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 238

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 238

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John Smith was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, May 13, 1859, and was the sixth of the nine children of Jacob and Sarah Smith. Coming with his father and family to Colfax county in his ninth year,, he grew up on the farm, and went out for himself in 1880. Mr. Smith passed through all the early years of Colfax county, and is a pioneer who has seen the ups and downs of early settlers. Mr. Smith owns the old home farm, and is also a prosperous and success- ful business man, engaged in the hardware and implement business in Benton, having a well- stocked store, and doing a fine business. Mr. Smith is an up-to-date merehant, and at the same time a successful farmer and stockman. He is a progressive citizen, always standing for advance- ment along all lines, and in 1904, 1905 and 1906, served as county commissioner for the first dis- triet of Colfax county.

John Smith was married to Miss Lena Yonkie, July 13, 1884, in Schuyler, Nebraska. The Yonkie family were old pioneers of Colfax county. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have eleven children, all of whom were born in Colfax county, and all of whom reside at home. They are named as follows: George, Agnes, Charles, Mable, John, Oliver, Alice, Hazel, Viola, Harold and Donald. Mr. and Mrs. Smith and family are well known, and have the respect and esteem of a large circle of friends.

JOHN STDRE.

John Stdre was born in Bohemia in 1838, the son of Joe Stdre, born in 1800, who was a weaver in Bhoemia. In 1863, our subject, with his par- ents, went to Humbolt, from there going to Hul- don, England, where they embarked in the sail- boat "Queen Victoria" for Quebec, Canada, the voyage lasting seven weeks and three days. They later came to Michigan, and in 1872 came to Dodge county, Nebraska. From Dodge county, our sub- ject came to Fillmore eounty in 1882, and in 1890 to Pierce county. While in Dodge county, Mr. Stdre homesteaded in section two, township twenty, range six, and built a log house, his near- est market being West Point. For three years, grasshoppers took his crops, and in the blizzard 1873. he was almost ' frozen to death. Since coming to Pierce county in 1890, Mr. Stdre has bought the farm he now lives on, in section thirty- three, township twenty-eight, range two, on which he has a fine orchard. In 1894, which was also the dry year, he was hailed out, his crops being a total failure.

In 1870, Mr. Stdre was married to Anna Paul, and they are the parents of six children: Mary, who married Frank Croper; Joe, who married Jennie Letherball; Charles, who died in 1889; John, who married Kate 'Bassholt; Frank, who married Miss Coupleman ; and Anna, who married Frank Simmou.

EVAN L. GILLHAM.

Evan L. Gillham, who was born in Madison county, Illinois, May 20, 1875, is a son of Rever- end Lewis J. and Sophronia J. (Floyd) Gillham. The father was born in Madison county, Illinois, April 17, 1852, and now lives in Hall's Summit, Kansas, and the mother was born November 9, 1844, also in Madison county, and died January 22, 1901, in Louisburg, Kansas.

Mr. Gillham's paternal grandparents were Samuel P. and Louise (Gillham) Gillham, who were both born in Madison county, Illinois, the former December 22, 1809, and the latter Septem- ber 6, 1811. The Gillhams were the first settlers in Madison county, Illinois, the first of the family having come from South Carolina to Madison county in 1795. At one time over five hundred descendants of this family were voters in the county, and they all voted to make Illinois a free state when it was admitted to the union.

James Gillham was the first of the family to come to Illinois, and the reason for his doing so was that in an attack by the Indians, his wife and family were captured, and he started after them, finding his wife and all the children, except one daugliter, who had been sold to a French family in St. Louis. It took several years after he was located for the family to redeem her. James Gillham was a soldier in the Revolutionary army, and his brother, John, was a captain under General Francis Marion.

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The maternal grandparents of our subject were Josiah K. and Elizabeth (Randle) Floyd, both born in North Carolina, the former on May 1, 1819, and the latter February 21, 1820. They both came to Illinois with their parents, and were married in Madison county.

Mr. Gillham's parents were married August 6, 1873, in Madison county, where the father of our subject was a farmer, and where he continued to farm until 1877, when, with his family, he moved to Lawrence, Kansas, where he learned and worked for a number of years at the black- smiths' trade, after which he entered the Metli- odist Episcopal ministry, and has since served in that capacity in eastern and southeastern Kan- sas. Our subject was the first of three children, the others being Ralph R., of Dallas, Texas, and Nita, wife of Chris Williams, of Erie, Kansas.

