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 41

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 41

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belhaus, who is farming four miles north of town; Herman is farming in Bow Valley near his brothers, and Ida is still under the parental roof, caring for her aged parents. Mr. Uhing is a democrat, and the entire family worship in the Catholic church.

Mr. Uhing has endured his share of hardships on the frontier. Grasshoppers devastated his crops from 1873 until 1879, the last year in his new location in Cedar county. His early market places after settling in Cedar county were at Yankton and Ponca, a long, weary drive. When he first became a resident of Cuming county, Fremont and Omaha were his market places, the trip to the latter plaee consuming three and four days. So deep were the snows in some of those early winters that on one occasion they had to tear out the chimney, crawl out on the roof, and dig down to the door before egress could be had from the house. The drifts covered all the win- dows, and were on a level with the low roof of their low log house.

Mr. Uhing well remembers gathering, when a ehild, quantities of the horns of antelope and deer on the prairies, so thickly were they strewn. The many blizzards that swept the plains brought no injury to Mr. Uhing or his family. On the occasion of the disastrous storm of January 12, 1888, the children had fortunately remained at home, thus escaping the danger and discomfort of many who were compelled to spend the night in school houses.

After toil comes rest, and no one better de- serves a quiet eventide of life than he of whom we write. He has lived an honest, industrious life, and, true to the industry which he possesses, he cannot, with his rest, remain idle.

In 1911, he moved to Conception, Missouri, where he has some landed interests that are now claiming his attention.

DANIEL W. BRINKERHOFF.

In the person of the above-mentioned gentle- man we find one of the oldest settlers of Merrick county, Nebraska, recognized by all as a repre- sentative citizen of that locality, who has seen the growth and progress of this region from its early settlement. Mr. Brinkerhoff came to the county in 1871, and has been one of the fore- most in aiding in its development.

Daniel W. Brinkerhoff was born in Lewis connty, New York state, November 17, 1832, a son of Isaac and Harriet Brinkerhoff, who had three children. Mr. Brinkerhoff lived in New York state, where he grew up on a farm, until 1857, moving in that year to Wisconsin, where he remained about two years, then going to Gen- eseo, Henry county, Illinois, which state was his home until coming to Merrick county, Nebraska, in 1871. On coming here, he took up a home- stead about six miles northwest of Central City.

Mr. Brinkerhoff was married in New York

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state in January, 1856, and his wife died in Illi- nois in 1860, leaving a little daughter. The daughter came to Merrick county with her fath- er, and in later years married, and went to Chey- enne, Wyoming, to reside, where she died in 1881. In 1884, Mr. Brinkerhoff was married to Mrs. Belinda Roberts in Central City, Nebraska.

Mr. Brinkerhoff followed farming and stock raising until 1885, at which time he came to Cen- tral City to reside. Here he built the first livery barn, and has remained continuously in the livery business until the present time. He is the veteran livery man of Merrick county, and is also a pio- neer farmer and stockman, and an honored citi- zen, and, by reason of his business, is a man who is widely known.

Mr. Brinkerhoff has passed through all the ups and downs of a pioneer settler's life. He has always been active along progressive lines, and, although never seeking political preferment, has in past years kept in close touch with politics and the advancing age. He is a good citizen, and everybody in the community knows "Dan" Brinkerhoff.

ERNEST SCHEER.

Among the leading old settlers and public- spirited citizens of Knox county, Nebraska, the gentleman above mentioned deserves a foremost place. Mr. Scheer resides in section eighteen, township thirty, range five, where he is highly esteemed and respected by his fellow men.

Mr. Scheer is a native of Germany, being born in the year 1839 in the village of New Bliesdorf, and is the son of Ferdinand and Eliza- beth (Schmidt) Scheer. Our subject grew to manhood and received his education in his na- tive land, where he spent the earlier portion of his lifetime, and where, also, he was married. In 1882, Mr. Scheer, with his family, left his na- tive land for the great western country, of which many glowing reports had been sent to the fath- erland by his countrymen who had preceded him. He started to the United States to make a for- tune for himself and his family, they sailing on the steamship "India" from Hamburg to New York, and, after landing here, proceeded to the west, settling in Knox county, Nebraska, where Mr. Scheer took up a homestead and timber claim on sections eighteen and nineteen, township thir- ty, range five, which has remained the family res- idence for some twenty-nine years, since first coming to this country. On this homestead, Mr. Scheer built a good frame house, and started to farming. He has had many disappointments and hardships, among which the memorable blizzard of 1888 played its destructive part. Mr. Scheer lost most of his stock during the storm, and also was out in the driving wind and sleet for several hours, becoming lost, and wandered around al- .

most despairing of ever reaching his home.

