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 40

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 40

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Mr. Gould is fond of hunting and fishing. and with N. M. Nelson and others frequently spends a few weeks in camp in the lake region of Cherry county.

During the span of his life the open country has become a thickly populated region, and where

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only the prairie grasses waved, each year grain fields are undulating in the summer winds, and the cornfields fill the bins with a golden harvest. This is surely the land of opportunity.

We are pleased to call attention to a view of the Gould's large residence on another page to- gether with illustrations of the primitive dwell- ing of 1870 and another of later additions to the first small house.

JULIUS ZELLMER.

Julius Zellmer, a prominent and well-known stockman and farmer of section twenty-two, town- ship twenty-four, range one, of Stanton county, is a native of West Prussia, Germany, born in 1860, a son of John and Wilhemina Zellmer, who spent their lives in that country.

Mr. Zellmer reached maturity in Germany, and there received a common school education, leaving home in 1880 for America. He sailed from Hamburg and landed in New York City, whence he came to Nebraska. He had decided there were better opportunities in the west for a young man to make his fortune, and having little money to make a start, he secured a claim from the government. He is a most industrious and persevering farmer, and has developed a good farm. He has made all possible improvements on his place, and now makes a specialty of stock raising, being successful in all lines of his work. He is well known throughout the county as a progressive and public-spirited citizen, who is much interested in the welfare nd upbuilding of his community, and has the respect of all. He at first erected a small frame house, which was his home for several years, and he has since erected a more commodious and comfortable residence and various buildings for housing his stock and grain. He has a fine five-acre grove of fruit and shade trees, which add much to the value and beauty of his estate.

Mr. Zellmer was married in 1888 to Miss So- phia Stangal, and they are parents of six chil- dren, namely: Emma, Anna, Adelia, Otto, Al- dora and Mina.

Mrs. Zellmer was born in West Prussia and is a daughter of Carl and Marie Stangal. Botlı she and her husband have many friends in Stan- ton county, and are interested in securing good educational advantages for their community. They were forced to undergo many privations in their early life on the farm, and have had the pleasure of watching the wonderful develop- ment of the region they have lived in so many years.

J. WIEGAND.

Among the prosperous citizens of Antelope county, Nebraska, who have spent many years in this locality is the subject of this review, Jacob

Wiegand, owner of a valuable estate in Crawford precinct.

Mr. Wiegand was born in Villa of Berteroda, Saxony, Germany, March 28, 1849. When he was five years old, with his parents he came to Ameri- ca. His father was William Wiegand, born July 21, 1809; married in 1844; died September, 1882. His mother, Katherina Wiegand, was born June 17, 1817, and died July 18, 1900. Our subject's father was a farmer in Germany, and in 1854 with his family left their native land and came to America to find cheap land and make a home. They left Bremen on a sailboat, the Nebraska, and experienced a severe storm at sea, the mast of the boat was broken and they thought they would all be lost. They landed in New York where they stayed a few days, then started out to see a brother of the fath- er who lived in Rock Island, Illinois, and got as far as Chicago and were delayed there six weeks until the railroad was built as far as Rock Island ; remained there for fifteen years, then started for the far west, as they thought in those days. They drove from Rock Island to Dodge county, Ne- braska, and took up a homestead in 1869 and liv- ed there eighteen years. Fremont, Nebraska,

was the market place, which was twenty-six miles from the claim. He built a small frame house at first, but added to it as he prospered. The grass- hoppers took all the crops the first six years, and they suffered greatly during the blizzards of 1873 and 1888; they also suffered from hailstorms and hot winds. Our subject's father and family, like a great many other early settlers experienced many hardships, but through all of this they pros- pered and came to the front. In early days they had to burn hay, sunflowers, and cornstalks, and it took one to feed the fire all the time, the rest to bring in the fuel. Antelope, deer and wild turk- eys were very plentiful in those early days.

On April 28, 1874, our subject was married in Pebble precinct, Dodge county, to Miss Henriet- ta Wilhelmina Schmudo, who was born Septem- ber 2, 1855, in West Prussia, Germany. She came to America when she was a little girl five years old with her parents Gottlieb and Anna (Walter) Schmudo, from West Prussia, fifty miles from Berlin. They came to America in a sailboat.

