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 206

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 206


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FRED KRUSE.


Fred Kruse, another of those sturdy and intrepid sons of old Germany, braved the pangs of homesickness, and encountered hardships in coming to the United States as a young man, but, in spite of all, has remained to reap a well-de- served reward in the possession of a comfortable


competenee, gained by dint of thrift and persever- anee. His home is on seetion nine, township thirteen, range twelve, of Howard county.


Our subjeet is a son of IIans Kruse, the young- est of three children, and was born in Germany, April 13, 1843. He remained in his native eonn- try until his twenty-fourth year, then eame to the United States, landing in this country on June 15, 1867, his first location being in Green county, Iowa, where he obtained employment on the railroad.


He was married there the following year to Katrina Fehlhaber, and together they came to Hall county, Nebraska, in the spring of 1869, remaining there for about eighteen months, when they came into Howard county, where they were among the very earliest settlers. Mr. Kruse took up a pre-emption claim on section four, township thirteen, range ten, and sold his rights a short time afterwards. In the spring of 1878, he pur- ehased land of the Union Paeifie railroad, con- sisting of two hundred and forty aeres, in section nine, which has been his home ever since.


During his career in the early years here, he passed through all the different phases of Nebraska times, and, while building up a valna- ble estate, has become well known to all for his help in developing his section of the country.


Mr. and Mrs. Kruse have had five children, four of whom are living, named as follows: Charles Henry, who was born in Hall eonnty in 1871, was married in Howard eounty on March 10, 1898, to Annie M. Berek, at the home of her parents. Charles Henry Kruse and his family of five children live on the home farm. The other children of our subjeet are Charles Freder- iek, Lida and Emma, all of whom are married, and settled in different parts of Nebraska.


Mr. Kruse is an active member of the German Methodist ehureh, and both himself and wife are prominent in educational and social eireles of their community.


JOHN E. DRAKE.


One of the leading old settlers and citizens of Valley county, Nebraska, is the subject of this sketeh, John E. Drake, a well-known resident in township nineteen, range thirteen, living on see- tion fourteen. Mr. Drake has lived in Valley county sinee 1876, eoming here when the country was but a raw, unbroken prairie, inhabited by Indians and wild game.


John Elliott Drake, usually known as Elliott Drake, was born in Steuben county, New York, June 12, 1855, and was third of eight children in the family of James P. and Susanah (Sargeant) Drake, who had six sons and two daughters. Mr. Drake was a farm boy, and lived on the farm in Steuben county until his twenty-first year.


In May of 1876, Mr. Drake came to Valley eounty, Nebraska, where he homesteaded land in the northwest quarter of section twenty-two,


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township nineteen, range thirteen, in Springdale township. He remained on this homestead until 1892, and now lives on section fourteen, town- ship nineteen, range thirteen, where he has one hundred and sixty acres of farm and grazing land. Mr. Drake is one of the first settlers of Springdale township, and for many years has been closely identified with Valley county, and Valley county has been his continuous home, with the exception of two years spent in Oklahoma from the fall of 1894 to the fall of 1896, whither he went on a prospecting tour in the spring of 1892.


Mr. Drake was married to Miss Jennie Ever- son, October 2, 1879, in Ord, Nebraska. Miss Everson was a native of Wisconsin, and her step- father, William Lasure, and family came to Val- ley county in 1878. Mr. and Mrs. Drake have six children, five of whom are living: Luin, who is married, has three children, and lives in Valley county ; Cecil, also married, and living in Valley county, has one child; Earl, and Lita, reside at home; Inos, deceased in 1876; and Glenn, who resides under the parental roof.


Mr. and Mrs. Drake have a wide acquaintance and many friends. They have passed through the different Nebraska years, and are of the pio- neer families that stayed with it, and now enjoy the success of the pioneers that held down the adverse Valley county years.


Mr. Drake's father and mother, brother George and sister Della came to Valley county in the spring of 1879, where the father took up a home- stead, but moved to Missouri in 1894, and, while residing there, died. The mother returned to Valley county, surviving her husband but two years, she passing away in 1896. Our subject's sister, Cornelia, had come to Valley county prior to the family's arrival, and had been united in marriage to D. H. Rathbun, a sketch of whom appears on another page of this review. Of the Drake family now residing in Nebraska are Mrs. D. H. Rathbun, Mrs .. David Strong and Elliott Drake, all living in Valley county, A brother, George, lives in Kansas; Ellsworth resides in Rockford, Illinois; Asa, in Steuben county, New York; Melvin and Bodwell, also of Steuben county, New York.