In 1859, Mr. Scheer was united in marriage

to Miss Henrietta Ayeword, and they are the par- ents of thirteen children, eight of whom are liv- ing, namely: Joseph, Ernest, Hattie, Gottlieb, Panl, George, Willie and Margerette.

Mr. Scheer has always been an active, ener- getie man, and before his emigration to America, was engaged in the mercantile line, and also kept a saloon, and was engaged in the hotel business in Ihlov village, Germany. He is still hale in his declining ·years, having reached the good ripe age of some seventy-two years. He has worked hard and unceasingly that his children may en- joy the fruits of his labor, and has given all his land to his children that they may have a good start in life. Mr. Scheer enjoys the love and affection of his children, and the respect and esteem of all in the community where he lives.

JOHN S. AGNEW.

John S. Agnew, numbered among Nance coun- ty's earliest settlers, resides in the thriving city of Fullerton, retired from active labor, enjoy- ing a home of comfort and even luxury. The greater part of his life has been devoted to the pursuit of farming, and after developing and improving a fine estate in East Newman precinct. he retired to spend his declining years in peace and plenty, resulting from his earlier efforts.

Our subject is a son of Gibson and Eleanor Agnew, brother of William S., whose sketch ap- pears in this volume. He was born in Parke county, Indiana, in 1843, and made that his home up to his ninth year, then with his parents went to Iowa, where his father settled on a farm in Cedar county, receiving his education in that vicinity. He was married there in 1869 to Emma Bowers, who came to Iowa from Pennsylvania, and the pair made their home there up to 1889, then emigrated to Nance county, Nebraska. Mr. Agnew purchased three hundred and twenty acres on sections seventeen and twenty, town- ship sixteen, range five, and here he has pros- pered, from time to time adding to his original homestead until he has become owner of four hundred and eighty acres in the county, nearly all of which is under cultivation. The family has passed through all the pioneer experiences in accumulating this property, meeting failure at times, but always with the determination to over- come all obstacles, and this persistence has won for them a fine reward in the valuable holdings they now enjoy. Besides his interests in Nance county, he is proprietor of a fine farm in Big Horn, Wyoming.

To Mr. and Mrs. Agnew three children have been born: Edwin E., married, and residing with his wife and child in Fullerton; Frederick G., who is bookkeeper in the Stock Growers' Nation- al Bank, Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Delbert, pro- prietor of a grocery store in Fullerton, all well liked by all who knew them. Mr. Agnew's par- ents are both dead, but it is a matter of history

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that the battle of Gettysburg was fought on ground owned by our subject's grandfather.

Mr. Agnew has held local office at various times, and was especially active in the building up of the schools of his section, serving as direc- tor of his district for a number of years.

FRANZ SCHERER.

Franz Scherer, manager for the Nye-Schneid- er-Fowler Company at Spencer, has been a resi- dent of Nebraska since boyhood. He was born in the village of Abenheim, Hesse-Darmstadt, May 19, 1872. His parents, Andrew and Ger- trude (Bossel) Scherer, both natives of Aben- heim, emigrated to America in the spring of 1873, sailing from Antwerp to Hull the last of May. Crossing England to Liverpool, they em- barked in one of the large ocean steamers, and, after ten days at sea, landed in New York the 29th of May. This date impressed itself on the newly arrived travelers, as the Decoration Day celebration the next morning was something to make them wonder.

Andrew Scherer brought his family directly to the west, joining a brother who had a ranch twenty miles west of Yankton and two miles north of where Bon Homme is now situated. Here they remained for a year, and then re- moved to Fort Randall, where Mr. Scherer had secured the position of post tailor, which he filled eleven years. He came to Boyd county in 1895, filed on a homestead claim five miles from Spen- cer, and lived here until his retirement in 1902, since which time he has been making his home with his son, Franz, in Spencer.

