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 134

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 134

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Mr. Phelps is a pioneer in its truest sense, having grown up from boyhood in Merrick county, and has seen that section of Nebraska come up to its present condition of prosperity and plenty. He has had a wide western experience. and is a man of high character and known in- tegrity. He has a brother living on Prairie Island, east of Central City.

Of the cyclone in which Mr. Phelps, senior, lost his life, we herewith give a full account: "July 5, 1871, about six o'clock in the evening a tornado or waterspout crossed the country go- ing in an easterly direction from Central City, and about one mile east of town destroyed the house of Elnathan Phelps, where he and three of his children were eating supper. They were carried some feet in the air and cast upon the ground some yards from where the building stood. The dead body of Mr. Phelps was found

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in the debris of a cottonwood tree. The children escaped without suffering serious injury."

E. S. BAGLEY.

E. S. Bagley, a native of the Green Mountain state, is one in whose veins flows the energetic blood of Yankee land. He was born in the vil- lage of Londonderry, Vermont, June 3, 1859, a son of George A. and Mary (Perkins) Bagley, both natives of Windsor, that state. The father was a tinner by trade. He moved to Walworth county, Wisconsin, near the town of Palmyra, where he farmed and worked at his trade, and where his remaining life was spent.

E. S. Bagley learned his father's trade, and when a young man moved to Whitmore, Iowa, where he ran a tin shop for several years. He next went into the hardware business at West Bend, in connection with his tin work, remaining until the fall of 1884. For six months he was at work at his trade in Dows, when he removed to Nebraska in April, 1885. He opened a hardware store in Geneva, which he sold two years later to engage in the lumber business at Millegan. In the spring of 1889, he removed to Creighton, dealing in lumber and coal until 1897, when he came to Bloomfield, then a new town. Here he opened a stock of general merchandise, which he sold in 1899 to engage in extensive lumber busi- ness in partnership with Mr. Edward Rennard, with whom he owns a chain of lumber and hard- ware establishments along the line of the Bloom- field branch of the Northwestern line.

Mr. Bagley was married at Whittemore, Iowa, July 17, 1881, to Miss Martha Vigren. Three chil- dren were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bagley, none of whom survive.

Mr. Bagley is independent in politics, reserv- ing the privilege of voting for the man he con- siders best fitted for the office, regardless of the party trade mark or stamp. He is a member of the Masonie order in Bloomfield, and of the local camp Modern Woodmen of America.

Mr. Bagley has traveled extensively, having journeyed from coast to coast. He visited the Jamestown exposition in 1907, and attended the National Lumbermen's convention at San Fran- cisco in 1904.

As a business man, Mr. Bagley has demon- strated his ability in several lines of enterprise, and is now one of the moving spirits of an exten- sive chain of establishments in northeastern Ne- braska. He is universally acknowledged to be a good neighbor and genial friend.

MICHAEL C. CASSIN.

Michael C. Cassin, the subject of this personal history, is one of the best known and highly sue- cessful business men of Columbus, Platte county, Nebraska, and holds the respect and esteem of all who know and have dealings with him.

Patrick Cassin, our subject's father, was born in Pennsylvania about 1823, where he lived until 1878. In 1862 he was married to Miss Ellen Milan in Pennsylvania, and six children were born of this union in Pennsylvania : John, James, Michael, Thomas, Mary and Elizabeth. Mr. Cas- sin by occupation was a farmer; and in June, 1878, he and his family moved to Columbus, Ne- braska, arriving about the seventh of that month, where Mr. Cassin became an employee of the Union Pacific railroad. He made Columbus his home until the time of his death, in September, 1896; and Mrs. Cassin died October 13, 1909. Two children, Joseph and Margaret, were born to Mr. and Mrs. Cassin in Columbus, and at the time of Mrs. Cassin's death seven children sur- vived, four sons and three daughters. All of the children are residents of Nebraska, except John, the eldest, who resides in Colorado; and five of them reside in Platte county.

Michael C. Cassin, subject of this sketch, was born April 22, 1868, in Pennsylvania, so was in his tenth year when the family came to Columbus in 1878, and he grew up to manhood in Platte county. September 22, 1891, Mr. Cassin was mar- ried to Miss Sarah Kohler, daughter of Charles and Catherine Kohler. The Kohler family moved from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, about 1857, and was one of the pioneer homesteaders of Platte county, and the old homestead farm was the home of Mr. Kohler until the time of his death in April, 1888, he being survived by his widow and eight children, five sons and three daughters, all of whom live in Nebraska except a daughter who is married and resides in Idaho. Mr. and Mrs. Kohler and family was one of the representative families of Colfax county. They were pioneers in every sense of the word, pass- ing through the Indian days, hard times, etc., becoming one of the successful families of this county. Mrs. Kohler continues to be an active factor in Colfax county and still resides on the farm. The family of sons and daughters grew up to manhood and womanhood in Colfax county, where they are widely known and have the respect and esteem of many friends.

