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 64

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 64

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Mr. Brown grew to manhood on the Illinois farın, and received his education in local schools. In the spring of 1871 he sought the larger oppor- tunities offered in the west, and took up a home- stead of eighty acres near Sutton, remaining there nine years. He came to Custer county in 1880 and secured a timber claim of one hundred and sixty acres of land and pre-empted a like amount of land adjoining. He was married at Broken Bow, October 20, 1884, to Miss Amy Lovejoy, a native of Orford, New Hampshire, who had been a teacher in the schools of her native state and of Nebraska, a daughter of John H. and Mary (Lam- prey) Lovejoy. Her parents were also natives of New Hampshire, and they took up a homestead in Custer county, in 1870. The father survives and lives in Sargent, but Mrs. Lovejoy died in Custer county in 1886. Mrs. Brown has a sister, Mrs. Hattie Wittemeyer, living in Sargent; a brother, Frank Lovejoy, in Custer county, a sister in New Hampshire and another in Kansas.

Mr. and Mrs. Brown made their first home on the claim in Custer county, where they continued to reside until the fall of 1910. He then retired from the farm and purchased their present nice residence in Sargent. In early days Mr. Brown helped organize the school district in his neigh- borhood (number seventy), and for many years served as treasurer of the board. Five children were born to him and his wife: Mary E. and Inez H., teachers in Nebraska schools; Nellie B., Edith M. and Robert G., at home. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have given their children excellent educa- tional advantages and some of them have at- tended college. The family are prominent in re- ligious, social and educational circles and have a large number of friends.

GEORGE CARMACK.

Very nicely situated in section thirty-six, township thirty-one, range one, is to be found the estimable gentleman whose name heads this re- view. He has been a resident of this part of Ne- braska since 1890, coming into Cedar county in the month of October, and has remained through the good, bad, and indifferent times which have at- tended the settlers of the region from an early date.

Mr. Carmack was born in McHenry county, Illinois, in 1847, and is a son of Christ and Louise Ann Carmack, natives of Scotland.

Our subject first came to Nebraska about 1885, settling in Clay county, where he remained for six years. He then returned to Iowa, where he formerly lived a number of years, and after seven years spent in farming near Mapleton, again landed in Nebraska, this time taking some land in Cedar county which he started to farm, later purchasing his present homestead in the twelfth precinct. While Mr. Carmack lived in Clay coun- ty, he bought railroad lands and made some im- provements on it, but through failure of several crops, and loss occasioned by bad storms, etc., he finally gave up the idea of remaining on the land, and this was the main reason for his changing his location to Cedar county.

Mr. Carmack has been exceedingly fortunate during his residence here, and especially the past number of years, as he has been quite heavily in- terested in stock raising and has also raised fine crops of grain each year. His farm is considered one of the valuable properties in his locality, and this is improved with substantial buildings of all kinds, including a handsome residence, sur- rounded by beautiful trees and having good grow- ing groves, plenty of water, etc.

In 1869, Mr. Carmack was united in marriage at Harvard Junction, Illinois, to Miss Savilla L. Wilson, daughter of George and Elizabeth (Cady) Wilson. Her parents were natives of Cattarau- gus county, New York. They came to Illinois in 1833, where Mrs. Carmack was born.

JAMES ROSS.

For over thirty-five years the gentleman whose name heads this review, has been identified with the development of different parts of the state of Nebraska, and the past eight years has been passed in Central City, Merrick county, where he has gained a high station as a citizen and become one of the substantial men of his com- munity, taking an active part in every movement for its betterment.

James Ross, son of Benjamin and Ruth (Cor- win) Ross, was born near Chili, Ohio, July 8, 1837, and was fifth of eleven children, one sister resides in Ohio, one in Portland, Oregon, one in Missouri, and another in Iowa, the others being deceased, as are also the parents; the father having died December 25, 1850, in Ohio, and the mother, October 26, 1873, near Fairfield, Iowa. In 1854, our subject went to Fairfield, Iowa, where he engaged in farming. In May, 1861, Mr. Ross enlisted in Company E, Second Iowa Volunteer Infantry, for three months, and then re-enlisted in the same company and regiment for three years, in Fair- field, Iowa; the second regiment being the first in the United States to be recorded for the three year service. Decisive battles engaged in were at

295

COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY, REMINISCENCE AND BIOGRAPHY.

Fort Donaldson, Shiloh, besides numerous skir- mishes. Mr. Ross received his discharge in May, 1864, at Louisville, Kentucky, and after the war paid a visit to his mother in Ohio, then returned to Fairfield, Iowa, and again engaged in farming.

On December 29, 1864, Mr. Ross was united in marriage to Miss Eugenia Gro, who was born in France and came to America in 1846 with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Ross have had four chil- dren : Alonzo, married, has four children, and re- sides in Central City ; Elmer, married, has four children, resides in Central City, and has just completed a term as county attorney ; Mary, wife of Clande Combs, has two children, and lives in South Omaha, and Laura, wife of P. H. Cowgill, has two children and resides in Colorado.