Evan L. Gillham was educated in the public schools of Kanses, and started for himself when about fourteen years of age, working on a farm during the summer, by the month, and attending school during the winter. When he was nineteen years of age, he secured a position with H. L. Stevens, of Lawrence, Kansas, to learn the imple- ment business, and worked there three years dur- ing the summer season. He then went to Paola, Kansas, with the firm of Griffith & Company, in the same business, for three years.

In 1900, Mr. Gillham entered the service of the Deering Harvester Company, as salesman and expert, traveling in north central Kansas for nearly two seasons. He was then ordered to South Dakota, and worked out of the Sioux Falls general agency in the same capacity about fourteen months. In the fall of 1902, when the International Harvester Company was formed and the Deering Company was merged into it, Mr. Gillham was retained in the employ of the International Company as a block man, his terri- tory covering northeastern Nebraska and Gregory county, South Dakota. He served in that capac- ity until February, 1911, with the exception of four months in 1904, when he was sent by the company as salesman to Great Britain, his work being principally in Wales.

In 1904, our subject, with his present brother- in-law, George G. Koster, purchased from Herko Koster the hotel known by his name, at Niobrara, the firm name being Koster & Gillham, and the business being conducted by them up to the pres- ent time under the management of Mr. Koster until February, 1911, since which time Mr. Gill- ham has been devoting his attention to the hotel.

December 28, 1904, Mr. Gillham was married to Minnie K. Koster, a daughter of Herko Koster. To them one child, Mary, has been born.

In polities Mr. Gillham is a republican, and he is a member of the Masonic fraternity, having taken the fourteenth degree, that of the Scottish Rite. He is also a Knight of Pythias.

GEORGE E. RICHARDSON.

Among the well-known residents of Madison county, Nebraska, may be mentioned George E. Richardson, who was born in Madison county, near Battle Creek, on the old homestead farm, February 28, 1871, and was the second of twelve children in the family of Frederick W. and Emily Richardson, who had six boys and six girls, five sons and five daughters now living. A sketch of Frederick W. Richardson appears elsewhere in this work.

Our subject received his schooling in the dis- trict schools of Madison county, and attended college one year at Shenandoah, Iowa. In his seventeenth year he taught a country school in Madison county, and then farmed the old farm for two years. At the time his father was county clerk of Madison county, in 1891, 1892 and 1893, he was a copyist in the county clerk's office. In 1894 he worked for the James B. Hume Lumber Company, and during the hard year (1894) and 1895 and 1896, he taught school in Madison county.

September 2, 1896, Mr. Richardson was mar- ried to Miss Maud M. Hodges, at the home of her parents, William S. and Martha M. Hodges. Mr. and Mrs. Hodges became residents of Madison county in 1880, coming from Michigan. Mr. Hodges died in the spring of 1908, and Mrs. Hodges now resides with Mr. and Mrs. Richard- son. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Richardson, Miriam Lois and Daniel H., both at home.

In the winter of 1896, Mr. Richardson moved to Norfolk, and worked in the sugar factory, and in March, 1897, went to Meadow Grove, Madison county, as principal of the public schools. In July he returned to Madison, and became assist- ant postmaster under S. J. Arnett, until October, 1898, purchasing at that time the McBride ab- stract business. In the fall of 1905, Mr. Richard- son was the nominee of the republican party for county clerk of Madison county, being elected, and re-elected in 1907.

Prior to 1905, Mr. Richardson was justice of the peace for four years, and for eight years was secretary of the Madison County Building and Loan Association. He was city treasurer for two terms, and at the present time is a member of the board of education and director of the Building and Loan Association.

Mr. Richardson has been actively identified with the business, official, educational and social life of Madison county for many years, and is one of the first of the native-born children of the county. He grew up in Madison county, and has many friends.

L. K. SPRINGSTEEN. (Deceased.)

L. K. Springsteen, who was one of the most respected residents of Pierce county, was born

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COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY, REMINISCENCE AND BIOGRAPHY.

in 1849, a son of J. R. and Hulda (Hurley) Spring- steen, on a homestead some twenty miles from Burlington, Iowa, which was their market place. The father was born in 1821 in Hudson, New York, and died in 1905, and the mother was born in 1821, and died in 1886. Our subject's brother, David R. Springsteen, served in the Civil war, in the Nineteenth lowa, from 1862 to 1864.

Mr. Springsteen came to Pierce county from Iowa in 1886, and homesteaded in section nine, township twenty-five, range four, his first dwell- ing being a frame house. He suffered the incon- veniences usual to the early settler, being obliged. among other things, to burn hay for fuel.