Mr. Cassin is one of the energetie and success- ful business men of Columbus where he is en- gaged in the meat market business, having one of the best equipped and finest markets in central Nebraska; and is also an extensive buyer and shipper of live stock.

Mr. and Mrs. Cassin have a fine modern home in Columbus, and also own a farm adjoining the city. They have one child, a son, Lloyd.

MICHAEL H. RAFFERTY.

Among the progressive and energetic pioneers of eastern Nebraska, who have contributed largely to the prosperity enjoyed in that region, a high station is accorded the gentleman above named.

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Mr. Rafferty first set foot on Nebraska soil in 1869, when he made a trip to Lincoln before a railroad had reached that point. He did not again come to the state until February, 1881, at which time he settled in Saunders county, eight miles west of Ashland. In December. 1882, he filed on a homestead in Antelope county, three miles north of Brunswick, and later secured a timber claim ; here he lived eleven years, moving to Creighton in 1893. He is a mason and builder and has found work at his trade here ever since. He has a large, commodious home in the southern part of town and at present is taking life easy, enjoying a well earned rest.

Mr. Rafferty was born near Easton, Pennsyl- vania, June 8, 1844, and was living there at the outbreak of the civil war. He enlisted in Com- pany K, One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Pennsyl- vania Volunteer Infantry, August 1, 1862, and served until May 20, 1863, under Burnsides, Hooker, and Meade. He participated in the bat- tles of Centerville, Bull Run, Antietam, Freder- ieksburg, Chancellorsville, and a number of minor engagements. After the war Mr. Raffer- ty's parents moved to Ohio, and here he worked at his trade in and near Fremont, until coming west. His parents, Michael and Margaret (Clemens) Rafferty, were natives of Ireland and Pennsylvania, respectively, and both died in Ohio.

Mr. Rafferty was married near Fremont, August 29, 1865, to Miss Mary Keiser, a native of Fremont. Her parents, William and Catherine (Baer) Keiser, came to Nebraska in 1869, seeur- ing a homestead near Ashland. A son, brother to Mrs. Rafferty, had been in the state since 1869, teaching, and was instrumental in organizing the district and publie schools of that region.

Mr. and Mrs. Rafferty are the parents of nine living children: Cora, is the wife of Mr. John Carpenter, of Wingate, Indiana; Samuel, lives at Oakfield, Wisconsin ; William, has been in Chi- cago since 1893; Walter, makes his home in Lynch, Nebraska; Harry, resides at Casper, Wyoming; Charles, resides near his brother, Walter; Florence, married John Hengstler, and lives on their farm two miles south of town, while Grace and Catherine, are still under the parental roof.

During his early years in Nebraska, Mr. Rafferty sought work in the west, and while on the Oregon Short Line in Utah and Idaho, helped a number of times to shovel trains out of the snow drifts ; at one place there were three engines and a snow plow piled up on the two sides of the tracks. In 1890 he spent some six months in Idaho, and since that time has confined his ener- gies to northeastern Nebraska.

In polities Mr. Rafferty is a democrat, and is a comrade of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic. Mrs. Rafferty and daughters are members of the Congregational ehnreh.

Young folks of the present day can scarcely

comprehend the wonderful change and progress in the west since Mr. Rafferty first set foot in Nebraska, or even since his coming more than a decade later. Open country is now a thing of the past ; in those days one might ride to the Pacific coast unimpeded by a fence, while now fine groves break the horizon where only waving grass appeared. Such are the wonders that have been wrought by the hardy pioneers within the life- time of their children who were born here, and who are still in their minority.

JOHN DAVIS.

