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 231

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 231

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ALEXANDER L. GRAVES.

Alexander I. Graves, a prosperous and much respected citizen of Madison county, Nebraska, greatly deserves the abundance of success that has come to him as a reward of industry, economy, and thrift. Mr. Graves resides on section twenty-four, township twenty-two. range two, where he has made good improvements in many ways, and has erected good buildings.

Mr. Graves is a native of Fulton county, Illi nois, he having been born there in April 24, 1848; lie is a son of Erastus and Julia (Johnson) Graves, the father being a native of Vermont state, and the mother, of New York. In 1851 Mr. Graves, with his parents, came to Johnson county, lowa, where he received his schooling and grew to man- hood, remaining there until 1882.

In 1882 Mr. Graves came to Madison county, Nebraska, driving the entire distance from Iowa. After reaching Madison county he bought the homestead of Dr. J. Q. Harvey, and built on and improved same.

In the first years of his settlement in this region of the western frontier, Mr. Graves endured the many hardships incidental to those times, and as late as the year 1894, he experienced severe losses through failure of crops due to the hot winds that prevailed during the drouth of that season.

In 1871, Mr. Graves was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Hill, and Mr. and Mrs. Graves are the parents of six children, whose names are as follows: Carrie, May, Myrtle, John, Samuel, and Katie.

Mr. Graves and family occupy a pleasant and comfortable home, and are highly estcemed by all who know them. Mr. Graves takes a commendable interest in local affairs, and gives all his time to his home and farming, and the best interests of his home state and county.

PETER OLSON.

Peter Olson, residing on section seven, town- ship thirty-one, range two, Knox county, Nebraska, is regarded as one of the leading citizens of his lo- cality, where he has lived for many years.

Mr. Olson is a native of Norway, his birth oc- curring in the year of 1855, and is a son of Ole and Mary (Nelson) Anderson, our subject taking his father's baptismal name for his surname as is the custom in the Scandinavian country. Mr. Olson grew to manhood in his native land, serving his country as a soldier for two years. When he reached the age of twenty-two years, in 1877, he hade goodbye to his country and friends to come to America, the land of peace and plenty, where a young man had a better chance to get a start in life, and also where land was cheap. His father had died when our subject was but nine years of age, so he learned to rely on his own resources, more or less, and this fact helped him in fighting his own way in the world.

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On coming to the United States, Mr. Olson eame direct to Washington county, Nebraska, where he worked at whatever he found to do, remaining here three years. In 1880, he came to Knox county, renting land the first few years. Then he bought the eighty acres of land on which he lives at the present time. At first he built a dugout in which he lived for two years, finding it a very comfort- able dwelling both in summer and in winter; this has been replaced by a fine residence of more modern material and design, in which Mr. Olson and family reside, and where our subject and wife enjoy the fruits of their many years of labor.

A few years after coming to his present place Mr. Olson bought eighty acres more, and now owns a quarter section in one body.

In 1880, Mr. Olson was united in marriage to Miss Carrie Olson, and Mr. and Mrs. Olson are the parents of seven children, whose names are as follows: Christine, Mary, Anna, Ollie, Lillie, Min- nie, and Carrie. They are a fine family and have a wide circle of friends and acquaintances.

Mr. and Mrs. Olson and family belong to the Swedish Lutheran church.

FRANK OHME.

So far as ean be ascertained, the log cabin built on the homestead of Frank Ohme was the first one in Custer county. He also plowed the first furrow and put down the first stock well, which was dug over fifty feet deep. He is well known among the early settlers and has always given his support to the cause of progress. He was born in the village of Angersdorf, near Halle, on the Saale, Saxony, February 13, 1844, third of the five sons of Carl and Mary ( Menike) Ohme. He was reared on the farm where he was born, and when fourteen years of age left home and went to work in the city of Halle, where he remained over six years, half of the time working in a confectioner's shop, and the last three years in a restaurant. He then entered the German army, serving three years, and taking part in the Austrian war in 1866. Hle came to America in 1869, sailing front Hamburg to New York in the "Almania," landing after a voyage of seventeen days.