Franz Scherer began for himself in 1887, when only fifteen years of age. He was employed herding cattle on the ranges along the border of the two states, doing a man's work while only a boy. He played with the Indian children, and relates that he might have bought a young and pretty squaw for a pony, the price asked for her by her sire. For three years he herded cattle on the ranges around Fort Randall, having some- times as many as seven hundred head under his charge at one time.

In 1887, he joined the Lemory outfit, ranging all over the country between the Niobrara and White rivers, continuing in this employment un- til 1891. On the opening of the reservation in Boyd county in 1891, Mr. Scherer filed on a home- stead five miles east of Spencer, adjoining that of his brother John, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work. These were the first two filings in the newly-opened reservation. The treaty was signed February 12, and the boys were on their claims at daylight the next moru- ing. The weather was cold, and they had for shelter only a tent. They each took turns sleep- ing while the other kept a fire burning at the opening of the tent. The fuel they dragged three miles, attached to a rope on the saddle

horn-a trick they had learned while on the ranges. Later they built two sod houses, each one as near as they could press to the center of each claim. The land not as yet having been surveyed, no one knew just where the lines would run, and they were careful not to build so the lines when run would place their dwelling on another's claim.

Mr. Scherer remained on his farm until 1904, and, with the exception of the last two years, his family lived in the sod house, refusing to move into the new frame dwelling until the old "soddy" fell into decay. The new house, while better to see, was harder to heat in winter, and hot in the summer's heat. Lumber, at the time Mr. Scherer built his frame house, had to be hauled from either O'Neill or Niobrara, Nebras- ka, or Tyndall, South Dakota, a distance of forty- five miles either way. Always ten or fifteen neighbors made the trip together, and sometimes even thirty teams would be in line. In this way, if one should be in trouble, there would be help at hand. An instance of the delay caused by one's traveling alone is illustrated by an incident of the days before the railroads came through. Mr. Scherer was employed by the departing agent from Fort Randall to haul his wagon scales to Niobrara. Some twenty miles east of Spencer, he broke the axle to his wagon, and had to come all the way back home to get repairs, as no one knew him, and so would not lend until he could return from Niobrara after delivering his load. The break caused him a day's delay, and cost him the profits of the trip. Sometimes the rivers had to be forded, and always the small streams. Whiting bridge, south of Spencer, gave access to Holt county, and at some places there were pontoon bridges.

After leaving the farm in 1904, Mr. Scherer first worked on the railroad section for a time, and then found a place in the office of the Nye- Schneider-Fowler Company at Spencer, and eighteen months later was sent to Humphrey, Platte county, to take charge of their plant at that point. In December, 1908, they sent him back to Spencer, where he has been in full charge of their business since.

After coming here, Mr. Scherer bought a forty-six acre tract of very choice land a short distance west of Spencer, which produces boun- tiful crops every year.

Mr. Scherer was married in Boyd county, May 2, 1892, to Miss Annie Rutter, a native of Prussia. Her parents, Frank and Annie Rutter, came to America in 1871, and lived in Platte county until settling on a homestead in Boyd county in 1891. His native village in Prussia was near the eastern borders of the kingdom, and Mr. Rutter was as familiar with the Bohemian language as with his own. Of ten children born to Mr. and Mrs. Scherer, nine survive. They are: William. Herman, Rosa, Leo, Susie, Vineil, Alvice, Mary and Frank.

C. S. SMITH.

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During the early days of the settlement of the Niohrara valley, Mr. Scherer was well ac- quainted with the well-known characters of the country, among them "Doc" Middleton and "Kid" Wade, besides many of the well-known Indian chiefs. As a boy of only sixteen, he accomplished a feat few could have equalled. When the fearful blizzard of January 12, 1888. came on, he was three miles from his home, at Fort Randall, and for this distance he faced the storm, and safely reached home, while some were lost in going the short distance that lay between their residence and the barn.

During the years he rode the range, steam- boating on the Missouri river was at its prime. Seldom was one out of sight of the smoke of a steamboat, or out of hearing of a whistle's deep- toned sound. He saw the unusual sight of a sunken steamer one season not a great distance from the fort. Prairie fires were common in those days, and Mr. Scherer has been in peril of them from time to time. A pocket full of matches was all that saved him on one occasion, when he was able to start a back fire.

Mr. Seherer is a republican in politics, a mem- ber of the Catholic church, and of the Modern Woodmen of America.