John Davis, now living retired from active life at Ansley, Nebraska, is one of the early set- tlers of Custer county and has been identified with the history and development of the same for more than a quarter of a century. He is the son of Joseph and Mary A. (Arnold) Davis, who were pioneers of central Nebraska, and was born July 29, 1863, in Macon county, Illinois, being the fourth of eight children. He has a brother in Wisconsin ; one sister, Mrs. Esther Lannum, liv- ing in Ansley; another sister, Mrs. Charles Ar- nold, also living in Custer county; a brother. William Davis, in Broken Bow, and others of the family are deceased. The father, who was of German and English descent, was born in Wash- ington county, Pennsylvania, and died in Ansley in January, 1901, and the mother of English descent, was born in Virginia and died in Custer county in 1898.

At the age of seventeen years Mr. Davis came with his parents to Custer county and there the father secured a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres of land on Clear creek.

John Davis remained with his parents until his marriage July 4, 1889, at Grand Island, Ne- braska, to Kate Caves, who was born in Wau- shara county, Wisconsin. She had heen a teacher in the public schools of Wisconsin, Iowa and Ne- braska, and is one of eleven children, all of whom still survive. She has a sister, Mrs. Bert Lan- phear, in Rock county, Nebraska; four brothers and two sisters in Wisconsin; a sister in Arkan- sas; one in Montana, and another in Iowa. Her parents, Joel and Eliza (Stratton) Caves, were natives of England, and both died in Wisconsin, he in 1886 and she in 1880.

After his marriage Mr. Davis located in Ans- ley and engaged in the meat business and dealing in stock. He pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land on Clear creek, in 1885, and became a large landholder and an extensive stock feeder. In 1910 he erected the fine home where they now live. He and his wife had one child. (". Joda, who died October 10, 1910, at the age of eighteen years, sadly mourned by her parents and many friends.

Both Mr. Davis and his wife have spent a large part of their lives in Nebraska and they are well and favorably known. They are inter-

RESIDENCE OF JAMES MCALLISTER.

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ested in the progress and welfare of the county and state and are ready to lend their influence to the furthering of any measure calculated to advance the common interests.

JAMES MCALLISTER.

James McAllister, one of the most extensive stock and grain farmers of central Nebraska, and the owner of eighteen hundred acres of land, all in Algernon township, has always been closely identified with the best interests of his county and state and is widely and favorably known. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, June 10, 1849. third of the ten children of William and Ellen (MeTwigen) McAllister. He has a sister, Mrs. Alfred O'Brien, in Mason City ; a brother, Robert H., in Grand Island, and another, A. S .. in Dono- van, Nebraska; a sister in Pueblo, Colorado, and others are deceased. Both parents were natives of Edinboro, Scotland, and came to America about 1846, locating first in Rhode Island, going thence to St. Louis, where they resided two years. In April, 1850, they settled in Pottawattamie county, Iowa, three miles from Council Bluffs, and resided there thirteen years. They came to Merrick county, Nebraska, in 1863, where the father se- cured a homestead near Grand Island. Both he and his wife died in Grand Island, he October 29, 1886, and she March 9, 1900.

James McAllister accompanied his parents to Merrick county when he was about fourteen years of age, and grew to manhood on a farm, receiving his primary education in local schools, and for three years attended high school at Council Bluffs, Iowa. For fifteen years he worked in the employ of the Union Pacific railroad company, running for nine years as conductor on one divi- sion, between Grand Island and North Platte, and had been employed in the car department two years before entering the train service. He was united in marriage at Council Bluffs, December 2, 1873, with Miss Alice Allison, a native of Penn- sylvania, daughter of Thomas and Eliza (Iletrick) Allison, also natives of that state. Mr. Allison died in Council Bluffs in 1894, and his widow re- sides with Mr. and Mrs. MeAllister. Another daughter, Mrs. W. R. McAllister, lives in Grand Island, and one son and one daughter live in lowa. In the spring of 1882, Mr. and Mrs. McAllister brought their three children to Custer county, securing a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres in section thirty-five, township fifteen, range seventeen, which is still the home place. They also took a tree claim of one hundred and sixty acres. Six children have been born to them: Hugh L., married, and living in Custer county, has two children; James H., at home; Ethel, wife of George Weimer, lives in Seattle, Washington : Edith, at home; one son and one daughter who died in infaney. Mr. McAllister was instrumental in organizing school district

number nine, and for ten years served on the school board.