Mr. Drake remembers well the blizzard of January 12, 1888. His supply of fuel in the house ran low, and, being too cold to cut wood outside, a quantity was brought into the room, and there sawed into suitable size to keep the fire going until the storm abated.


PAUL RENNER.


Paul Renner, known throughout Madison county, Nebraska, as a man of good citizenship and untiring energy, is a resident of section ten, township twenty-two, range two, west, where he owns a beautiful home, good orchard and grove,


and engages in mixed farming. He has been identified with the upbuilding of that locality for the past twenty-eight years, and, while acquir- ing his property, has gained for himself an envia- ble reputation.


Mr. Renner is a native of Germany, his birth occurring at Wurtemberg, May 21, 1860, and is a son of Fred and Caroline Renner. Mr. Renner, our subject, received his education and grew to his manhood in his native country. In 1882, he came to America, traveling by way of Switzerland to France, and from thence to England, embarking at Liverpool on the steamship "Germainique." Mr. Renner came to America by this route to escape military service. The laws of Germany require every able-bodied man to serve a certain period in the army. Mr. Renner, not having the military temperament, could not see the philoso- phy of spending a part of the best years of his life in army service, and to avoid trouble along this line, came over the above-mentioned route to America.


After landing in New York City, Mr. Renner started for the west, locating in Madison county, Nebraska, in 1886, where for the first few years he worked out until he could get a farm for him- self. He then bought what is known as the John- son homestead, and has steadily improved same, until now he has, as before stated, a beautiful home, a good farm, and orchard and grove, and is engaged in mixed farming. Mr. Renner has experienced his full share of hardships and dis- couragements during his residence here, and as late as 1894, lost all his crops by the hot winds that were prevalent during the long drouth of that season.


Mr. Renner was united in marriage in 1885 to Miss Mary Hettinger, and Mr. and Mrs. Ren- ner are the parents of ten children, whose names are as follows: Emil, Clara, Paul, Fred, Otto, Charles, Robert, Emma, John and Albert.


ALBERT SHAFER.


Albert Shafer, a retired farmer, living at Ansley, Nebraska, has been a resident of Custer county for many years, and has passed through the early days of pioneer trials and privations. He won success as a farmer and a stockman, and has well earned his years of leisure and repose. He was born in Winneshiek county, Iowa, April 15, 1868, son of Joseph and Katherine (Gleiss) Shafer, both natives of Germany. The father came to America some time during the forties, and died in Missouri, and the mother, who came to America in 1844, now lives in Ansley. Albert Shafer is the youngest of eight children, and has a sister, Mrs. Josephine Mottinger, living in Broken Bow; another, Mrs. Mary Headington, lives in Iowa; Mrs. Nettie Woodard, another sister lives in Omaha; Mrs. Lavina Perry, another sister, lives in St. Joseph, Missouri.


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In carly childhood, Mr. Shafer accompanied his parents to Missouri, and he secured most of his education in the public schools of that, state, growing to young manhood on his father's farm. In 1884, the family located in Custer county, and the mother secured a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres on section thirty, township seven- teen, range eighteen, now the home of her son, Albert.


Mr. Shafer was married in Custer county on September 1, 1889, to Roberta Buckner, a native of Kentucky, who came with her parents to the county in 1887. She is a daughter of Robert W. and Rebecca (Bolton) Buckner, natives of Ken- tucky, and now residents of Broken Bow. The father served in the Civil war, and came to Ne- braska in 1887. Mrs. Shafter has a brother, Thomas L., in Broken Bow; another brother, Frank, in Custer county; a brother, Lawrence, in Moultrie county, Illinois; a sister, Mrs. Flora Alberts, of Ansley; her sister, Mrs. Etta Emer- son, lives in Westerville, and her other sister is Miss Stella Buckner.


After his marriage, Mr. Shafer located on the Shafer homestead, which is now his property, and it was his home many years. Three children were born to him and his wife, namely: Gertrude L., Fred L. and Merl I., all at home. Mr. Shafer owns a well-improved and equipped stock and grain farm of two hundred and eighty acres, and has a very pleasant home in Ansley. He retired from active life in March, 1911, after which the family have resided in Ansley, where they have many friends. Mr. Shafer has purchased prop- erty in the city of Broken Bow, and will make that place his future home.


NELS DULLERUD.


