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 26

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 26


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Mr. Horstmann was united in marriage in 1872 to Miss Hanah Lampe, and Mr. and Mrs. Horstmann are the parents of eleven children, whose names are as follows: Annie, Caroline, Lizzie, Mary, William, Emma and Fred. Minnie, Sophia, Henry and Carl are dead. Mr. and Mrs. Horstmann and family are highly esteemed by all in their community and enjoy the respect of a wide circle of friends and acquaintances.


In his twenty-three years of residence in Knox county, Mr. Horstmann has gained the high re- gard and esteem of all with whom he has had to do, his dealings with men being of the highest standard of integrity and fairness.


ASAHEL EDGINGTON.


The gentleman whose name heads this review is an old and prominent resident of Fullerton, Nebraska. He was born in the town of Edging- ton, Illinois, June 1, 1841, and is a son of Daniel Edgington, after whom the town of that name was called.


Asahel Edgington was reared in his native state, receiving his elementary education in the schools of Rock Island, and later attended the Rensselaer Institute at Troy, New York. He also spent some time in Chicago, graduating from the Bryant & Stratton Commercial College of that city. In 1864 he came to Colorado, traveling across the plains with an ox team, and located about forty miles west of Denver, which place at that time was simply a village instead of the beautiful and thriving business city we now find it. In June of the following year, he returned to Illinois and engaged in farming, following that vocation in his native state up to 1867, and in February of that year was united in marriage to Josephine B. Carpenter, who also was born and raised in Edgington, and for a number of years was a public school teacher there. After their marriage, the young couple settled in Washing- ton, Iowa, engaging in stock-raising business, re- maining in that region up to December, 1882, when they came with their family to Nebraska, locating in Nance county. They were among the first to set- tle in that vicinity, and our subject started in the


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real estate and banking business at Fullerton, which at that time was a very small village. During those years he bought and sold many large tracts of land, at different times handling deals involving from three to four thousand acres of land in one day, the price averaging from two and a half to four dollars per acre. While he was instrumental in aiding greatly in settling the country and building it up by his operations, he also purchased for himself one hundred town lots and four quarter sections of land, which grew to be very valuable. He was more than usually successful in his work, and has been an important factor in the commercial and financial affairs of Nance county, as, besides his real estate business, he was for several years engaged in the general merchandise business, and built up a nice patronage throughout the region.


In 1887 Mr. Edgington purchased twenty acres adjoining the town of Fullerton on the south, which he laid out in streets and platted the tract, and this is now known as "The Edging- ton Addition." It has been built up in good shape, and has become one of the popular resi- dence sections of the town. Mr. Edgington him- self has a home surrounded by ten acres of ground, beautifully laid out, and he is engaged in fruit growing and poultry raising, doing a flourishing business in both lines. This place is within the city limits, and is a very valuable property.


Since locating in Nance county, Judge Edging- ton has taken a foremost part in its affairs. He has passed through all the early times, remembers well the days when Indians were numerous here, and also when the plains abounded in antelope and other game. In 1902 Judge Edgington and wife went to Santa Cruz, California, intending to live there, but after a stay of three years they returned to Nebraska, and have remained here since, surrounded by every comfort, and having a host of warm friends in the community.


Judge Edgington's family consists of five children, namely : Grace J., wife of Wm. Jenkins, they living at Prosser, Washington; Leona E., widow of Morris E. Thorp, who died in 1902, Mrs. Thorp having one child, and is now living in Los Angeles, California; Stella M., wife of Clarence B. Nonnamaker, parents of one child; Bernard A .,married, and Carl Edgington, the three last mentioned residing at Morenca, Arizona.


Mr. Edgington served as county judge from 1891 to 1893, afterwards being appointed deputy sheriff, which office he held for eight years, and during his early residence here was a member of the school board of district number one.


G. A. ERIKSON.


Norse blood has played a great part in the development of the great northwest, as it has in all parts of the country where the Norseman


has found it agreeable to settle. It was largely due to the invention of the "Monitor" by an illustrious Scandinavian that the civil war was closed as it was, with a united country instead of two warring, jealous governments.


G. A. Erikson, vice president of the First National Bank of Naper, is a native of Norway, born in the city of Fredrikshald, July 12, 1859. His father, Peder Erikson, was a native of the same city, and when grown to man's estate, learned the painter's trade, and found employ- ment in the service of the government in their navy yard there.


