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 58

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 58

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In the fall of 1868, Doctor Bowman came to Staunton county, Nebraska, and settled in Hoos- ier Hollow, three miles from Staunton, where he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres. The Doctor's first residence was a dug-out in which he and his family lived for three vears, when a good frame house was built. This was their dwelling until they removed to town. The doc- tor set out an orchard and groves around his place. but the grasshoppers destroved the or- chard, as well as the crops, during the three years thev infested the region.

In 1878, Doctor Bowman came to Staunton and opened a town office. Some time before his death he retired from general practice, but met with signal success in his treatment of special cases.

Doctor Bowman was married in Tippecanoe county. Indiana. to Miss Mary A. Wiley on the 17th of April, 1856. Twelve children were born to them, of whom the following nine are living: Luther W., now a Doctor of Medicine; Frank, Andrew, William, Myrtle, Matilda A., Murray Cheever, Arizona, and Fannie.

In politics, Doctor Bowman was a staunch re- publican. He was a member of the Congrega- tional church, and also a member of the Masonic order at Staunton.

During his many years of professional prac- tice in this new country, Doctor Bowman, of course, met with many experiences, both uncom- mon. interesting, and sometimes disagreeable. One of his worst experiences was in the blizzard of April, 1870. He had made a professional call and was just starting home when it began to snow :

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he was urged to remain until the storm abated, but he refused, thinking to reach home before noon. Before he had gone a quarter of a mile, the storm turned into a blinding blizzard through which it was difficult, almost impossible, to make any headway. Knowing of an old house near, he managed to find the straw shed and got his horse under cover. At first he tried to protect himself in the same place, but finding the wind getting colder, started to make his way to the house. It was deserted, and the door was locked with a padlock, which he succeeded in breaking off. Upon entering, he found to his dismay, that his matchbox was empty. However, he found two matches on the chimney piece, and succeeded in starting a fire with some hay, but the chim- ney smoked. In dislodging a board from the top of it, he spilled snow on the fire and extinguished it. The one last match did not fail him, however, and he soon had a fire built by which he warmed his stiffened limbs. Later in the day, he managed to reach a neighbor's home a short distance away, and remained there for the night. His horse was covered with snow the next morning and had to be dug out with a shovel. It was un- injured, though cold and hungry.

In the January blizzard of 1888, several of the children were at school, and Murray Cheever suc- ceeded in getting his sister safely home, which · was, quite a feat for a boy.

Deer, elk and antelope were abundant when Doctor Bowman came to Nebraska, and three years before a herd of buffalo had passed through the county. On one occasion, Doctor Bowman killed a deer, and while he came to town for a wagon to hanl it in, the Indians found the carcass and carried it away before his return.

Doctor Bowman's experience well-fitted him for the work of preparing a volume treating on the early history of the Elkhorn valley, which will be of inestimable valne to the future his- torian of the state of Nebraska.

Doctor Bowman occupied a place in the fore- most rank of his profession, and numbered his friends in the surrounding country by the hun- dreds. His death occurred February 4, 1911.

MAYHEW M. HEMENWAY.

Among the leading old settlers and public spirited citizens of Antelope county, Nebraska, the gentleman above mentioned deserves a fore- most place. Mr. Hemenway has aided in no slight degree in the development of the commercial resources of this region, and has done his full share along educational lines, and has been a prominent factor in building up the schools of this region; and has always done all in his power for the betterment of conditions socially and po- litically, he having always been a good republi- can. Mr. Hemenway is a member of the Inde-

pendent Order of Odd Fellows, having held all chairs and also been in the Grand Lodge. He is also a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen.

Mr. Hemenway is a native of Wayne town- ship, Dupage county, Illinois, born January 25, 1856, his father, Charles Hemenway, was born May 12, 1815, and is of English descent. Three brothers of his ancestors came to America early in the eighteenth century. Our subject's mother, Lucy (Fay) Hemenway was born in July, 1820. Mr. Hemenway came to Nebraska in 1877 from Illinois, arriving in Wisner, December 1st, and from there going by stage to his brother's home- stead claim which he had taken up five years previous. Ile first filed on a timber claim in sec- tion twenty-four, township twenty-six, range eight, and later he took a claim in section thirty- three, township twenty-six, range eight.