Among the prosperous citizens of Wayne county, Nebraska, may be mentioned the above gentleman, who carries on a diversified system of agriculture in a most successful manner, with results which richly reward his thrift and indus- try. He is the proprictor of a fine farm on sec- tion ten, township twenty-five, range four, and has accumulated his property and good name by his persistent and honest labors.


Mr. Dullerud is a native of the state of Wis- consin, where he was born February 27, 1856. His parents, Ole and Olena Dullerud, were natives of Norway, who came to America in 1855. They came by way of Christiana and Quebec, the voyage taking seven wecks. They came to Wis- eonsin and bought the farm where Nels Dullerud was born. His early childhood was spent there on the farm, but in 1868, the family moved to Monona county, Iowa. Here the father bought a farm a mile and half from the Missouri river, which was eventually all washed away by that stream. The father died in Fowa in 1870. The balance of the family remained there until 1889,


when they came to Wayne county, Nebraska. They at once bought the farm which has been occupied by the subscriber ever since. He has added many extensive improvements to the place since it was purchased, chief among which are the fine orchard and grove which are now in their prime.


Coming so late as they did, the family escaped many of the hardships which beset the very carly settler, but even so, the life of the farmer was not what it is today, when markets are very close, and when the telephone and rural delivery brings the farmers very close to the life of the city.


Our subscriber has always taken a most com- mendable interest in public affairs, and is counted among the prominent and influential citizens of the county who can be relied upon to support any measure which will aid in the betterment of existing conditions.


ALBERT TUNKS.


In presenting to the public a history of Ne- braska, the list would not be complete without having mentioned the name of this gentleman. Mr. Tunks is one of the leading old settlers and prominent agriculturists of eastern Nebraska, having spent the last forty years and more in this part of the state.


Albert Tunks, son of William Z. and Paulina (Winchester) Tunks, was born in Stephenson county, Illinois, January 9, 1847, and was second in a family of five children. He has one sister living in Freeport, Illinois, another in Davis, Illinois, the other children being deceased, as are also the parents, the father's death occurring in 1888, and the mother's in 1849, both in Illi- nois. Our subject received his education in his home state, and later engaged in farming.


On April 21, 1871, Mr. Tunks was united in marriage to Miss Bell Martin, also of Illinois. Mrs. Tunks parents are deceased, and she has one brother in Kansas, and a sister residing in Clarks, Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs. Tunks have had four children, three of whom are living: Edith, wife of H. C. McGrath, has five children and lives in North Bend, Nebraska; Elmer, died in infancy in 1875; Ethel, wife of Clare Betts, has two children and lives in Merrick county ; and Glen B., a student at state university at Lin- coln.


In May of 1871, Mr. Tunks and wife came overland to Merrick county, Nebraska, being three wecks on the way, and homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land in section thirty-four, township fifteen, range six, west, where they re- sided for ten years, when they sold out, and pur- chased three hundred and sixty acres eleven miles northeast of Central City. Here they resided until 1893 when Mr. Tunks retired from the farm - and moved to Central City, where he purchased


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twenty acres just outside of the city limits and built a good home, where they now live. In the early days Mr. Tunks helped to organize school district number twenty-one. He has served on Central City school board. He also spent one year in the army, enlisting in January, 1865, in Company G, One Hundred and Forty-seventh Illi -. nois Volunteer Infantry, and received his dis- charge at Springeld, Illinois, in January of 1866. He took part in a number of skirmishes, doing mostly provost duty in Georgia, his military service having all been in that state.


Mr. Tunks has been prosperous and successful, and has pased through all the trying experienees and hardships incidental to frontier life. He is a man of affairs, and is interested in all per- taining to the welfare of state and county. Mr. and Mrs. Tunks are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and Mr. Tunks is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Grand Army of Republie. He is a republican in politics.


J. B. McCOY.


Of the native sons of Nebraska who have re- mained within her borders and prospered, J. B. McCoy of the "Crofton Journal," is not the least conspicuous. He was born on his father's farm, twelve miles west of Creighton, February 26, 1880. He is a son of Hugh and Catherine (Gaskell) MeCoy, who came to Nebraska in 1879 and settled in Knox county. Hugh McCoy lived on the farm west of Creighton until 1893, when he retired and moved to town. A stock company had been formed to start a paper in Creighton, and Mr. McCoy was selected to run it; later he bought the entire plant and was for nine years the editor and publisher of the "News." The mother died August 6, 1910, the body being taken back to Creighton for interment.