Having been one of the earliest settlers of his part of the county, Mr. McAllister has passed through the various stages of its history. He has added to his possessions from time to time, and now has eleven hundred acres of land in the home place, besides other land near by. He met many trying experiences and discouragements naturally incidental to pioneer existence, but. through hard work and energy, triumphed over these difficulties. For some years he carried on freighting between Omaha and Kearney, and also to and from Fort Cottonwood. When he erected his first farm buildings, he hauled the lumber from Grand Island, a distance of about sixty-five miles. He is engaged extensively in stock feed- ing, and also raises considerable grain. In 1908. he erected a fine modern farm house of concrete bloeks at a cost of six thousand dollars, and also has substantial barns and other buildings. A hot-air system of heating was installed, as well as a complete system of water and sewerage, and the entire house is lighted by acetylene gas. We are pleased to give a full-page view of this fine. modern country home, with its many large barns and outbuildings, elsewhere in this work.

Mr. McAllister was a democrat until Cleve- land's last term, and since that time has voted independently of party lines. He was formerly an Odd Fellow, and is now a member of the An- cient Order of United Workmen.

EDWARD PUFAHL.

Edward Pufahl, a well-to-do farmer, energetic and industrious, a typical representative of the German raee, who eame to this country to estab- lish a home and accumulate a competence for his old age, resides on his farm of two hundred and twenty acres, which is situated in section twenty- five, township twenty-five, range two, and on which five acres are planted in trees. Mr. Pufahl has been for many years a resident of northeast- ern Nebraska, having settled in Pieree county in 1892.

Mr. Pufahl was born November 10, 1850, in the village of Sacho, distriet of Pegenwalde, prov- ince of Pommerania, Germany, and is the son of William Pufahl (also a native of that province). who was born in 1820, and died in America at the good old age of eighty-two years. He was em- ployed as a wood-worker in the factories in the fatherland, and in his younger days served his native country in the army. Mr. Pufahl's mother was Sofia Braun, also a native of Pommerania. and attained a good old age.

Mr. Pufahl embarked at Hamburg in 1869 on the sailship "Matilda," on the eleventh of May. landing in New York on June 21. He settled in Wisconsin, where he first secured work in a woodenware factory at Two Rivers. In 1884 he bought one hundred aeres in Manitowoc county,

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which he cultivated some eight years, then sold and bought his present farm in Pierce county, near Hadar, in 1892. To this he has added two eighty-acre tracts, purchased at different times.

Mr. Pufahl was married, June 14, 1878, to Miss Edith Oestrieth, who was born in the village of Schauen, province of Pommerania, Germany, in 1856, a daughter of August and Mina (Primnoh) Oestrieth. They came to America, and settled in Wisconsin in 1866.

To Mr. and Mrs. Pufahl have been born five children, whose names are as follows: August, married Minnie Kloepke, and lives in Madison county ; Louis; Edward, married Ella Wachter, and is farming near his father's place, and Emil. Willie, the second child, died when quite young.

The family are members of the German Luth- eran church, and Mr. Pufahl casts his vote for the candidates of the republican party.

JAMES W. DODD.

James W. Dodd, the subject of this biograph- ical writing, was born in Canada, July 16, 1864, and came to the United States of America in the month of June, 1874, with his father, mother, one brother and seven sisters. His father purchased a farm on the southeast quarter of section four- teen, township fourteen, range eleven, which con- sisted of one hundred and sixty acres, and he also purchased one hundred and twenty acres of railroad land.

James W. Dodd has lived in Howard county continuously up to the present time, and now re- sides on the southwest quarter of section eleven, township fourteen, range eleven, where he owns a well-equipped grain and stock farm. The Methodist Episcopal church is located on the southwest corner of the farm, this being one of the first churches in this section of the state, and his parents helped to build it.

Mr. Dodd was married to Miss Alice Crow, January 5, 1887. She was born in Canada, and came to Howard county, Nebraska, with her par- ents in the early pioneer days.

Mr. and Mrs. Dodd have had six children born to them, all of whom are residing under the parental roof: Geneva, Elsie, Mabel, James William, Alice Margaret and Francis Wilmer. Mrs. Dodd's parents reside in St. Paul, Nebraska, and are well-known old-time citizens of Howard county.

Mr. Dodd was fifth in a family of fourteen children, three sisters of whom are married and reside in Howard county, four sisters reside in Nebraska, other than those in Howard county. There is one brother and a sister in Wyoming. and the father, mother, two other brothers reside in Canada, and two girls died in Howard county.