Locating first in Jefferson county, Wisconsin. he worked for farmers there for a year, and then. on April 3, 1870, came to Douglas county, Ne- braska where he worked three years on a farm. March 15, 1873, he was married in Douglas count - to Miss Caroline Walter, a native of Holstein:, born in the village of Lemberg, near Ekenfoerde; her father died when she was but three weeks old and her grandfather Walter took the baby into his home and reaved her as one of his own. Mrs. Ohme came to America in 1870, sailing from Ham- burg to New York in the "Cymbria, " the voyage extending to fourwen days. After marriage they rented a farm on the line between Douglas and Sarpy counties and lived on it one year. In March, 1874, they shipped a car of household goods and a

team of horses and five head of cattle to Grand Island. and proceeded from there to their home- stead on section one, township seventeen, range seventeen, Mr. Ohme having made a trip to Custer county in Jannary of that year for the purpose of looking the country over. In company with a Mr. Didke they had come to friends of the latter on Wood river and while looking over the country the two young men camped with an old hunter and trapper on an island in Middle Loup river, one mile from his present home. They selected their homesteads, and while on their way back to Sarpy county filed an entry on them before the clerk of Sherman county. They had made the trip to Custer county during extremely cold weather, and if they had not been actuated by am- bition and energy they would not have had courage to select a location during that period. Mr. Ohme was the first man who actually filed an entry on a homestead in the county, although others had set- tled there with a view to making it a permanent home. At the time he and his wife came with a team and'wagon to their new home they supposed they were the first settlers in the neighborhood, but one day in April while he was walking over some land near his home, he saw a man approach- ing, who proved to be L. R. Douse, who had settled there in the preceding fall but did not file on a homestead until some days after Mr. Ohme had made his entry.

Mr. Ohme and family were closely identified with the early progress of the community and made their home on the original homestead until 1902, when they took a trip to their native land, visiting friends and relatives for five months Upon their return to Custer county they built a little home on section twelve, adjoining the old homestead to the south. Mr. Ohme is a man of forceful charaeter and quiet manner, always ready to give his time and influence towards the upbuilding of the neigh- borhood. He held the office of school director of district number twenty-two for some time and was one of the original supporters of the Areadia creamery. He has been successful as a farmer and stock raiser and is now enjoying the fruits of his many years of hard work, being the owner of eleven hundred and fifty acres of choice Custer county land. He has a vivid recollection of the early years of drouth and the times when the family ground their grain for bread in their coffee mill. He and his family have the respect and esteem of their many friends and acquaintances and stand well in the'community. He was the only one of his fath- er's family to leave Germany, and but one other member of it now survives, his eldest brother, who lives in Ammendorf, Germany. He was fortunate in having a home prepared for him before he reached the homestead with his wife, as when he was in Custer county in the winter he made ar- rangements with his friend the hunter, Joe Mur- phy, of Wood river, to erect a cabin of oak logs on the place, which was duly accomplished.

RESIDENCE IN 1874

FIRST HOUSE GUILT IN CUSTER CO.

"ASH GROVE FARM," RESIDENCE OF FRANK OHME.

RESIDENCE OF PARISH M. FREEMAN.

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COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY, REMINISCENCE AND BIOGRAPHY.

Six children were born to Mr. Ohme and wife, of whom four now survive : Emil, married and liv- ing on the northeast quarter of section one, town- ship seventeen, range seventeen, has seven chil- dren; Emma, wife of Frank Thomas, a home- steader of Sioux county, has four children; Otto, of Sioux county, is married and has two children ; Oscar, of section twelve. township seventeen, range seventeen, is married and has one child. All were born on the old homestead except the eldest, who was born in Sarpy county. The family worship in the Lutheran church. Mr. Ohme has been support- ing the democratic candidates of late years.

The family endured losses by grasshoppers dur- ing the years 1874, 1875 and 1876, raising nothing except a little small grain. In 1894, the dry year, they raised practically nothing, and other years hail destroyed part of their crops. Mr. Ohme was never a hunter, giving his entire time to his farm, but deer and other big game were plentiful when he first came. Deer have run through his dooryard. and at times he has seen as many as fifty elk in a herd, near his house.

Their first buildings were covered with thatched roofs such as are in vogue in the old country, and were much more protection than the usual hay and dirt roof of the settler. Later when a more per- manent roof was desired, he had to haul the shin- gles from Kearney, seventy-five miles distant. He usually made two trips a year to Kearney to do his trading, and brought back a load of flour, which he sold to other settlers. The trip usually took the greater part of a week, and most of the time it was necessary to camp in the open, taking food enough along to last for the round trip.