In 1878, Mr. Springsteen was married to Miss L. E. Parker, and they are the parents of one daughter, Josa. Mrs. Springsteen's father, Hobson Parker, took up a homestead in sections seventeen and twenty-eight, township twenty- five, range four. He served in the Fortieth Iowa during the Civil war, from 1860 to 1864. A broth- er, William Parker, who lost a leg in the war, served in the Tenth Iowa from 1860 to 1864.

Mr. Springsteen owned three hundred and twenty acres of land at the time of his death in 1910. He did his full share toward the upbuild- ing of his part of the county, and was highly respected in the community. In politics he affil- iates with the republican party.

WILLIAM DUCHER.

Prominent among the leading old settlers of Boyd county, Nebraska, the gentleman whose pame heads this personal history is entitled to a foremost. place. Mr. Ducher is a native of Ger- many, born in Thriger village, Prussia, in 1846. His father, Johann Ducher, who was born in Prussia in 1800, was a farmer, and served in the war of 1829 or 1830. His mother was born in 1809. The elder brothers of our subject and his twin brother also served in the wars in the old country, with Austria, France and Denmark.

In 1872, Mr. Ducher left his native land for America, sailing from Hamburg for New York on the steamship West Farlan. After landing in New York, he went to Chicago, where he remained twelve years. From 1879 to 1882, he was presi- dent of a milk company. In 1883, he left Chicago, and came to Garfield county, Nebraska, where he took up a homestead, and built a good frame house. He remained there until 1890, when he came to Boyd county, Nebraska, and took up one hundred and sixty acres of fine land, first living in a dugout, and later building a frame house, twelve by twelve feet. Mr. Ducher has a fine orchard of twenty acres.

In 1888, our subject had quite an experience in one of the great blizzards, as he had started for a load of corn, and was eighteen hours in the storm. He has suffered many discouragements

since coming to Nebraska, his crops being de- stroyed by hail in 1893, 1905 and 1907.

Mr. Ducher was united in marriage to Miss T. Lange in 1875, and they are the parents of eleven children, four of whom are living: Hulda, Mary, Emma and Edmond.

G. O. SCHMITT.

G. O. Schmitt, who resides in section seven, township twenty-one, range two, is a native of Madison county, Nebraska, born in 1882, a son of Christ and Pleeba Schmitt. The father came to Madison county in 1871 from Illinois, travel- ing by railroad to Columbus, and from there driving to his claim. Our subject was born and raised on this homestead, and lived there with his parents until a few years ago, when he started farming for himself. He now has a beautiful. well-improved home.

In 1904, Mr. Schmitt was united in marriage to Miss Amelia Rubler, and they are the parents of two children, Lyle and Gladis.

E. LIESNER.

E. Liesner, who resides in section eight, town- ship twenty-six, range four, Pierce county, Ne- braska, was born in Pomerania province, Ger- many, a son of August and Hannah (Kruger) Liesner. He received his education in his native country, and later engaged in farming. The elder Liesner served in the German army in 1841, in the war between Germany and Poland.

Mr. Liesner came to America in 1885, and bought land. He is now the owner of two hun- dred and eighty acres, five acres of which are in trees.

In 1894, our subject was united in marriage to Miss Anna Wonkey, of German descent. Mr. Liesner is a communicant of the Catholic church, and votes the democratic ticket.

J. W. HARBOTTLE.

Prominent among the leading old settlers of Antelope county, Nebraska, the gentleman whose name heads this perosnal history is entitled to a foremost place. His home is on section eighteen, township twenty-three, range seven. Mr. Ilar- bottle is a man of active public spirit, always lending his aid and influence for the betterment of conditions in his community. Mr. Harbottle was born in Durham county, England, in 1862. His father, John Harbottle, was born in 1842, and his mother, Alice Harbottle, in 1842. His father was a miner in England. In 1869, our sub- ject, with his parents, left England for America, and started for the west, going to Wyoming, where they remained two years. In 1871, they came to Madison county, Nebraska. The parents took a homestead, three miles northwest of New-

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man's Grove, and there built a dugout, in which they lived seven years. Columbus was the mar- ket place, forty-five miles away. They experineced the grasshopper seasons, and the blizzard of 1873, when they eould not get out of the house to feed stock for three days. In 1884, our subject took a homestead in Platte county, Nebraska, remained there until 1903, when he sold, and came to All- telope county, Nebraska, and bought one hun- dred and sixty acres of land. He now tarms four hundred and eighty aeres of land. with the help of his family. In 1894, he lost all his crops by the hot winds. In 1883, Mr. Harbottle was mar- ried to Ida Bragger. They are the parents of the following named children : Gust, Arthur, Roy, Fred, Allen, Pearl and Bertha.