Mr. and Mrs. Wiegand are the parents of three children who are named as follows: Julietta, M. E., born 1875, married in 1894 to J. H. Mumm and they have five children ; Hilda Rosina, born 1883, married in 1909 to E. J. Harris; Walter Ray mond, born 1891; William Julius, born 1877, died 1878; Arthur Frederick, born 1879, died 1899; Clara Doretha, born 1881, and died 1899; she was married to L. R. Riley, and lived only six weeks after marriage.

In 1887 our subject wih his family moved to Antelope county, where he bought land from Mr. Roberts and improved the farm until now he has one of the most beautiful places in Crawford precinct. He has two hundred acres of land, six

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acres of which are covered with beautiful trees. Mr. Wiegand belongs to the German Lutheran church, and is a republican in politics.

Mrs. Wiegand's father died in April, 1857, in Germany and her mother, who was born in 1822, died in 1882 in Nebraska.

WILLIAM B. CHILVERS.

William B. Chilvers, a highly respected, retir- ed business man of Pierce, Nebraska, is an ex-sol- dier of the civil war. He has spent a useful ca- reer, accumulating a valuable estate through many years of hard labor, and is classed among the successful citizens of his county, using his ut- most endeavors to assist in developing the com- mercial and educational interests of that part of Nebraska.

Mr. Chilvers is a native of the village of Ter- rington, county of Norfolk, England, and was born October 19, 1835. He was left an orphan at the age of six years, and was reared by his grand- father. With an uncle, George Burnham, he emi- grated to the United States, landing in New York on October 1, 1851. They lived in Chicago for four years, during which time our subject served a three years' apprenticeship to a carpenter; in those days everything had to be hand-made, which required considerable skill; he was kept nine months making mouldings, finding the de- signs and quantites daily on a trestle board.

In 1855 the family moved to Boone county, Illinois, near Belvidere, where Mr. Chilvers work- ed at his trade, and for four years, with an uncle, was interested in the lime and stone business. In the spring of 1861, he rented land and started a crop, but after the outbreak of hostilities, he disposed of his growing crops and enlisted in Company B, Ninety-fifth Illinois Infantry, and served until the close of the war; with his regi- ment he took part in seventy-five engagements. He was color bearer at the siege of Spanish Fort, carrying the' colors into the fort at the time of a successful assault at one o'clock in the morning In this engagement, the colors were pierced by bullets in nine places, and at the Siege of Vicks- burg, a ball passed through Mr. Chilvers' cap, grazing his scalp, and during his career as a sol- dier, this was the only wound he received. He was among the troops on the disastrous Red River expedition, but escaped capture and imprison- ment.

After the close of the war, he returned to Bel- videre, following his trade up to 1871, at which time he came to Pierce county, Nebraska. Since coming here he has done as much as any other one man in building up the locality. He secured the contract to erect the first building in Pierce, which was the hotel of George D. Hetzel; the lumber was hauled in wagons from Sioux City. This was followed by the school house in 1872. He had the honor of building the first store in the town, that of Herman Mewis, erected in the fall 7 1/2

of 1874, the lumber for this building being hauled from Wisner, then the terminus of the nearest railroad.

Mr. Chilvers homesteaded on a tract at Plain- view, also filed on a timber claim, on which ground a part of Plainview now stands. He put up a frame house, which was the first one of its kind in that part of the state. He worked on his farm during the good seasons, and when failures and hard times came on, followed his trade at Bazile Mills, Creighton, and other points. He was appointed postmaster at Plainview, first known as Roseville, and held the office for six years, Mrs. Chilvers attending to official duties while Mr.Chil- vers was away working at his trade. He served eight years as county clerk and recorder. In 1880 he begun the business of abstracting, and has been engaged in the work ever since. In 1900 he was elected clerk of the district court, and is still serving, this being his third term.

Mr. Chilvers was married at Sharon, Wiscon- sin, on October 6, 1872, to Irene Ellen Pilcher, a native of Lancaster, Ohio; their daughter, Eliza May, was the first white child born in Plainview settlement. She died August 13, 1900, aged twen- ty-six years, after graduating in the Plainview normal college. There are seven children still liv- ing: John P., Alfred W., George W., Frances, Nellie, Charles H., and Oma.

Our subject has been a staunch republican al- ways, casting his first vote for Freemont. He is a charter member of the Grand Army at Pierce, and is a prominent member of the Masonic lodge, be- ing one of the charter members and organizers of the Norfolk lodge, and later of the lodge at Pierce, of which he has been secretary since its organization.