A view of Mr. Ohme's neat cottage residence, with its surrounding grove, is to be found else- where in this work.

PARISH MOSES FREEMAN.

Parish Moses Freeman was born in Monroe county, New York, November 23, 1832, son of Amos and Dorcas (Parish) Freeman, who had six sons and six daughters, the father being a native of Connecticut and the mother of New York. Parish M. was the ninth child and the only one of the family now surviving. He was born and reared on a farm and when about seventeen years old left home to learn the trade of stone mason, at which he worked about six years. He was married November 14, 1850, to Miss Mary A. Davis, and in the spring of 1855 they removed to Kalamazoo county, Michigan, where he worked a farm on shares. He and his wife had one son when they came to Michigan. He enlisted in the fourteenth regiment Michigan Volunteer light artillery, October 21, 1862, serv- ing with his company in the army of the Poto- mac under MeClellan and Grant until their dis- charge, July 1, 1865; participating in the prin- cipal engagements in which his regiment took part including the thirteen days in the wilder-

ness and the siege of Petersburg. He was present at Appomattox at the time of the surrender, and in Washington at the time of Lincoln's assassina- tion. He participated in the first day's parade of the grand review and received his discharge at Jackson, Michigan. After his discharge he re- turned to his farm in Kalamazoo county. In the spring of 1878 Mr. Freeman brought his en- tire family, with the exception of his sons Charles and Harlow, to Lancaster county, Nebraska, the trip being made in a prairie schooner, along the overland route in eighteen days. They arrived in Lancaster county about June 10th. Charlie and Harlow had come by train April 14th and had prepared for the family by the time they ar- rived. In August of the same year Mr. Free- man and his two sons mentioned above went on to Valley and Custer counties and took up home- steads, the father filing on the northwest quarter of section nineteen, township seventeen, range six- teen, Valley county ; Charlie on the northeast quarter of section twenty-four, township seven- teen, range seventeen, Custer county, and Harlow taking a homestead just south of his father in Valley county. The family moved to Valley and Custer counties the following year, reaching the homestead March 3rd. The family were original homesteaders and passed through many years of trials and adversities. Their nearest market at first was Grand Island and often they used a coffee mill to grind meal for bread. In those times a dollar looked to them the size of a cart- wheel.

Mr. Freeman has continuously lived on his homestead farm since first coming there and is now in his seventy-ninth year. The large trees that now surround the house were set out by him- self and wife, some of them nearly three feet in diameter. He and his wife were parents of eight children, all of them born in Michigan except the oldest son. To such families as the Freemans central Nebraska owes its present agricultural and mercantile prosperty and the work of the pioneers in developing and improving farm has paved the way for a brcader civilization in the state. They suffered from drouth and other adverse condi- tions and some years had hardly any erops. The mother died on the old homestead November 22, 1909, in her seventy-sixth year. She was a noble pioneer mother, who had many endearing quali- ties and was always ready to do her full duty as wife, mother and friend. Both she and her hus- band were well known in central Nebraska and won many warm friends in their neighborhood.

The oldest child of this family, Charlie Free- man, was born in New York state January 6, 1852, and was married in Kalamazoo county, Michigan, November 18, 1874, to Miss Julia A. Hall, daughter of William and Almira Hall, who came to the county with her parents in 1855. As mentioned above, Mr. Freeman took his family to Lancaster county in the spring of 1878, and in August of the same year came to Custer

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COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY, REMINISCENCE AND BIOGRAPHY.

county. He still resides on his original home- stead on the northeast quarter of section twenty- four, township seventeen, range seventeen, and is a representative, public-spirited citizen. He has a well equipped farm and a pleasant home. He and his wife have two children: Hattie E. and Clifford C., both at home.

Another son, Harlow Freeman, is menntioned elsewhere in this work. Frankie A., a daughter of Parish M. Freeman, was born in Kalamazoo county, April 2, 1862, married Harry Thompson of Box, Butte county, Nebraska, and they have four children. Edward E. Freeman, born in Kalamazoo county, March 8, 1866, came to Val- ley county with his parents in 1878, and Decem- ber 25, 1887, married Hattie Brody, daughter of Jesse and Annie Brody. They live on a farm one mile west of Arcadia and have six children : Willis R. Freeman, born in Kalamazoo county, September 14, 1869, was married at Ord, Ne- braska, November 24, 1898, to Mary J. Shanks, and they live on his father's farm and have three children. Emma E., Freddy A. and Alice M. Freeman, all born in Michigan, died in infancy.