Mr. Hemenway "batched it" until December 4, 1889, when he was married at Neligh, Nebras- ka, to Miss Myrtle McKimm, who was born at River Falls, Wisconsin, June 15, 1870, and to this union were born three children: George, Carl, and May, who reside with their father. Mrs. Hemenway died February .28, 1907, deeply mourned by her husband and family and many kind neighbors and friends.

It is hard for the present generation to under- stand the hardships that the first settlers were compelled to undergo, all because of the changes brought about in a fertile country in a few short years. At the time of the great blizzard in Janu- ary, 1888, Mr. Hemenway was assisting in mak- ing the grade for the Fremont & Elkhorn rail- road which was then being built near his home. However, he escaped withont severe loss from the effects of the storm. At that time, severe hailstorms were common and on several occasions his crops were injured or destroyed from this source. Another source of trouble and danger was the prairie fires that were common in the early days. In October, 1878, a particularly se- vere prairie fire swept the country, but by hard work, Mr. Hemenway saved his property from destruction.

Mr. Hemenway is one of the most successful and well-to-do agriculturists of Antelope county, and has gained prominence by his progressive methods, and has made a mark in his communi- ty as a man of strong convictions and fearless adherence to the right as he sees it. Mr. Hemen- way now owns four hundred and eighty acres of land, fifteen acres of which are set to trees. in- cluding five acres of orchard.

CURTIS BISHOP, SR. (Deceased.)

Curtis Bishop, senior, deceased, first came to Nebraska soon after the civil war, and for a seas- on or two lived along the North Platte river

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hunting and trapping, at that time game being more plentiful than now. Mr. Bishop in the spring of 1869, came to Madison county and took up a claim two miles south of Norfolk, securing work in the construction of the mill-race, one of the first enterprises of the new town.

He resided there some seven years, during which time he was married, and then moved to Staunton county in an effort to escape the grass- hopper pest which destroyed their crops for five seasons ; but they were followed by disaster and when, after two years more of loss, they suc- ceeded in harvesting a crop, they used the pro- ceeds from it to move to Putnam county, Mis- souri. Two successful crops here put them in more comfortable circumstances, and, as the pests had subsided in Nebraska, they returned to Staunton county, where Mr. Bishop died in 1881.

The family moved to Pierce county, where they farmed for two years, four miles northeast of Plainview, and then moved to a farm six miles northwest of Royal, Antelope county, where they resided until 1902, removing to Plain- view at that time.

Mr. Bishop was the son of Daniel and Esther (Smith) Bishop, natives of New York and Ver- mont, respectively, and was born at Marietta, Ohio, where he grew to manhood and lived until the lure of the west drew him to the plains to hunt and trap along the streams of this wild country, when hostile Indians were still to be feared.

Mr. Bishop was married in Staunton county, July 18, 1870, to Miss Eliza McFarland, daugh- ter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Wykoff) McFar- land, who were living near Indianapolis when her father died. The mother joined a colony of six other families who were coming into the west, and settled with them in a valley north- west of Staunton, to which was given the name of Hoosier Hollow. This colony had a remark- able trip. Starting at Frankfort, Indiana, the emigrants camped for six weeks along the way through Illinois and Iowa, crossed the Missouri river at Omaha, and finally reached their desti- nation in Staunton county, in September, 1868, and entered land under the homestead act.

To Mr. and Mrs. Bishop four children were born: Asa B., living in Plainview ; Thomas, mail carrier out of Gross, Boyd county, where he owns a farm and town property ; Frank, a resi- dent of Plainview, a mason and plasterer, and Curtis, junior, who owns a section of land in Garfield county, under the Kincaid Homestead Act.

GEORGE C. LOTHROP.

The gentleman whose name heads this review is a prominent pioneer of Howard county. He has passed through 'all the early Nebraska times, and during his residence here has accumulated considerable property, including some fine farm- ing lands and good town property in St. Paul, in which he makes his home,

Mr. Lothrop was born in Jamestown, Wis- consin, on February 13, 1840, and received his early education in the country schools there. As a boy he worked in the lead mines, also fol- lowed farming up to 1862, then enlisted in the army, joining Company I, Twenty-fifth Wiscon- sin Infantry. and served until the close of the war. The principal battles in which he took part were the Siege of Vicksburg, which lasted over one hundred days, terminating on July 4, 1863, the Meridian Expedition in Mississippi, Re- secca, Georgia, in 1864, and at Dallas, Georgia, in the same year. Also at Big Shanty, Georgia, Kenesaw Mountain, June 15, 1864, Atlanta, July 22, 1864, Ravis Bridge, South Carolina, Febru- ary 3, 1865, and at Bentonville, North Carolina, on March 20 and 21, 1865, this being the last battle fought before marching in to Washington at the close of the war. He received his discharge on June 7th, and immediately returned to Wisconsin where he worked on his father's farm for one year.