J. B. MeCoy attended school until eighteen years of age, when he began to learn the printers' trade in the "News" office at Creighton, then under his father's management. From here he went to Utah and worked for a time on the "Ogden Standard" and then returned to Creigh- ton. Afterwards he found work on the "Coon Rapids Reporter" of Coon Rapids, Iowa, remain- ing one year.


Returning to Knox county, he was employed in the office of the "Monitor" under W. H. Needham, at Bloomfield, and later went to Monowi and was again in the employ of his father in the lumber business. Later he established the "Monowi News," which he published for a time, and then returned to Bloomfield and filled his old place on the "Monitor" until coming to Crofton in October, 1908, when he bought the "Journal," a paper supporting the republican party's candi- dates. He issues a live country paper and re- ceives his due share of job work, for which his


office is amply equipped. The columns of. the "Journal" are filled with well written, live news, and the advertising pages are well patronized by the business men of the community.


Mr. McCoy was married in Bloomfield, De- cember 25, 1904, to Miss Ada Elnora Needham, daughter of Mr. W. H. Needham, of whom a sketeh appears elsewhere in this work. One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. McCoy, a daugh- ter named Naomi.


Mr. McCoy is republican in political faith, and a member of the Masonic fraternity.


At the time of the blizzard of January 12, 1888, the elder McCoy and a neighbor were caught out in the storm; by good fortune their team, in wandering around, ran into the wind- mill on a distant farm and aroused the owner, with whom the wanderers spent the night. The mother happened to be away from home, too, when the storm struck, making a social visit at a nearby farm. The man of the house by fol- lowing a wire fence and a half mile line of trees brought her safely home and then made his own way back to shelter. The boy and a hired man, seeing the storm approaching, got all their cattle safely into the shed so that none were lost; but a herd of forty to fifty hogs fattened and ready for the market were frozen or smothered in the blinding drifting snow. Antelope were still to be seen in Knox county when Mr. McCoy was a boy, and so tame were some of them that they came near the house.


Mr. McCoy is a musician of more than ordi- nary merit, and is leader and manager of the Me- Coy orchestra; Mrs. McCoy is an able assistant presiding at the piano. Mr McCoy has had a love for music sinee childhood, and began the study of the violin at the age of seventeen. That he has made a success of it is evidenced by the almost continuous engagement of the organiza- tion over which he presides.


H. C. HAFNER.


Prominent among the residents of Knox county, Nebraska, is the gentleman above named, who has lived in this locality since the year 1886, and has built up a pleasant home and enviable reputation as a worthy citizen, esteemed by all who know him. Mr. Hafner resides in Morton township, on seetion sixteen, township thirty, range three.


Mr. Hafner is a native of Germany, he having been born in the province of Holstein in the year 1864. Hle is the son of John and Mary (Lange) Hafner, both natives of Germany. Our subject's father served the land of his nativity in the war of 1848 between Germany and Denmark. Our subjeet remained at home with his parents, re- eeiving his edneation in his native land, and also helping his father on the farm.


Mr. Hafner, with his parents, left his native


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land in 1881 to come to America, where the op- portunities to get a start in life were much bet- ter. They sailed from Hamburg by way of Hull and Liverpool to New York, where they remained one week. The family then went to the western country, settling in Omaha, Nebraska, where they lived five years. Later our subject came to Knox county, Nebraska, where he bought land in the southeast quarter of seetion twenty-one, town- ship thirty, range three, which he greatly im- proved, and on which he built a good home for him- self. He later sold to his brother John, a sketch of whom appears on another page of this review, and bought where he now lives. He again im- proved his farm, and now has a good home, and engages in mixed farming; also raising fine stock.


Mr. Hafner, as before stated, is a worthy citi- zen, and highly esteemed in his locality and county. He has served his constituents in the capacity of county commisioner, having credit- ably filled that office from 1898 to 1900. In poli- ties he is a republican.


Mr. Hafner has gone through the many dis- couraging experiences of loss of crops and stock through wind, hail, etc., and in the memorable blizzard of January 12, 1888, he lost a part of his stock in the terriffic wind and sleet.


But those pioneer days have passed to history and remain but a memory, and Mr. Hafner is now enjoying the prosperity and comfort of a modern Nebraska land owner, and has aceumulated ten hundred and forty acres of choice land.