MIKE VESELY.

The gentleman above named is a pioneer of northeastern Nebraska. He has lived many years in this section of the country, and has been a part of the growth and development of this region.

Mr. Vesely is a native of Bohemia, and was born in 1869, a son of Frank and Katie Vesely. He came to America in 1878, and bought land of a Mr. Myers, who was the homesteader. Mr. Vesely now farms six hundred and eighty acres of land, and has twelve acres of trees, his home being on section seven, township thirty-two, range eight. Three sisters of our subject also live in America.

CRAWFORD KENNEDY.

Crawford Kennedy, son of Joseph and Mary Kennedy, was born in County Down, in Ireland, August 15, 1856, the youngest of thirteen chil- dren. He has one sister living in New York City, one sister in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the . others being deceased. One brother, James M. Kennedy, who settled in Nebraska in 1880, died in Genoa in 1908. The father died in the early fifties, and the mother in 1869, both in Ireland. The Kennedys were a prominent family, and one of the most ancient Presbyterian families in North Ireland.

In 1871, in company with three sisters, Mr. Kennedy came to America, locating in Jersey City, New Jersey, and being engaged with the Colgate Soap Company until 1877. At that time he came to Boone county, Nebraska, homesteading one hundred and sixty acres in section twenty- six, township twenty-one, range six, which was his home 'plaee until 1880, when he was appointed deputy county elerk under John Peters, serving two years.

From September, 1882, until 1893, Mr. Ken- nedy was in the United States postal service, running over the main line of the Chicago North- western, then spending four years in the general freight office of the Northwestern railroad at

Omaha. From 1901 to 1905, he served as chief elerk in the post-office of the United States senate in Washington. Since 1905, Mr. Kennedy has made his home in Albion, Boone county.

Mr. Kennedy has always been an ardent re- publican, and for twenty years has been actively connected with the republican state organization. In 1908 he, as representative of the national republican committee, traveled eighteen thousand miles with President Taft, campaigning in twenty- five states. No man in Nebraska enjoys a larger acquaintance among the leading men of the United States than Mr. Kennedy. He is a man of good attainments, of wide experience and travel, a man whose influence is far-reaching. Mr. Ken- nedy is interested in various business enterprises in Boone county.

WILLIAM BLOCK.

Prominent among the old settlers of Knox county may be mentioned William Block, who has made this region his home since the fall of 1885, and who has done his share in the develop- ing of the agricultural resources of this section of the country. Mr. Block lives in section four- teen, township thirty, range eight, where he has built up a valuable property through his industry and good management.

Mr. Block is a native of Germany, and was born in 1852 in Framwalde village, Pomerania, the son of William and Minnie (Pulshun) Block. Our subject learned the brickmakers' trade in the old country. In 1885, he left his native land, and came to America, thinking there were more opportunities to rise in the world in the newer country. Three brothers and two sisters are also living in the United States. .

Upon coming west, Mr. Bloek took up a home- stead of eighty acres, and built a sod house. When he became settled, and had built up his home, he sent for his old sweetheart, Maneline Klongband, and they were married in 1886. Mr. and Mrs. Block are the parents of four children : Minnie, Emmett, Agust and William.

Mr. Bloek met with some discouragements since coming to Nebraska, losing all his crops in the hot winds of 1894, and also being burned out by prairie fires. He has prospered, however, not- withstanding these losses, and now owns five hun- dred acres of land.

JOSIIUA MILLER.

Located very pleasantly in section ten, town- ship twenty-six, range six, is to be found the gentleman whose name heads this biographical writing. His contributions to the making of northern Nebraska, while they have been largely unobtrusive, have been made with such persistent and invariable honesty of purpose and force of

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character, and such an earnest desire to live the best American life, that he is widely known through Antelope county.

Joshua Miller is a native of Iowa, and was born in 1863. His father, James Miller, was born in Ohio, of German descent, and still lives at the age of eighty-eight years. He served in the Civil war, enlisting in 1864, and was discharged in 1865. The mother was of Scotch descent.

In 1873, our subject went to Armour, South Dakota, and lived there two years, returning to Iowa. He remained one year in Iowa, and then came to Antelope county, Nebraska, and bought land. He has since made this his home, and now owns four hundred acres of good land. He has thirty acres of the finest grove and orchard in this section of the county. The place is known as Cedar Lawn Farm.

Mr. Miller was married in 1884 to Miss Grace Seclouse, and they are the parents of nine chil- dren: Morgan, who married Zetta Kuns; Elva, who married Mr. IIelt; Susie, who married Mr. Bently ; William, Herman, Dexter, Murrel, Freda and Bettie.