CLINTON S. SMITH.

Clinton S. Smith, one of the best known eiti- izens of Madison county, Nebraska, though having taken an important part in political af- fairs for the past many years, is at present occu- pying the office of sheriff of the county, filling the trying position to the complete satisfaction of the people of that locality, being elected to the office in the fall of 1909. He served as mayor of the city of Madison for five successive years, and it was during his administration that the new city hall was erected at a cost of twelve thousand five hundred dollars. A portrait of Mr. Smith appears on another page of this vol- ume.

Mr. Smith was born in Lehigh county, Penn- sylvania, August 26, 1862, and was the fourth in a family of eight children born to J. H. and Cath- erine Smith. He has four brothers living in Madison county, the others being dead. His mother resides in Madison county, his father having died January 5, 1911.

When Clinton was a boy about fourteen years of age, his parents came to Nebraska, locating in Madison county, and he received his educa- tion in the local schools, and in 1886 embarked in the general merchandise business in his home town. He carried this work on up to 1892, then disposed of his mercantile interests and opened a real estate office, which he still carries on suc- cessfully, and is known as one of the pioneer business men of Madison county, and a prominent citizen, alive to all the best interests of his coun- ty and state. He is a strong republican, and

during all the years of his residence here, has taken an active part in politics, serving as coun- cilman for eight successive years, from 1895. In November, 1909, he was elected sheriff, and is winning golden opinions from the people of his section for the good judgment he exhibits in the execution of this duty.

Mr. Smith was married on January 13, 1891, to Miss Esther Axmann, who was born and reared in Austria. Her parents, two brothers and two sisters live in Texas at the present time, one sister in Oklahoma, and another in Kearney, Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have six chil- dren : Howard S., Reno S., Deldee V., Myra E., Clinton S., junior, and Irene, all fine young peo- ple, and the family are popular members of so- ciety in their community.

ALFRED PONT.

One of the most enterprising and progressive business men of Stanton is Alfred Pont, editor of the Stanton Register. Although a compara- tively young man, Mr. Pont has been a resident of the state for nearly four decades, and has watehed it develop from an open prairie, where deer and antelope were occasionally to be found, into a thickly-settled country, with every quar- ter-section fenced, with groves, orchards and dwellings thickly dotting the landscape to tell of man's victory over the wilderness; a country that is still in its infancy, notwitstanding the wonderful development of the last thirty years.

Mr. Pont's parents, Samuel and Mary (Tred- gett) Pont, were natives of England, the father coming to America in 1853 on a sailing vessel, the voyage extending over six weeks. He found work at Lockport, New York, and his wife joined him in the following year. The family then moved to Henry county, Illinois, and in 1872, went to Dodge county, Nebraska. Here Mr. Pont leased a quarter-section of school land near Scrib- ner, and then filed on a homestead in the north- east corner of Colfax county, on which he lived until his death in 1897, when he had attained the ripe age of seventy-three. The mother still lives at Howells, and the heirs own the old home- stead.

Alfred Pont was the youngest of five children, and was only about six years old when the fam- ily came to Nebraska, and he has, therefore, grown up with the state, being a true son of the west.

Although Alfred Pont was but a child at the time, he remembers the scourge of grass- hoppers in the seventies, the prairie fires and the blizzards, as well as the severe hail storm which visited a near-by town, all of which events conspired to keep the lives of the early settlers from becoming monotonous. He was elected mayor of the city of Stanton in 1911.

Schools were far apart, the terms short, and teachers untrained, but at the age of twenty-

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three, Mr. Pont had only attended school about fifteen months, and still was able to take the teachers' course in the Fremont Normal School. He then started teaching, and for four years con- tinued in that work, closing his last school on June 14, 1894. On the next day, he purchased the Howell Journal, and since that time has given all of his time to his editorial labors.

In February, 1897, he leased his own paper and took charge of the Stanton Register, which he purchased the next year. He issues a clean, wholesome weekly paper, and, under his man- agement, the circulation has much increased, and the paper has become one of the powers to be reckoned with in political circles.

Mr. Pont has always been faithful to dem- ocratic principles, but has independence enough to refuse to support unworthy candidates whom political trickery has forced upon the party.