In 1891, Mr. Hafner was united in marriage to Miss Emma Elliegson, and they are the parents of five children, namely: John, Ida, Charles, Albert and Helen.


JACOB HENDERSON.


Jacob Henderson was born in Norway, Oc- tober 31, 1862, and was youngest of eight chil- dren in the family of Hender and Thora Satre, who have seven sons and one daughter. In the fall of 1879, father, mother, and brothers, Ole and Iver Satre, and our subject came to America, and in September, 1879, came to Boone county, Ne- braska, where the father took up a homestead in the spring of 1880; during the winter of 1879, our subject worked on a farm receiving his keep for his labor. After a residence of seven or eight years in Boone county, the parents returned to Norway, where they resided until the time of their death. Mr. Henderson and brother, Iver Satre, are now the only members of the family living in America, the brother now residing in Boone county.


In the spring of 1880, Mr. Henderson came into Madison county, going to work for Richard Ballard on his farm. Mr. Henderson at this time could not speak the English language and went to work amongst English speaking people in


order to become acquainted with the language. In the winter of 1880, he worked on the farm of Levi Jenkins and attended the local schools, and for three suceessive winters atteneded school, doing farm work in the summer months.


In the spring of 1884 Mr. Henderson came to Madison, going to work for Henry Becker in the furniture and undertaking business, in which he continued until 1888, and during Mr. Becker's absence, at times, had charge of the business. In the spring of 1888 Mr. Becker sold his business to A. B. Richardson, with whom our subject con- tinued until the spring of 1890; this business changed hands several times during the next few years, Mr. Becker coming back into the firm later on. In the spring of 1890, Mr. Henderson went to David City and engaged in the same business for about eight months, returning to Madison during the holidays of the same year, and in March of 1891 went to work for the Union Pacific railroad in the bridge and building de- partment, where he remained a little over two years. In the spring of 1892, he returned to Madi- son and again became connected with Henry Becker, who had repurchased all interests in his old business, which was the pioneer furniture and undertaking house of Madison. .


Mr. Henderson was a member of Company F, First Nebraska National Guard, and April 27, 1898, this company joined the regiment at Lin- coln, Nebraska, and went from there to the Philip- pines, boarding train out of Lincoln May 16, 1898, for San Francisco; and on June 15 went on board vessel for the Philippines via Honolulu, arriving in Manila Bay on July 16, and landing on the twentieth, at Camp Dewey, six miles south of Manila. Mr. Henderson went out as Second Lieutenant of Company F, Nebraska National Guards and remained in the Philippines until March 25, 1899, when he came home on a fur- lough on account of illness, having spent three months in the hospital; and June 1, 1899, while on his furlough, was mustered out at Lincoln, Nebraska, as First Lieutenant of Company B, Nebraska Volunteer Infantry, he having received promotion while in the government hospital at Manila.


Mr. Henderson, in the spring of 1899 returned to Madison and in October of that year again went into the employ of Mr. Becker. In 1901 Mr. Becker disposed of his business to J. A. Edinger, with whom Mr. Henderson continued until July 1, 1902. Mr. Henderson then pur- chased the business from Mr. Edinger, and has continued it to this date. He has a large store and is known as one of the foremost business men of Madison county.


On June 10, 1906, Mr. Henderson was married to Mrs. Winifred Loomer at Madison, Nebraska, and they have two children: Thomas H., and Thora Marie.


Mr. Henderson is a self-made man, having bor-


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rowed his passage money upon leaving Norway for America. He is a wide-a-wake business man, a member of the Knights of Pythias, and Ben Hur orders, and also the Commercial Club of Madison.


SAMPSON GIVEN.


Sampson Given, a progressive and prosperous pioneer farmer and stock man, is practically a self-made man, and sinee 1883 has been actively identified with the upbuilding and development of the county and state. He was born in West Virginia, March 17, 1857, next to the oldest of nine children of Robert and Mahulda (Jordan) Given, who were farmers there. A sketch of the father appears in this work. Mr. Given came to Fillmore county, Nebraska, with his parents, in 1878, and in the spring of 1883 he left the home farm there and came to Custer county. IIe took up a homestead comprising the southeast quarter of section twenty-eight, township eighteen, range twenty-one. and also a timber claim on section thirty-two. He now resides on the homestead secured by his father, comprising the southwest quarter of section twenty-eight, just west of his original homestead, which he also still owns. He has a well improved and equipped estate and a fine orchard, and in connection with his farm is engaged in the dairy business.




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