On March 25, 1866, Mr. Lothrop was married to Caroline Richards, of Plattville, Wisconsin, then in company with his father, they went to Lancaster, Wisconsin, purchased a farm in part- nership, and operated it for six years. In April, 1873, our subject, wife and two children emi- grated to Nebraska, settling in Howard county, homesteading one hundred and sixty acres, situ- ated one and a half miles north of St. Paul, and later purchased additional land in the vicinity. Here the family experienced all the pioneer hardships in building up their home, but after many discouragements managed to come out vic- torious, owning at the present time a fine three hundred and twenty acre tract of farming land. This is well improved, and Mr. Lothrop is counted among the foremost men of his locality. For a number of years after retiring from the army Mr. Lothrop was in very poor health and was obliged to give up active farm work, although he superin- tended all operations, and in 1886 took up his resi- dence in St. Paul, where he has since lived.

Mr. Lothrop was the second in a family of seven children. Both parents are deceased, the father dying on February 22, 1909, at the age of ninety-five years. His mother died in 1875, both passing away at Lancaster, Wisconsin. Mrs. Lothrop was one of a pair of twins; is a native of Plattville Wisconsin, and her parents are also dead. Our subject has two children, Ollie, mar- ried to J. W. Gilman, they living in South Omaha, and Walter, who is also married and resides in St. Paul, both of whom are the parents of two children.

While Mr. Lothrop is a staunch supporter of the republican party, he does not take an active part in public affairs.

EDWIN J. BABCOCK.

Edwin J. Babcock was born in Dakota, Wis-

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consin, on May 14, 1860. He came to Valley county, Nebraska, with his father in 1872 and has made his home here since that date.

Mr. Babcock obtained his public school edu- cation in North Loup, later attending the high school at Hastings. In the fall of 1882, he en- tered the Alfred University of Alfred, New York, graduating in June, 1884. The following year he took a post-graduate course in the same in- stitution. He later completed his law studies, which he had begun prior to his college years, and was admitted to practice in the general courts of Nebraska in 1886. He is now regarded as one of the leading attorneys in this section of the state.

On the first of June, 1889, Mr. Babcock was married to Miss Jessie True, a daughter of Pro- fessor True, one of the early settlers of Nebras- ka. They have five children, all living, named as follows: Kate Myra, Oscar True, Edwin Jesse, Archie B., and Arthur S.

Mr. Babcock is one of the younger men who has in many ways contributed to the develop- ment of the North Loup Valley country. He had a varied experience in his younger days, hav- ing been at one time a "freighter" in and around the Loup Valley.

HEMAN A. BABCOCK. (Deceased.)

Heman A. Babcock was born in Cattaraugus county, New York, on May 19, 1842. He was married to Miss Retta O. Bristol, of Waushara county, Wisconsin, on August 28, 1861, at the town of Dakota, in that county.

In March, 1864, Mr. Babcock enlisted in Com- pany G, Thirty-seventh Wisconsin Volunteer In- fantry, and was mustered out in 1865. He re- turned to his home in Wisconsin, but in the fol- lowing fall went to Minnesota, and in May, 1872, he came to the North Loup Valley, where he lo- cated on a homestead in section two, township eighteen, range thirteen. He was the first sher- iff of Valley county, and later on, 1876-1882, he was county clerk.

Mr. Babcock, in company with J. E. Hale, Peter Mortensen, John H. Hale and several oth- ers, purchased the Ord City Bank in January, 1884, Mr. Babcock becoming the vice president. Later on he became auditor of the state of Ne- braska, and since that time held many positions of trust and responsibility. He died at his home in Lincoln, Nebraska, May 29, 1904, leaving a large circle of friends to mourn his loss. He left surviving him, his wife and two sons; E. C. Bab- cock, who resides in Lincoln with his mother, and R. O. Babcock, now living in Omaha.

WILLIAM AND FRANK KAMRATH. (Father and Son.)

William Kamrath, a venerable and highly es- teemed resident of Newman Grove, Nebraska, was

born in Germany, September 23, 1834, and grew to manhood in that country.