He married Miss A. Reiss, who was also a na- tive of Norway, remotely decended from Danish and German ancestors. In 1869 Peder Erikson and family set sail in an old Norwegian full- rigged ship, about three hundred feet in length, embarking at Christiana. After a voyage of twenty-four days, they landed in Quebec the latter part of July or the first of August. Here they trans-shipped to a lake vessel, ascended the St. Lawrence river and Lake Ontario, through the Welland canal to Lake Erie, and thence to De- troit. Here they again transferred to a vessel, bound for Milwaukee, whence they traveled by rail to Madison, Wisconsin, where Henry Erikson, an elder son, had preceded the family, reaching their destination about the middle of September. Henry had been a marine engineer in the old country, plying the coast of Norway to Tromsoe and Hammerfest. He had come to America in 1865, and had established himself on a farm near Madison, and then sent for the rest of the family to join him. The father farmed with the son until coming to Nebraska in the year of 1872. He rented a farm three miles west of Nebraska City for one year, and then moved to town, and plied his trade there until rheumatism compelled his abandonment of labor. He died in August, 1878, having been an invalid for about four years.


Gustav A. Erikson began to make his own way in the world at the age of fourteen, when in October, 1874, he secured a clerkship in a small grocery store in Nebraska City. Two and a half years later he secured a position in a large gen- eral store, remaining nearly the same length of time. Going to Blair in the spring of 1879, he secured a position in a general merchandise establishment. After two and a half years here, he went to Omaha and secured a clerkship in Cruikshank & Company's store, the largest dry goods establishment in the city at that time, which later went into the hands of N. B. Faulkner & Company, who were succeeded by Thomas Kilpatrick, the present proprietor.


After a year in Omaha, Mr. Erikson had an opportunity to join a United States surveying party as field writer, and also filled nearly every position in the party from time to time, even using the instruments. The party spent six months in the Utah mountains, during which time Mr. Erikson experienced life in the wilderness.


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On one trip for mail, he rode sixty-five miles one Saturday, swimming Golden river on his saddle mule to get to the camp where mail was expected. Resting over Sunday, during which time his wet clothing was dried, he was piloted to a lower ford some ten miles further down the stream, and after seventy-five miles' hard riding, reached camp on Monday with the coveted missives from the east. Several times he drove a span of mules to Fort Thornberg for supplies, the trip usually occupying three days. On one occasion, the weak- er mule gave out about four o'clock in the after- noon, and the last twenty miles were not cov- ered before midnight, Mr. Erikson having had to unhitch the rest and feed three times on that weary stretch of road, at the last having to walk and prod the mule in the side, a most weary and desolute journey through an uninhabited count- try.


After his season in the mountains, Mr. Erikson returned to Blair, and to the service of the firm in whose employ he had been before, and re- mained with them until the spring of 1886. At that time he became traveling salesman for the Canfield Manufacturing Company, with territory on the Union Pacific, Burlington and Missouri River (now C., B. & Q.), Missouri Pacific, and St. Paul and Omaha railroads, making towns as far from the Missouri river as North Platte, Hold- redge, Auburn, Scribner and Albion. After eighteen months on the road, he formed a part- nership under the firm name of Erikson & Thomp- son, and was in business in Blair for nine years. In 1891, when the reservation was opened and Boyd county was opened to settlement, Mr. Erik- son came to Naper in charge of the William Knotter Company's business, handling lumber, implements and grain, and he was manager of their large business for nearly twelve years, re- signing January 1, 1910, to take the vice presi- deney of the First National Bank, which was formed by the consolidation of the two former banks in Naper, and in which he bought a block of stock in December, 1909.


Mr. Erikson was married in Blair, September 2, 1885, to Miss Louise Kemp, a native of Wal- worth county, Wisconsin. Her father, Thomas A. Kemp, was born near York, England, and came to America about 1823. Her mother, who was Mary Haller before marriage, was born in Vermont of Swiss parentage. They settled in Wisconsin when that country was new, and saw the country change by the axe of the settler from a virgin forest to a thickly-populated farming country.


Mr. and Mrs. Erikson are the parents of one daughter, Vera F., born in Blair, Nebraska. After graduating in the Blair schools, she fin- ished the course of the Carleton College at North- field, Minnesota, in June, 1908. She had numer- ous offers of positions to teach, but accepted that of Clarkfield, Minnesota, in the fall of 1908. She has since taught at Crete, Nebraska, that she


might be in her native state and nearer home. Here she specialized, teaching German and math- ematics.