On October 20, 1895, Mr. Pont was married to Miss Kittie J. Mitchell, a native of Cass coun- ty, lowa. Her parents, however, were both Eng- lish, her father having come to America in 1851, a boy of twelve. Her mother did not come to the new world until 1870. Three children have come to Mr. and Mrs. Pont, two of whom, Frank- lin Dewey and Edith Myrtle, are still living.

Mr. Pont is a member of the Modern Wood- men of America, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and is also prominent in Independent Order of Odd Fellows circles.

M. RUNDQUIST.

Among the pioneer settlers in the eastern part of Nebraska, who has always done his share to- wards the upbuilding of that region, no one has a better claim to that distinction than the gen- tleman whose name heads this personal history. Mr. Rundquist resides in section thirteen, town- ship twenty-seven, range seven, Antelope coun- ty, and is known as an upright and progressive citizen.

Mr. Rundquist is a native of Sweden, being born in that country in 1852, and is the son of John and Mary Johnson. In 1884, our subject left his mother country to come to America, sail- ing over the White Star line from Guttenburg to Liverpool, then to New York. After landing in the United States, Mr. Rundquist came to the west, settling in Antelope county, Nebraska, where he bought a homestead right from Mr. Gus Swanson in northwest quarter section thirteen, township twenty-seven, range seven, which is his present location, and he now owns three hun- dred and twenty acres of land. After buying this land, our subject built good buildings, and made many other improvements, and also put- ting out sixteen acres of trees. Mr. Rundquist has experienced many discouragements and drawbacks since settling here, but they have been met and passed over, and are incidents that remain only as a memory of the early days.

In 1895, our subject was hailed out, and during some portion of the time in those pioneer days, hay and cornstalks were burned for fuel.

Mr. Rundquist was married in 1882 to Miss Minnie Holm, also a native of Sweden, and an old sweetheart of Mr. Rundquist's, whom he had left in the old country until he could make a home for her in this country. Mr. and Mrs. Rundquist have had nine children born to them, whose names are as follows: Albert, Archie, Axel, Clifford, Anna Alberta Whilmena, Gus- tave, Delbert, Rubin and Clarence.

Mr. and Mrs. Rundquist and family are en- joying the high esteem and respect of all who know them, and their friends are many.

CHRISTIAN MOHR.

Constant industry, careful management and unswerving honesty are the secrets of the nob- lest success possible on American soil. He who can work hard, plan and manage well, and "stand four-square to all the winds that blow," may be rich or poor, but he will be honored and respected by all who know him. Such a man is Christian Mohr, who has borne his full share in the making of eastern Nebraska, and well merits a place among its pioneer settlers.

Mr. Mohr was born in the village of Wacken- dorf, district of Rendsburg, then a province of Denmark, August 3, 1854. He is the son of Fred and Margarita (Barnholt) Mohr, and was the second in a family of four children born to them. Our subject received his education in the parish schools of the old country, receiving his confirm- ation at the age of fifteen.

In 1871, the family came to America, setting sail from Hamburg, and landing in New York, after a voyage of fourteen days. They settled in Scott county, Iowa, renting near Davenport for five years, and then moved to Sac county, where the father bought a farm. He died in Cherokee county at a good old age.

Christian Mohr first settled on a quarter-sec- tion near Rushville, Sheridan county, Nebraska, driving from Valentine. The family lived in a dug-out two or three years, and then built a "soddy," and planted ten acres in trees on a timber claim. During the thirteen years he lived on the land, he harvested but two crops. Times were so hard he found it necessary to seek work in the mines in Wyoming, finding employment at Inez, Flintrock and Sheridan, at times being away from home an entire year at a time. He and his son walked from Inez to Sheridan, tak- ing off their clothes to wade icy rivers on the trip, and finding shelter at night in the aban- doned dug-outs of a camp of Custer's men. He was in the west at the time of the hostilities on the Pine Ridge agency, and drove a team during the maneuvers of the Ninth Cavalry. The women and children sought safety in Rushville. He and his son drove the first wagon that ever entered the Jackson Hole country.

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During the blizzard of January 12, 1888, Mr. Mohr became lost returning from Gordon, with a sack of flour. He found his way to an aban- doned sod house, and, finding a few matches, he built a fire, and cooked a few beans he found there in an old, rusty tin can, thus weathering the storm.

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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 41

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