Mr. Kamrath was married in his native land after attaining his majority, to Miss Minnie Wolfgram, and three children were born to them there, after which they all came to America, making their first settlement in Madison county, Wisconsin, where they remained up to 1872. In the fall of that year the entire family removed to Madison county, Nebraska, and filed on one of the original homesteads lying eight miles northeast of Newman Grove, and were among the original pioneer families of that portion of Nebraska. They succeeded in developing a good farm, and parents and children worked in unison up to 1892, at which time Mr. and Mrs. Kamrath and two younger children moved into Newman Grove, which has been their residence since that time.

On October 13, 1904, Mrs Kamrath died, be- ing in her sixty-fifth year. She was a woman of gentle disposition, a good mother and beloved by all who knew her. Mr. Kamrath continues to live in their town residence, and keeps in close touch with his children, several of whom reside in the old homestead neighborhood.

Frank Kamrath, who is the fourth child in the family of William and Minnie Kamrath, was born in Madison county, Wisconsin, on August 26, 1870, where the family lived for a number of years.

There were twelve children in the Kamrath family, seven boys and five girls, all growing to be young men and women, and held in the high- est esteem in their home places. Frank grew up on the homestead in'Madison county, receiving a common school education, and at the age of twen- ty-one started for himself. He was married on December 9, 1892, to Miss Christina Christianson, at the home of her parents in Platt county, and the young couple settled on a farm on section three, township twenty, range four, Platte county, in the same year. They worked faith- fully together, meeting discouragement and oc- casional failures, but never lost courage, and now have a fine farm of three hundred and twen- ty acres, lying one mile southeast of the city of Newman Grove. The entire place is in excellent condition, having a fine, large, modern residence, good farm buildings of all kinds, and is one of the valuable properties in the neighborhood.

Mr. and Mrs. Kamrath have a fine family of four children, namely: Annie, Minnie, Amelia and Helen, all of whom are living at home and are attending the local schools. One child died in infancy. Mrs. Kamrath's parents now reside in Madison, and are well known throughout the region as prominent pioneers of Madison county.

Our subject is a young man of excellent rep- utation, a thorough farmer, and has many friends. He has made a success of life and is closely identified with the growth and progress

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of the agricultural and commercial interests of both Madison and Platte counties.

JAMES BRANDRUP.

Hartington holds many of Cedar county's suc- cessful farmers, and among them is the vener- able James Brandrup, who has won a competency from Nebraska 'soil, and is now living in comfort retired from further active labor in life's wide fields.

Mr. Brandrup was born in the village of Ries, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, August 17, 1840. He is a son of Claus and Christina /(Jessen) Brandrup, who spent their entire lives in the Danish Kingdom. For two years he was a soldier in the war between Denmark and the German Empire, terminating in the cession of his native province to the conquerors. Immediately after his discharge he started in May, 1866, for America; crossing the North sea from Hamburg to Hull, he traveled by rail to Liverpool and there em- barked in the "Bavaria" for New York, landing the first of June, his destination being Califor- nia. He was delayed fourteen days in New York, waiting for a steamer for the Isthmus, which he crossed from Colon to Panama; there he again embarked in a steamer bound for San Francisco. He straightway joined his brother in Lincoln, a mining town in which was a large colony of Danes. Here he spent the summer threshing, then went into the mines, and for seventeen years was a pros- pector and miner with the usual ups and downs of the mining regions; sometimes fortune favored him and sometimes hard luck pursued him to the bitter end. He spent several months' time in Port- land, Gray's river, and Astoria, but returned to the mines of California, where he decided to cast his fortunes in the valley of the great Missouri river.

In the fall of 1882 he came to Cedar county, Nebraska, and filed on a homestead near St. James, where he lived for eighteen years; dur- ing this time he added eighty acres to his hold- ings, making a comfortable sized farm of two hundred and forty acres. In 1900 he passed the burden of the active management and operation of the farm to younger shoulders, bought a resi- dence with several adjoining lots in Hartington, and is taking life easy, as a man should when he has for so many years worked with the energy and industry Mr. Brandrup has displayed.