Mr. Dodd has held several loeal precinct offices, which he filled creditably to himself and satisfactorily to his constituents. Ile has always been active in affairs pertaining to his county and

state, and is widely known as an upright, fair- minded citizen. Both Mr. and Mrs. Dodd came from Howard county pioneer families. Mr. Dodd's father, James F. Dodd, was born in June, 1835, in France, althongh of English descent, and came to Canada when but four years of age, with his mother, his father having come about a year previous. He came into Howard county, Nebras- ka, in June, 1874, with his wife and nine children, and purchased land as previously stated, farming same up to the time of leaving Howard county. There were five children born in Howard county. He sold out in the spring of 1904, and, with his wife and two children, went to Alberta, Canada. During his residence in Howard county, he was well known for his splendid character and good qualities. The Dodd family, father and son, have both contributed largely to the upbuilding and advancement of this section of the country, and are prominent factors in the making of Nebraska history.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN ZIMMERMAN.

Abraham Lincoln Zimmerman, one of the lead- ing business men of Sherman county, Nebraska, is an extensive dealer in real estate, has a factory for manufacturing cement blocks, and various other interests in his part of the state. He spent six years in the ministry in central Nebraska, and he and his wife have been important factors in the religious and educational life of Sherman county, both always ready to esponse the cause of right and progress. Mr. Zimmerman was born near West Union, Adams county, Ohio, March 1, 1862, youngest of a family of ten children, seven sons and three daughters, born to Valentine and Elizabeth (Brandt) Zimmerman, both natives of Pennsylvania. He was reared on a farm in his native state, and received the usual educational advantages accorded farmers' sons in the district schools of the time. His father was a soldier in the civil war, and at the time of his discharge was captain of Company F, Seventieth Ohio Vol- unteer Infantry, the promotion from the rank of lientenant to that of captain given for gallant conduct on the field of battle. He died in Ohio in 1876, at which time Abraham L., was in his fourteenth year. Being the only son at home, he cared for his mother and the responsibilities of the farm. Later he engaged in the tombstone business with a brother, George, at Cynthiana, Ohio, which they closed out in 1880, and in No- vember of that year came to Sherman county. Nebraska. George Zimmerman brought his wife and three children, and took up a homestead six miles west of Loup City. In 1883,. the mother came to the county, accompanied by her daugh- ter, Alice, and the latter's husband, James Bone. She lived with her son, Abraham L., until a few months before her death in the latter months of 1892, passing away at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Alice Bone. Another son, Jolın Zimmerman,

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came to Nebraska, and for several years was a minister in that state, in the service of the United Brethren church. Another son, Valentine A. Zimmerman, also became a resident of the state, and a daughter, Alverda, (Mrs. Charles Whit- more) came to Nebraska with her husband in 1885. Those of the children who now live there are Abraham Lincoln, the subject of this sketch; Mrs. Bone, Mrs. Whitmore, and Reverend John Zimmerman, who occupies a pulpit at Orchard, Nebraska. The other members of the family are scattered into several states.

Abraham L. Zimmerman eventually took up a homestead in the same locality as his brother George, and at that time had few neighbors, few homesteads having been filed in the neighbor- hood, so that the two were among the pioneers of the region. In 1882 he returned to Ohio to be married, and there, February 1, 1882, he was united with Miss Etta Bone, a native of MeCon- nelsville, Ohio. Her parents, Jacob and Elizabeth (Harkless) Bone, were also natives of the Buck- eye state. Mr. and Mrs. Zimmerman began house- keeping on the Nebraska homestead, where they lived until 1892. Prior to the time the railroad passed through Loup City, in 1886, Mr. Zimmer- man had a small general merchandise store on his farm, and was instrumental in securing a post- office there, known as Cleoria, of which his wife was postmistress. They were also the prime mov- ers in securing the erection of the first school building in the neighborhood, and the first protes- tant church edifice in the county, it being erected by a congregation of the United Brethren.

During the years 1892 and 1893, Mr. Zimmer- man lived in Loup City, but returned to the farm in 1894, and in the following year he entered the ministry of the United Brethren church, serving three years as pastor of three congregations near Gibbon, two years at Marquette, and one year at Aurora, during which time he resided two years at Gibbon, two at Marquette, and one at Aurora. In 1901 he abandoned the ministry, and returned to his farm, at that time embarking in the real estate business in company with Mr. O. Gunnar- son. In 1903 he brought his family to Loup City, where they expect to make their permanent home. They have a modern, comfortable residence there, pleasantly located near the central part of town. During the many years he carried on ag- ricultural pursuits, he had various business inter- ests outside his farm, and he has had much to do with the advancement of various interests in cen- tral Nebraska. Every enterprise with which he has been connected has benefited through his en- ergy and business foresight.

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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 134

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