After supporting the republican party many years Mr. Freeman has of late given his sup- port to the democrats; in local elections, he is independent of party lines.

He lives in a cemented sod house which has the appearence of a stone or concrete dwelling and nestled among the big trees it presents a pretty picture. We give an illustration of it on another page. Besides killing many deer Mr. Freeman had at one time a pet fawn which grew to be a nuisance. When pursued by dogs it at times would plunge through a window into the house. It was necessary, finally to make way with it. In 1894 practically nothing was raised and, feed being scare, stock was low in price. Mr. Freeman drove eighty hogs to market and got only one cent a pound.

During the blizzard of January, 1888, Mr. and Mrs. Freeman visited a sick neighbor one and a half miles away and returned through the storm.

ROBERT W. BUCKNER.

Robert W. Buckner of Broken Bow, is one of the earlier settlers of Custer county and is one of the few of this class who still own their original homesteads. He has been a resident of Broken Bow for the past dozen years, during which' time he has been identified with county survey work. Mr. Buckner was born in Hart county, Kentucky, second of the nine children of Philip and Fanny (Ragland) Buckner, both natives of Kentucky and the father of German descent. The mother was born in Larue county. was of Scotch descent, and died in her native state in 1905, and the father died there in the eighties.

Mr. Buckner grew to manhood on the Ken-

tucky farm which was owned by his father and received most of his education in subscription schools. On July 1, 1861, he enlisted from Louis- ville in Company K, Fifth Kentucky Infantry, serving until September 14, 1864, and being dis- charged at Louisville. He participated in many important engagements, including those at Shiloh, Stone River, Liberty Gap, Chickamauga, Browns Ferry, Missionary Ridge, Buzzard's Roost, Resaca, Peach Tree Creek, Cassville, Kenesaw Mountain and the siege of Atlanta. He also took part in numerous minor engagements and skirmishes.

At the close of the war Mr. Buckner returned to Kentucky, and on April 6, 1865, was married to Miss Rebecca Bolton, also a native of Ken- tucky. In 1869 they removed to Missouri, lived there four years and theu went to Moultrie county, Illinois, where they lived on a farm until 1887. In that year Mr. Buckner came with his wife and six children to Custer couty, Nebraska, purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land on section twenty-four, township seventeen, range nineteen, and improved and developed a fine farm there. This was the home place for many years and Mr. Buckner took an active interest in public affairs in the community, serving five years as director of the school board of district number fifty-one. In the fall of 1900 he left his farm and came to his present home in Broken Bow, where he has many friends and is regarded as a desir- able, public-spirited citizen. He is a prosperous and successful man of affairs and besides his farm land owns some fine city property.

Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Buckner, as follows: Thomas L. is married and lives in Broken Bow; Roberta is the wife of Albert Shaffer, of Ansley, and they have three children ; Lawrence, living in Illinois, has four children; Flora married Ilerman Alberts of Ansley, and they have four children; Etta, wife of Fergus Emerson, of Westerville, has five children ; Frank, living on the home farm, has three children; Stella lives at home and two children died in infancy. Mrs. Buckner's father, Robert Bolton, was born in England, served in the war of 1812, and died in Kentucky in 1862. Her mother, whose maiden name was Hannah Lange, was born in New York City of English parents and died in Hart county, Kentucky, April 7, 1880. Mrs. Buckner has two sisters living in Illinois, Mrs. Helen Hodges and Mrs. Sally Burks.

JOSEPH E. WITTEN.

Joseph E. Witten, formerly editor of the Pierce County Call, a leading newspaper published at Pierce, Nebraska, is a gentleman of excellent business ability. He was recognized as a promi- nent citizen of his county, during his residence in that locality. His home is now at Wall, South Dakota.