Mr. Erikson is a republican in politics, and, with his family, is a member of the Congregational church.


Mr. Erikson well remembers the blizzard of January 12, 1888, having been out in it for a time. He was then living in Blair, and went to the railroad station to meet a friend. On the way back to the store, he found the storm so blinding and suffocating that he had to turn his back to the blast, and shoulder his way through the icy mist. Later, in going home to supper, three blocks south, with the storm at his back, he made easier progress.


In the summer of 1907, Mr Erikson took his family with him when he revisited the fatherland and toured an interesting part of Europe. The daughter had credits sufficient to permit her leaving school without prejudice four weeks be- fore the close of the spring term, and to delay a fortnight entering the classes in the fall. Leav- ing home the first of May and returning the first of October, they traveled through Scotland, the west coast of England, and Norway as far north as Hammerfest, making visits of longer or shorter duration in Bergen, Trondhjem and Swolvaer, and toured part of Sweden while on the Scan- dinavian peninsula. On the continent they vis- ited Denmark, Germany, and from Cologne up the Rhine, and then through the Black Forest; in Switzerland, the Falls of the Rhine, Neuhansen, Zurich, Berne, Lucerne, Interlaken and Geneva, and after eight days in Paris, a like number in London, a day at Oxford and another at the old walled town of Chester and Marston Moors and a day on Stratford-on-Avon, they crossed to Ire- land, where they attended the exposition at Dublin before embarking for home at the city of Londonderry, having enjoyed a most delightful summer's travel. They will again visit the old country within a year or two, touring the Medit- erranean countries, Austria and the Tyrolean Alps. They have traveled much in the western world, having been as far south as Cuba, and north and west to the mountain states. Travel as a broadening means of culture, is well exem- plified in Mr. Erikson and his family, who can relate interestingly many incidents of history and personal experience in the old as well as the new world.


OLIVER E. WALTERS.


Oliver E. Walters, county clerk of Boone county, is a son of Oliver M. and Elizabeth L. (Phillips) Walters, and was born in Brooklyn, New York, February 9, 1857, the eldest of two children, the brother dying in infancy. His father died October 14, 1861, in New York, and the mother died September 5, 1907, in Albion, Nebraska.


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In 1876 Mr. Walters moved to Waterloo, Iowa, with his parents, where he engaged in the coal business about a year, then went on a farm until 1879, when he came to Boone county, Ne- braska, and homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land in the southwest quarter of section twenty, township twenty-two, range seven, sell- ing same about five years later.


In July, 1885, Mr. Walters organized what was known as the Walters & Price General Merchan- dise Company at Garner Postoffice, fifteen miles northwest of Albion. In 1890 he moved with his family to Petersburg, Boone county, where he followed clerking, etc., and later engaged in the real estate business and edited a newspaper, re- maining there thirteen years, during which time he also served as treasurer of the school board in 1902 and 1903, chairman of the town board in 1902, and justice of the peace for eight years.


On January 1, 1904, Mr. Walters was ap- pointed deputy county clerk of Boone county, serving four years, and was then elected county clerk in the fall of 1907, taking charge of the office January 1, 1908, which office he is still filling to the satisfaction of his county.


On November 26, 1885, Mr. Walters was mar- ried to Miss Cora E. Martin of Boone county, at Albion. Mr. and Mrs. Walters have had five children, three of whom are living: Oliver H., a printer in Columbus, Nebraska; Edna L., mar- ried to W. E. Baker, lives in. Boone county, Ne- braska; Louis E., deceased; Mabel E., deceased, and Clifford E., who resides at home.


Mr. Walters' life history tells of the prosperity and success he has won, and besides the above chronicled facts, he has land interests in western Nebraska and local property in Albion, his pres- ent home. Mr. Walters has made his impress on the history of his county, and he and his family enjoy the respect and high esteem of all who know them, and their friends are legion.


WILLIAM C. SPLITTGERBER.


The prosperity enjoyed within the borders of Wayne county, Nebraska, is due in large meas- ure to the enterprise and thrift of the farmers of that region. Their well-improved and well-tilled farms show good management and painstaking care, which has resulted in their present prosper- ity. Among the prominent farmers may be men- tioned the gentleman above named. He has been a resident of the county for a number of years, and is a substantial farmer, having acquired a good home by persistent industry and honest deal- ings, and is esteemed by all with whom he has come in contact.