Mr. Brandrup was married in Nevada City, California, to Miss Christina Lotsch, a native of Loit-Kirkeby villages, Schleswig-Holstein; her parents, Henry and Anna (Albrechts) Lotsch, never emigrated from their native land. Mrs. Brandrup came to America in her young woman- hood, found a home on the Pacific coast, and was there married; she died in 1905, in Hartington, survived by her husband and four children, deep- ly mourned by all who knew her. Three sons and one daughter were born to this worthy couple : Jesse, the eldest, is married and culti-

vating the home farm; Henry is a plasterer in Hartington ;; Mathias is clerking in Lincoln, while Christina is now Mrs. Charles Livermore, of Obert, Nebraska.

Mr. Brandrup was in California during the winter of the deep snow and the flood of the fol- lowing spring, but tales of suffering were still new when he settled in Cedar county. At the time the blizzard of January 12, 1888, broke, Mr. Brandrup was drawing water not a hundred yards from the house, and so thick was the frozen ice mist that he had difficulty in reaching his own door; two or three efforts were necessary before he found the way and got in from the rag- ing, freezing storm.

Mr. Brandrup has been a life-long member of the Lutheran church; and in politics he is a staunch republican.

HENRY LEIBERT.

The family of which Henry Leibert is a mem- ber is described at some length in connection with the sketch of George Leibert, youngest brother of Henry, which appears in this volume. Henry Leibert was born in Jo Daviess county, Illi- nois, March 5, 1856, eldest of the nine children of Andrew and Lena (Hoop) Leibert, natives of Germany. The father came to the United States in 1848 and the mother about 1851 and they were married in Illinois, where they lived until 1886, and in 1887 they located in Custer county. Both died on the home farm in Custer county, the father in 1903 and the mother in 1901.

In 1886 Mr. Leibert and his brother Nicholas came to Custer county from Missouri, antedating the coming of their parents about one year. In 1896 the former secured a homestead on the southwest quarter of section nineteen, township twenty, range seventeen, which is still the home place. He was married in Jo Daviess county Il- linois, January 29, 1871, to Mary Steinberger, a native of Germany, and daughter of John and Barbara Steinberger. Eight children have been horn of this union: Barbara, Andrew and Hen- ry, born in Illinois; Jesse, born in Nebraska ; Sadie, wife of H. H. Pilcher, of Custer county, has one child; Lena, George and Hannah. Mr. Leibert is recognized as an industrious and pub- lie-spirited citizen and the family have a large circle of friends.

MILTON H. RAWLINGS.

Milton H. Rawlings is one of the well-to-do men and ialso one of the best known farmers of Merrick county. He has devoted almost his entire career to the pursuit of farming, and has met with deserved success in his line of work. He has developed a fine farm and is a gentle- man of enviable reputation, enjoying a pleasant home.

Milton H. Rawlings, son of James and Re- becca (Russell) Rawlings, was born in Bloom-

J. P. HIRSCHMAN-RESIDENCE AND FAMILY GROUP.

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field, lowa, November 6, 1853, and was seventh in a family of nine children. He has one brother residing in Saunders county, Nebraska, one in the state of Wyoming, another in Missouri, and still another in California, two sisters who reside in Iowa; the other children being deceased. The parents are also deceased, the father having died in the state of Nebraska, and the mother in Iowa.

Mr. Rawlings received his education in schools of his home state, and later engaged in farming. In 1878 he went into Mount Vernon, Missouri, where he engaged in the drug and grocery business for two years, then after spend- ing the following winter in Iowa came to Saun- ders county, Nebraska, in the spring of 1880, coming into Merrick county in 1887, locating in Archer, and engaging in the hardware business for a couple of years. In 1889 he purchased eighty acres of land in section seventeen, town- ship fourteen, range seven, west, which remained the home place three years, and then bought eighty acres of the road in section eighteen, to which he moved and where he lived until the fall of 1899, when he moved to Central City, where he lived two years and then moved to his present farm on section fifteen, where he has since continued to reside.

On January 6, '1880, Mr. Rawlings was joined in wedlock to Miss Eliza Dooley of Iowa. Mrs Rawlings died in August, 1898, survived by her husband and three children, whose names fol- low: Mamie, is married to Elwin Secoy, has two children, and lives in Merrick county; J. Oren, has four children and lives near Archer; and Samuel, who is married and lives in Merrick county.

Mr. Rawlings has been prosperous and suc- cessful, and owns five hundred and forty-one acres of good land under cultivation, all of which is located in Merrick county. He has served his county four years as supervisor, and also as di- rector of his school district number forty-three, for some years very creditably.

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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 58

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