Our subject is a son of James A. Witten, a

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prominent pioneer of Pierce county, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this book, and was born in Smyth county, Virginia, on October 7, 1888, being but a few months old when his parents emigrated to Nebraska from the far east. He grew to man- hood in Pierce county, attending the local schools, afterwards clerking in different stores, an l finally secured a position in the office of "The Leader," which was published at Pierce, also worked in the office at Havelock. In 1905' he entered the employ of Mr. Brande, editor and manager of the "Pierce County Call," continu- ing the work up to February, 1909, at which time he bought a half interest in the paper, entering into partnership with Mr. Carl Brande, who had previously owned a one-third interest. Their office was equipped with a type setting machine, a power press and folder, job presses, motor, and all necessary adjunets for a complete job office, and received their full share of the town pat- ronage. "The Call" is the oldest paper publishe l in the county, and has a circulation extending throughout the entire northeastern part of Ne- braska and southeastern part of South Dakota. It is well edited, and during the stir of political campaigns is full of snap and ginger, and alto- wether it is one of the best country papers in the state of Nebraska. On August 1, 1910, Mr. Witten sold his interest in "The Call" and on October 1, 1910 removed to Wall, South Dakota, where he purchased the "Wall Record" of E. S. Johnston. The Record is the only paper published at Wall and the shop is well equipped and enjoys a good patronage.

Mr. Witten was married in November, 1907, to Catherine Zahn, daughter of Henry and Anna (Nuhr) Zahn, the former born in Germany, and coming to America in 1886. He was an early settler in Iowa, and is now deceased, his wife making her home in Pierce, Nebraska.

GEORGE F. ALEXANDER.

George F. Alexander, who has spent his en- tire career in eastern Nebraska, having been born in Howard county, where he still resides, is one of the leading citizens of that section of the country.

George F. Alexander was born in Howard county, Nebraska, June 5, 1872, on the original pre-emption claim of his father on southwest quarter of section seven, township fifteen, range eleven, and was the first male child born in How- ard county. Here he received his early educa- tion and lived with his father until twenty- seven years of age. Upon reaching young man- hood he engaged in farming and stock raising, going into the pump and windmill business at Elba, Nebraska, in the spring of 1902. In the spring of 1903 he sold out his business and went to Canada, but returned to Howard county in the summer of 1903, and for a short time was en- gaged in different. occupations, when in the early

part of 1904 he moved out on a small place near Elba. In the spring of 1905 he began work in the implement business as assistant for Peter Todsen, and remained in his employ for one and a half years. Mr. Todsen then sold to P. G. Shanstrom, at which time Mr. Alexander took charge of the business as manager. Six months later, Mr. Shanstrom sold to the Lininger Im plement Company of Omaha, and from then to the present time Mr. Alexander has been in the employ of the latter firm as manager of the branch at Elba, which is known as the Elba Implement Company.

On the sixth day of March, 1899, Mr. Alex- ander was married to Miss Aura B. Whitney at the home of his father, where a double wedding took place, our subject's sister Mary being mar- ried to Albert C. Jefferies on the same date. Mr. and Mrs. Alexander have five children: Hazel Maggie, William Marion, Mary Emma, Theodore Howard, and Louis Aura. They are an interest- ing family and have many friends.

Mr. Alexander is an energetic young man, up-to-date and doing his very best all the time.

JOHN BUHROW.

One of the oldest residents of Knox county, Nebraska, is the venerable John Buhrow, now liv- ing retired in Bloomfield. About the time of his advent to the county, in March of 1865, this di- vision of the state took its name from the river which flows into the muddy Missouri within its borders, and was known as L' Eau Qui Court county. He settled near the village of Herrick, then known as Frankfort, and built a log house a mile and a half from the river. Here he lived with his family for ten years, and then built a substantial two-story stone house, the first of its kind in the county.

Coming through Sioux City he bought seed potatoes at two dollars per bushel, and as soon as he could get a small tract of ground broken he planted these and a small amount of corn. All of this was devoured a little later in the season by a horde of grasshoppers, the forerun- ners of the myriads of the pests that swept the west bare eight to ten years later. Scarcity of crops made living high, with little to buy it. A fifty-pound sack of flour cost six dollars in the village of Fonca and a dollar was added by the mail carrier who brought it out. There was but one store in Yankton at that time, where a box of matches sold for twenty-five cents, and calico the same amount per yard, with muslin double that price. All merchandise came by boat from St. Louis, and river traffic was thriving at that time.

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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 231

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