed farming and stock-raising until 1903, coming at that time to Central City to reside.

Mr. Crites has been an active man along all lines during his residence in Merrick county, and in the fall of 1887 was elected sheriff of his county on the republican ticket, and served two terms, during which he lived at the county seat. He has also filled many of the township and precinct offices of his county, and in 1880 and 1881 filled the office of postmaster at Bethel. He is a self- made man, going out in life for himself at an early age, his parents both dying soon after re- moving to Illinois. He is successful and well and favorably known.

ALLEN CHICKEN.

The gentleman above mentioned is counted among the oldest settlers in Knox county, and since locating here in 1873, has taken a foremost part in the development of this region. He has gained an enviable reputation as a progressive citizen and a man of straightforward character, and has built up a good home in section thirty- four, township thirty, range eight, where, with his family, he occupies a comfortable residence, and is held in the highest esteem by his fellow men.

Mr. Allen Chicken is a native of Ohio, and was born November 25, 1838. His father was John Chicken, a well known farmer of that re- gion, who died when our subject was a small boy.

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When about twenty-seven years of age, Allen left home and went to Iowa, remaining for about eight years, soon afterwards coming to Nebraska and selecting a location in Knox county. He filed on a homestead, which forms part of his farm, started to improve the land, and built his first dwelling place, which was a house made of logs. Grasshoppers destroyed his erops in 1873, 1874 and 1875, but after those years he was able to raise some crops, and soon began to raise live stoek, grain, ete. As the years went on conditions became more 'favorable, and he increased his holdings in land and stoek, until at the present time he is known as one of the leading men of his locality, taking an active part in every movement started for the betterment of conditions in the region. He now owns two hundred and forty acres of land. During the early part of his resi- dence here, he was one of two men being the pos- sessors of a horse apiece in the seetion, all the other settlers owning oxen, with which they did all their teaming. In the summer of 1875 a band of thieving Indians came along and stole his horse. They also took with them his only cow and a ealf, which at that time was a serious loss to him.

Mr. Chieken was married in Iowa, November 24, 1867, to Miss Mary Grim, a native of Ohio. They are the parents of four children, namely : Sarah E., now Mrs. Charles Van Kleek ; May Etta, wife of Alexander Copple; Lillie Viola, wife of Frank House, and Wilmer H., who married Katie Bouy.

JAMES M. McCUMBER.

The Buckeye state is well represented in the successful men of the west, and one of her repre- sentatives who stands well in the community where he has resided so many years, is James M. McCumber of Butte, now retired and occupying a new bungalow residence on the southwest side of the town.

Mr. McCumber was born in Meigs county, Ohio, December 18, 1849. His parents, Daniel and Mary (Henry) MeCumber, were both natives of Ohio. The father served three years and three months during the civil war as drum major in the Ninety-second Ohio Infantry. and came out with health so much impaired from a tumor in the ab- domen that he lived but a few years after the elose of hostilities. He came with his family to Carroll county, Missouri, and died shortly after his removal to that state. The mother is living with a daughter in Ellsworth, Kansas, at the ad- vaneed age of eighty-two years. The Grand- father Henry, came to Missouri some years be- fore the MeCumber family and had secured a large tract of land at the old government price of one dollar and twenty-five cents per aere, and died here at a good old age.

James M. McCumber was married in Carroll

county, Missouri, and farmed there until his mi- gration to Nebraska in September, 1884. He set- tled first on a farm he purchased twelve miles northwest of Ainsworth, and resided here for eight years, during which they experienced their hardest times; drouths, storms, hail-everything seemed to conspire in working havoc with their prospects and their crops.

When Boyd county was thrown open for set- tlement in 1892, Mr. MeCumber filed on a home- stead on the west line of the county, about seven miles north of the Keya Paha river, and, in addi- tion, bought three quarters of a section of school land, making an even six hundred and forty aeres of excellent land for farming or ranehing. In 1899 he came to Butte and bought eighty aeres at the southeast corner of the town. He resided here until the spring of 1909, when he sold and moved into the city limits, building his present comfort- able home in the summer of 1910. For three years Mr. MeCumber was in the implement busi- ness, selling to Mr. Krotter, and devoting his time thereafter to his farm. So rapid has been the advanee in lands in Boyd county, that the eighty aeres brought one hundred and five dollars per aere when Mr. MeCumber parted with it. The fine, large residenee on the place is in strong contrast with the "soddy" occupied during home- stead days, although it was a large one for the times.

James M. McCumber was married in Carroll county, Missouri, January 22, 1872, to Miss Lu- cinda Jennings. She was born in Missouri, and was a daughter of John and Nancy (Bingham) Jennings, who lived and died in Missouri. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. MeCumber, all of whom are living. They are Edmond, who is owner of the Broekman Ranch in Keva Paha county, consisting of two thousand acres, that has rapidly advanced in value the last few years until it is now well worth from sixty thousand to seventy-five thousand dollars; Everett, who is on the ranch of his brother Edmond ; Norman, in the real estate business at Gregory, South Dakota, and doing well; Oma G., who is the wife of Mr. John P. Wood, one of Butte's leading business men, of whom a more extended mention is made on another page ; Earl, who is proprietor of a meat market at ('aspar, Wyoming; and Maude, who remains as yet under the parental roof.

Mr. MeCumber is a republican in polities, a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and is a brother in the Odd Fellows and the Ancient Order of United Workmen.

Mr. MeCumber came to the county before all the large game was gone and secured a few deer and antelope for the family larder. He had an mupleasant experience in one of the severe hail- storms of the region, being overtaken a mile and a half from home, while driving. Unhitching the traces, he crept under the wagon, hoping to hold his team of mules with the lines. but they soon be- came frantic, and breaking away, ran home,

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Compendium of history, reminiscence, and biography of Nebraska : containing a history of the state of Nebraska also a compendium of reminiscence and biography containing biographical sketches of hundreds of prominent old settlers and representative citizens of Nebraska, Part 101

Author: Alden Publishing Company Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago : Alden Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1402

Author: Alden Publishing Company
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago : Alden Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1402