Mr. Splittgerber was born in Germany, near Berlin, in 1855, and is the son of Carl and Caro- line Splittgerber. His early years were spent in his native land, where he obtained his education.


In 1881 the Splittgerber family left their home to come to America, the land of liberty and


opportunity. They came by way of Bremen and Baltimore, and started at once for the west, where land was cheap and there was an equal chance for all. They came to Wayne county, Nebraska, and Carl Splittgerber bought one-half section of land, upon which he lived for eight years. He then moved with his wife to Wisner, where he lived until his death in 1904. After his death the farm was divided between his sons, William C. and Emil; William C., now owning two hun- dred and forty acres of the old home place. He now has a well-equipped farm, with all necessary buildings, fences, stock and machinery. There is also now a fine orchard of two acres of fruit trees, all bearing well.


Mrs. Carl Splittgerber has made her home with her son, William, since the death of her husband.


In 1886 our subscriber was united in marriage to Miss Caroline Ahlfers. They are the parents of two children, Paul and Hulda.


Mrs. Splittgerber, who was born in Hanover, Germany, came to America in 1883 alone, and joined an aunt in Saline county. In 1885 she came to Wisner, where she lived with another aunt until her marriage the following year.


ANDREW P. JENSEN.


A history of Nebraska would not be complete without mentioning the name of Andrew P. Jen- sen, who for the past twenty-nine years has been a substantial and progressive citizen, always tak- ing a keen interest in things pertaining to the welfare of his home state and county.


Andrew P. Jensen was born in Denmark, De- cember 11, 1854, a son of Jens Peterson, and by a peculiar Scandinavian custom takes his last name from his father's first. He was fourth in a family of six children, and has two sisters re- siding in Garfield county, Nebraska, the other children being deceased. The father, Jens Pet- erson, lives in Ord, Nebraska, at the advanced age of eighty-four years. He came to Nebraska in the fall of 1884. The mother died in 1904, in Valley county, Nebraska. Our subject received his education in the schools of his native country, and at the age of fifteen began to learn the car- penter trade, which he finished in due time, and later followed alternately with farming.


On July 21, 1876, Mr. Jensen was united in marriage to Miss Johanna Peterson, also a native of Denmark. Mr. and Mrs. Jensen have had two children, namely : Marie, who is the wife of John Frandsen, has one child, and lives in the state of Montana, and Iner, deceased in 1887 in infancy.


In 1881 Mr. Jensen came with his wife and one daughter to America, locating in Omaha, Nebras- ka, where he worked at his trade until May, 1884. He then moved his family to Valley coun- ty, purchasing one hundred and sixty acres of railroad land in the northeast quarter of section twenty-nine, township thirty, range fourteen,


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where he remained until the fall of 1885. Owing to cyclone and hailstorms, there was a total fail- ure of crops, and Mr. Jensen felt the necessity of going back to Omaha, where he could work at his trade.


In July of 1893 he again moved his family on his Valley county farm, where they remained until August 17, 1908, when Mr. Jensen retired from active farming and moved to Ord, where he has a hee-hive factory.


Mr. Jensen is a successful man of affairs, and owns one hundred and sixty acres of good land, which is a fine stock and grain farm, well im- proved, and has also fourteen acres of timber land.


He is a progressive man, interested in all per- taining to the welfare of his home county and state, and enjoys the respect and esteem of all who know him. Mr. Jensen served as director of his school district, number twelve, for some years.


G. GOBLE.


A typical pioneer of eastern Nebraska is represented by the gentleman above named, G. Goble. He has lived many years in this section of the country, and has taken part in the growth and development of this region, building up for himself a substantial home and future by his perseverance and thrift, and has come to be one of the foremost citizens of Antelope county.


Mr. Goble was born in 1862 in the state of Michigan, and is the son of Enos H. and C. (Ve- netta) Goble, the father being a native of Penn- sylvania, and the mother a native of New Jersey. Our subject's father served his country in the civil war, enlisting in company F, Twenty-fifth Michigan infantry, remaining in the army from 1862 to 1865. Eight years later he went to Kansas, in 1873, taking up a homestead about thirty miles southwest of Topeka, and here the family experienced many discouragements, suf- fering from the hot winds and grasshopper raids, and the hard winter of 1873. Becoming dissat- isfied in that locality, our subject's father and family returned to Michigan. In 1879 E. H. Goble and family came to Antelope county, Ne- braska, taking up a tree claim on the northeast quarter of section thirty-one, township twenty- eight, range seven, and here they built a small frame house and planted fifteen acres of timber. E. H. Goble died, February 23, 1887.