LARKE SORENSEN. (Deceased.)

Larke Sorensen, deceased, one of the prosper- ons farmers of Howard county, Nebraska, was born in Lolland, Denmark, in 1845. He grew up there, and in 1869 married Johannah Jorgensen, soon afterwards coming to America, crossing in the steerage.

After landing in New York, he went to Cook county, Illinois, where the young man worked in the quarries, remaining there up to 1871, then with his family, consisting of himself, wife, child and his father, came to Nebraska, settling in Grand Island. Shortly after arriving in Nebras- ka, father, son and several other men from Grand Island left the town and traveled through the country in a northwesterly direction, traversing wide prairies and rough regions until they reach- ed the Loup river. There they built a float of large trees, crossed the river, and on coming to the tract of land that lay between Oak and Turk- ey creeks, decided that would be a good place in which to establish the Danish colony, which was the object of their search, the region at that time

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being inhabited only by Indians and wild ani- mals. Mr. Sorensen and other members of this company of men were self-reliant, independent, and unafraid of the trials and discouragements to be met with in settling a new country, and were ambitious of building up a permanent home for themselves in the great west, and prepared to endure any amount of hardship and privation in so doing.

Mr. Sorensen took np a homestead of Oak creek bottom land, and after spending a few weeks there returned to Grand Island, leaving his father on the claim, he being the only white man for miles around. Our subject brought his fami- ily to their new home, and they began a struggle to improve the land, going through every form of frontier existence, often suffering from the se- vere winters, etc., but ever striving and hoping for better times, until at last their labor was re- warded, being able to raise good crops and hav- ing a well equipped farm. They lived on the homestead during the lifetime of the father and husband, which occurred on February 5, 1887, and his loss was greatly deplored by the entire community. He left behind him a wife and six children, the latter named as follows: Mary, now widow of Peter Peterson, who with her four children, lives in Dannebrog precinct; Anna, now Mrs. Krogh, mother of one child, living at Ny- sted; William, father of five children, living in the village of Dannebrog, where he is engaged in the creamery business; Emil, who has two children, the family living west of Nysted; Sophus, mar- ried, and has one son, living on the original home- stead at Nysted; and Fred S., who resides on a farm near Alba, father of two children.

Mr. Sorensen was prominently known through- out this part of Nebraska as the founder, in part- nership with Fred Olsen and Jacob Winn, of the early settlement of Nysted. He was always an active worker in aiding the development of his community, and in all public affairs, besides be- ing an earnest worker in the Lutheran church. Mrs. Sorensen is still living on their homestead.

JOHN OTTO FREDERICK SCHONING.

Among the early settlers in Nebraska, we find the names of many adopted sons who were born under other skies but whose industry and thrift have enabled them to rise to positions of trust and affluence. One of the best-known and most re- spected farmers of this community is Otto Schon- ing, who assisted in the organization of Valley county and was the first homestead settler in this portion of the North Loup valley, being at that time the furthest settler up the valley. He now has a fine grain and stock farm of one hundred and eighty-six acres.

Otto Schoning, the subject of this sketch, was the fifth of nine children born to Carl and Char- lotte (Koenigsberg) Schoning, and was born in the city of Platha province of Pommerania, Prus-

sia, September 23, 1841. Two of the family are living in Germany, and a third died since Mr. Schoning visited his native land in 1900. He grew to manhood there, and served the usual military term of three years in the Prussian army, participating in the hostilities on the Russian line in 1863, with Denmark in 1864, and the Aus- trian war of 1866, in the battle of Koenigsberg. Like many another young fellow, he concluded in 1868, to come to America, sailing from Bremen to Baltimore, the voyage lasting sixteen days. For the first few years he remained in Wisconsin, working on a farm near Milwaukee.

In the spring of 1872, he purchased a team and wagon and began to make arrangements to go to Nebraska; in the fall he came overland to Val- ley county, taking a homestead on section twelve, township eighteen, range thirteen, and he has lived there continuously up to this date.

In May, 1878, he was married to Miss Amelia Braun, the daughter of Christian Braun, a Ger- man who had come directly from the old country to Valley county, taking np the homestead adjoin- ing that of Mr. Schoning on the north.