A. W. SUKUP.

Located very pleasantly in section thirteen, township twenty-nine, range eight, is to be found the somewhat notable gentleman whose name in- troduces this biograhpical writing. He has been identified with the history of Knox county from a very early date.

Mr. Sukup is a native of Nebraska, and was born in 1876. His father, James B. Sukup, was a native of Germany, who came to this country, and settled in Minnesota, later locating in Ne- braska-first in Niobrara, an then, in 1865, at Norfolk, where he took up a homestead, and built a good sod house. He afterwards came to Knox county, where he took up a tree claim, and built a log house, which was later destroyed, together with the trees on the claim, by prairie fire. This misfortune caused him to lose the claim. The family also suffered many other hardships in those early days, grasshoppers and hot winds destroying their crops.

Our subject, A. W. Sukup, was united in mar- riage to Mary Chocholousek in 1900, and two children have been born to them.

DELANCY L. CULVER.

Delancy L. Culver, a son of A. L. and Abigal Culver, was born in Wisconsin, September 17, 1848, and was fourth in a family of ten children. The mother died in 1862, and the father in 1893. Two brother, Charles and Fred, live in Albion, Iowa, and one sister in California. The father of our subject was a seeker after gold in California in 1849.

Mr. Culver received his education in his native

state, and engaged in farming. February 15, 1865, he enlisted in Company A, Forty-ninth Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of the war, receiving his honorable discharge, November 25, 1865.

On January 15, 1874, Mr. Culver was married to Mary Elizabeth Jones, who was a teacher in the public schools of Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Culver have had two children: Hugh L., who lives in Council Bluffs, Iowa, married Francis Standerwick, of Boone county, and has two chil- dren, both boys; and Maud, who married Frank Letson, and has one daughter, lives in Gordon, Nebraska. The father of Mrs. Jones died in 1906, and her mother lives in Grand Island, Wisconsin, one brother in Oklahoma, and two sisters and two brothers in Wisconsin.

In the spring of 1879, Mr. Culver came with his family to Boone county, Nebraska, and home- ·steaded one hundred and sixty acres of land in the southwest quarter of section five, township nineteen, range five, which remained his home farm until 1902, when he retired from active farm life, and moved to Albion, purchasing a fine home, where he now lives. He has been pros- perous and successful, and owns three hundred and twenty acres of land, together with valuable property in Albion.

SETH MILLER.

Seth Miller, one of the old settlers of Antelope county, occupies a good home and valuable prop- erty in section twenty-two, township twenty-six, range eight. He has done his share in the up- building of his locality, and is well and favorably known throughout this part of the county.

Mr. Miller is a native of Iowa, and was born in 1862. His father, Earl G. Miller, was born in · the state of New York in 1816, of German descent, and his mother, who was Miss Hawley before her marriage, was born in 1823, of French descent.

Our subject lived in his birthplace until he was twenty-eight years of age, receiving his edu- · cation in the country schools. In 1890, the elder Miller traded his farm in Iowa for the farm on which our subject now resides. Gregory Miller, a brother of our subject, took up a homestead.

In 1904, Mr. Miller was united in marriage to Miss Adams, and they are the parents of two children, Flosy and Earl.

WILLIAM KRUEGER.

William Krueger, a native of Germany, and son of August Krneger, was a laborer in Germany, and served in the war of 1871. He came to America from Braman province on the steamship Herman, and settled in Madison county, Nebras- ka, in 1876. In 1884, he came to Pierce county, and now owns three hundred and twenty acres

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of land in section eight, township twenty-six, range three.

Mr. Krueger was married in 1896 to Maggie Neneigemfind, and they are the parents of eight children: Christ, Martin, Agnes, Bennie, Theo- dore, Nellie and Mable. Mrs. Kruger is of Ger- man descent, and they are members of the Ger- man Lutheran church.

ART STOLP.

A typieal pioneer of western Nebraska is the gentleman above named. He was born in 1877,

and has lived for over thirty years in this section of the country, now residing in section nine, township twenty-eight, range five. His father, Myron Stolp, came to Nebraska from Iowa, and took up the homestead where our subject now lives. At that time, Wisner was the nearest market place.

In 1899, Mr. Stolp was united in marriage to Miss Abby Ewan, and they are the parents of three children: Bessie, Orval and Earl. The parents of Mrs. Stolp were early settlers in Ne- braska, and came to America from England. The father was in the army from 1862 to 1864.

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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 238

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