G. Goble, our subject, in 1888, took up a home- stead in the southwest quarter section thirty-one, township twenty-eight, range seven. On this homestead he built a sod house, in which he lived four years, and then built a frame house. In 1901 he bought out the heirs' interests in his father's tree claim, and moved onto that farm, where he now resides, and he has a well-improved and valuable property there.


In 1906 Mr. Goble was united in holy matri- mony to Miss Elizabeth Hobson, and Mr. and Mrs


Goble have had two children born to them, whose names are as follows: Harold and May. Mr. and Mrs. Goble and family are pleasantly situated in their fine home, and enjoy the respect and high regard of all who know them.


HERMAN A. KRUETZFELDT.


Herman A. Kruetzfeldt, a well-to-do farmer, energetic and industrious, a typical representa- tive of the sturdy German race, who came to this country to establish a home and accumulate a competence for his old age, resides on his farm, the northwest quarter of section thirty, township twenty-eight, range one. Although not one of the oldest settlers of Nebraska, Mr. Kruetzfeldt, since coming to this part of the country, has always done his share for the benefit of his community.


Mr. Kruetzfeldt was born in the village of Stein, province of Holstein, Germany, August 9. 1863, the year before that region was ceded by Denmark to Germany. He is the son of Joachim and Anna (Klindt) Kruetzfeldt, also natives of Holstein. On coming to America in 1881, Mr. Kruetzfeldt sailed from Hamburg to New York in the "Cymbria," which some years later foundered at sea.


He came directly to Davenport, Iowa, and for six years worked as a farm hand in Scott county. He then moved to Cass county, renting a farm from his father-in-law for fifteen years. In 1900 he came to Pierce county, Nebraska, where he has since made his home. His farm is a fertile tract of land, on which is a beautiful grove surround- ing the substantial buildings, and an orchard of goodly size.


Mr. Kruetzfeldt was married in Davenport, Iowa, February 18, 1885, to Miss Augusta Gottsch, a native of Scott county, and daughter of Joac- him and Magarita (Lamp) Gottsch, natives of the village of Stein, Denmark, whence the father sailed the seas some eight or nine years. Mr. and Mrs. Kruetzfeldt have had four children: Harry, William, Arnold and Maud. Harry was educated at a business college in Davenport, Iowa, and is manager of the Edwards & Bradford Lumber Company at MeLain ; William received his educa- tion in Wayne, Nebraska, and is manager for the same company at Belden, and Arnold is being edu- cated at the college at Wayne.


In politics, Mr. Kruetzfeldt votes the demo- cratic ticket. He belongs to the Sons of Herman lodge, and he and his family worship at the Ger- man Lutheran church.


Mr. and Mrs. Kruetzfeldt and family are highly respected by all who know them.


PETER D. VORHES.


The gentleman above named, now deceased, was a prominent old settler and well-known resi- dent of Howard county, Nebraska. Mr. Vorhes died in Grand Island in February, 1902, and his


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death was deeply felt by all who knew him, as he was looked upon as one of the leading public- spirited men of the county, and held in the high- est esteem and respect by his fellow men.


Peter D. Vorhes was born in New York state, February 15, 1830. He moved to Michigan with his parents when a small boy, and when a young man, in company with his brother Fred, went to California, remaining in that country for about fifteen years. There they were engaged in black- smithing, prospecting, mining, etc., saw a great deal of the western life, and succeeded in getting together some property.


Peter returned to Michigan, and was mar- ried there to Miss Emil J. Goodman of Oakland county, and they made that locality their home up to the spring of 1877, when the family, con- sisting of himself, wife and daughter, Ada Jane, now the wife of W. E. Baliman, came to Howard county, and settled on a homestead, which our subject purchased, on section thirty-two, town- ship thirteen, range nine. They worked hard, and passed through all the early Nebraska times, meeting many discouragements in the early days, but gradually succeeded in improving their homestead. At one time a prairie fire swept the country, and burned a barn and granary contain- ing his season's seed and grain supply. The house which he built was the first frame built in his section of the country, some of the lumber being brought by team from Omaha.




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