Mr. and Mrs. Schoning have nine children liv- ing, named as follows: Martha, Mrs. Fred Sim- on of Grand Island; Otto and Julius, both farm- ing in Tripp county, South Dakota; Hattie, em- ployed in Omaha; Emma, Mrs. Hugh Watson, living near Hall, Cairo county, Nebraska ; Herm- an, Paul, Emil and Frieda.

Mr. and Mrs. Schoning and family have many friends and a wide circle of acquaintances. Mr. Schoning for many years has been a member of the school board of district number fifty, and at one time was school treasurer.

In 1875, Fred Bartz, a brother-in-law of Mr. Schoning, together with the parents of the lat- ter, came to this country, and the year previous another brother-in-law, John Kriewald, came to America. Mr. Bartz took up homestead land in Valley county and Mr. Kriewald bonght railroad land adjoining in the same neighborhood as Mr. Schoning. The father and mother made their home with Mr. Kriewald and family, the former living until 1885 and the latter until the spring of 1889.

All of the people mentioned in this sketch were pioneers of Valley county and in common with other early settlers, suffered many hardships during the first years of their settlement. How- ever, by reason of their early struggles the coun- try has steadily developed, and many of those old settlers are still living today, enjoying the fruits of their early toil.

Mr. Schoning first resided in a small log dug- out for seven years, when he built a small log house above ground, and in 1894 the present dwelling in spite of the drought of that year when he raised no corn. There were deer in those days -sometimes the fleet-footed animals ran through the door-yard. Mr. Schoning shot twenty-three during the early years of his pioneering in Ne-

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braska. Twice hail destroyed his erops and twice the grasshopper left his fields bare; in 1874 they took everything.

HENRY WACHTER.

Henry Watcher, who resides in section five, township twenty-four, range one, in Madison county, Nebraska, is one of the leading citizens and old timers of this section of the country. He has always done his full share to aiding in the betterment of conditions throughout the com- munity in which he lives.

Mr. Wachter is a native of Wisconsin state, where he was born in July, 1860, and is a son of August and Gusta Wachter, both natives of Germany, who came to America on a sailboat.

In 1866, our subject's father, with his parents, started for the west, traveling by ox team, as that was the usual way of traveling at that time. They were on the road about seven weeks, and made settlement in Madison county, homestead- ing land in section two, township twenty-four, range one. On this land a good log house was put up.

When the family first came to this region, the country was a rolling prairie, with nothing to be seen for miles but the waving grasses of the plains. The virgin soils had scarcely known the touch of cultivation, or the stamp of a white man's foot, the only signs of life being the herds of deer and antelope that were frequently seen grazing about, and the bands of Indians who roamed the plains. In the first few years of cultivation, the grasshoppers destroyed every vistage of crops and vegetation to be found any- where in this region, which caused great suffer- ing and hardship to this family. Many times they had to fight prairie fires to save their lives and possessions, and in 1894 our subject lost all his crops by the hot winds that prevailed during that year, owing to the long drouth. In the very earliest times, Columbus and West Point were the nearest market places, they being fifty-five miles distant.

Mr. Wachter was united in marriage in 1884 to Miss Wilhelmina Hideman, a native of Ger- many, and a daughter of Frank and Albertina Hideman. Mr. and Mrs. Wachter are the par- ents of eleven children, whose names are as fol- lows : Julius, Ernest, Arthur, George, Carl, Ella, Anna, Martha, Minnie, Erna and Emma.

THEODORE J. STOETZEL.

Theodore J. Stoetzel, who is now one of the leading real estate men in this section of Ne- braska, was for years closely connected with the educational development of Greeley county. He served four terms as county superintendent of schools, being the one republican candidate to win in a democratic county, and for six years was principal of the Scotia schools.

Mr. Stoetzel was born in Lake county, Indi- ana, November 27, 1856, and was the third of four children in the family of John C. and Emilia Rieke Stoetzel. The mother died in 1863, leav- ing her husband and the children, Matilda, Wil- liam F., Theodore J. and Mary. The father re- married, and in April, 1869, John C. Stoetzel and family, now numbering seven children, moved to Dodge county, Nebraska, where he took up a pre-emption claim of one hundred and sixty acres. Here the father spent the remainder of his life, dying in March, 1905. His widow still lives in Scribner, Nebraska, and in his large family of nine children (for two children, Lydia and Ida, were born in Nebraska), all, except Lydia, still reside in Nebraska.

The subject of this sketch, Theodore Stoetzel, was only twelve years old when the family moved to Nebraska, so that most of his boyhood and youth was spent in this state. He lived on the farm, helping in the manifold labors connected therewith, and receiving the usual school ad- vantages until he was nineteen. He then at- tended the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso, Indiana, taking the full course of five years.

On October 11, 1883, just a few months after he was graduated, he married Miss Emesce Strawn at the home of her parents in Dwight, Illinois. Mr. Stoetzel taught school in Livings- ton county, Illinois, for one term. On April of the following year, Mr. Stoetzel and wife came to Scotia, Greeley county, Nebraska, where, after an interval of one year spent on the farm, he took up school and educational work in earnest.

In the fall of 1885, Mr. Stoetzel was first se- lected county superintendent, serving the public four years in that capacity, and then, for three years, was principal of the Scotia schools. He was also for some time connected with the Nor- mal school at the same city. It was at this period that Mr. Stoetzel became so widely known in educational circles, and was frequently called upon for institute work in adjoining counties. In 1893, he was again elected county superinten- dent, and, as before, when leaving that office, again became principal of the Scotia schools.

In 1901, Mr. Stoetzel decided to give up school work in order to engage in real estate and insurance lines. Since that time he has devoted his energy to this line of business, and has met with more than ordinary success. It is quite probable that the many friends and acquaint- ances made during his years of school work, and the respect and esteem which he won during these years, have contributed not a little to his present prosperity.

Mr. and Mrs. Stoetzel and their family. as may be supposed, take a prominent part in the social and educational life of this community. There are six children, named as follows: Bes- sie M., Mayme (now Mrs. Guy C. Cook), Susie, Georgia, Henry W. and Charlotte.

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Mr. Stoetzel is a member of the Presbyterian church. In polities he is republican, and a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity, having attained the Past Master's degree, after filling the Mas- ter's chair for a term or two.

LUDWIG UHING.

That thrift and energy may win success un- der the most adverse conditions is illustrated in the life of Ludwig Uhing, now residing in Con- ception, Missouri. He was born in the city of Cleve, Rhine province, Germany, November 1, 1841, and lived for twenty-seven years in his native land. His parents, Bernard and Mary (Benz) Uhing, died in Germany, their native land. Mr. Uhing, our subject, entered the pos- tal service, and was a clerk in the offices at Cleve, Stergrade, Mettmann, Munich, Gladbach, Neviges and Remscheid. At the latter place he was employed when he emigrated to America.

Sailing from Antwerp in the early spring of 1868 in the steamer "City of Antwerp," he landed in New York, after a voyage of twelve days. He came immediately to the west, and sojourned for a short time in Richardson county before settling in Cuming county, fifty miles north of West Point, Nebraska. Here he purchas- ed school land, which he farmed for ten years be- fore his removal to Cedar county.

Purchasing two hundred and eighty acres of land in Bow Valley, he began investing his sav- ings in more land until he had purchased up- wards of one thousand acres, some of which he had deeded directly to his sons, and some of it he deeded to them himself, retaining enough to keep himself and wife in comfort the remainder of their days. In March of 1905, Mr. Uhing moved to Hartington, purchasing a neat cottage on South Broadway, where he resided until his removal to Missouri in 1911.

Mr. Uhing was married in West Point, Cum- ing county, May 22, 1869, to Miss Agatha Mettes, a native of Wurtemburg, Germany, born in 1849. Her parents, John and Mary Mettes, emigrated to America in 1854, and a year later were the first settlers of Washington county, at a time when Indians, buffalo, deer, antelope and wild turkeys were plentiful. Their voyage in an old sailship extended over six weeks. They came out to Clinton, Iowa, where they lived one year prior to their settlement in Nebraska.

Mr. and Mrs. Uhing are the parents of eleven children, of whom eight are living. They are: Margareta, entered a convent of the Benedietine order, and is now known as Sister Petronella in the mission school at the Standing Rock agency, South Dakota; Fred, who has a part of the home farm in Bow Valley; Louis is also located on the old home place near Fred; Henry has a farm four miles west of Hartington; Mary, wife of Clement Suing, lives nine miles north of the county seat; Theresa is the wife of Fred Wie-

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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 40

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