In the fall of 1875, Mr. Ross came with his wife and three children to Hastings, Nebraska. taking eighty acres as a tree claim, making their home on this place for several years. Then Mr. Ross purchased one hundred and sixty acres near Clarks, Merrick county, Nebraska, moving on to the same, which remained the home place until 1900, when Mr. Ross retired from the farm, moved to Central City and purchased a good home where they now live. Mr. and Mrs. Ross are among the early settlers of Nebraska, and are widely and favorably known.

E. PERRINE.

Few men living have seen the west in so many phases as has Mr. E. Perrine, now of Creigh- ton. Born in Jefferson county, New York, on November 21, 1847, he came into Wisconsin with his parents when an infant two years of age, and was reared there. He started for himself at sixteen by enlisting in the army against the will of his parents, his father having him released three times because he was under age. However, he succeeded in getting safely away, and was mustered in at Chicago early in 1865, entering Company B, Fifty-third Illinois regiment, and served the remaining two months of the war, then enlisted in the thirteenth regiment of the regular army, from which his father had him released and took him home. As soon as he earned enough money to get away, he went to Freeport, Illinois, and again joined the army, this time the Twenty- second regulars, his enlistment dating from Feb- ruary 7, 1867, and was stationed at Newport, Kentucky. He was then sent to Fort Snelling, Minnesota, going by boat from St. Louis to St. Paul, and after a short stay there, the company embarked on a river steamboat for Clinton, Iowa, whence they were shipped by rail to Denison, Iowa, marching across the country to Omaha, which was then a small and rough frontier town. The Fourth of July was celebrated at this point, and the camp being near a brewery, many of the celebrants spent the night scattered along the road between the two points, paying the penalty for this "sport" by doing extra duty and cur-

tailed privileges for some weeks after. Expecting to be stationed at Fort Leavenworth, the regi- ment was sent up the Missouri river instead, and reached Fort Rice in October. This fort was in- complete, and the troops were set to work finish- ing it, getting timber along the river bank, which they ran through a sawmill and erected a stock- ade and barracks for the men and officers. The barracks were built of adobe, covered with a good shingle roof, making very comfortable winter quarters. Their commander was Colonel Otis, who was later Major General in the Philippines. The regiment was afterwards stationed from time to time at Forts Randall, Sully and Stephenson, on the Upper Missouri. After three full years' service in the west, Mr. Perrine was discharged. During those times the Indians were thick around the posts and were eager traders, exchanging a well tanned buffalo skin for a loaf of bread or a pound or two of sugar, and Mr. Perrine has a fine buffalo coat made from a skin bought with a loaf of stale bread. He was present at the time of signing the treaty of 1868, between General Hancock and Sitting Bull, and frequently saw that famous chief.

After leaving the army Mr. Perrine visited his parents, but the lure of the west was strong and drew him back to the prairies, so he spent some time on a Sioux City boat, running between that point and various posts up the "Big Muddy" stream, occasionally making its way to Fort Ben- ton, but owing to low water the boat usually un- loaded at Musel Shoals, from where the supplies were freighted by ox teams to their destination. Old Niobrara, in Knox county, Nebraska, was the last settlement along the river at that time. From there on, all was wilderness in the possession of red men. Deer and antelope were plentiful, and vast herds of buffalo still roamed the grassy plains. While grey wolves were plentiful, none ever crossed his path, but he saw them in small numbers when a boy, in Wisconsin.

Mr. Perrine returned to Wisconsin in 1872, and was married there in September, to his boy- hood sweetheart, Retta Smith, and two children were born to them, Bruce S., and Hale, the for- mer of Creighton, while the latter is traveling in different parts of the country. A few weeks after his marriage, Mr. Perrine migrated to Nebraska and took possession of a farm he had previously purchased, located five miles east of Wisner, with eleven hills between his place and town. Mr. Perrine reached Wisner February 22, 1872, in time to attend a stag dance at the hotel. There were but two women present, daughters of the landlord, while the male attendants was forty. Mr. Perrine immediately began to build his house, bringing the lumber from Clinton, Iowa, and soon was in shape to go ahead with his farming opera- tions. During the first seven years, the family passed through all the losses and discouragements usnal to the pioneer in that section, and had our subject not had a father back east to supply the

· 296

COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY, REMINISCENCE AND BIOGRAPHY.

cash when hard times came on, they might have suffered considerably, but after better times pre- vailed they were able to save money and came to be numbered with the prosperous settlers in their locality. In 1880 they moved to Knox county, where Mr. Perrine purchased a relinquishment of one hundred and sixty aeres near Creighton, to which he acquired title under the homestead law. He planted a grove in the open prairie which may now be seen from the town and is a veritable beauty spot in the prairie landscape. He sold this place during 1892, and from then on. spent most of his time np to 1894, in Montana, engaged in mining, moving his family there, but the panic of '93 played havoe with his business and he lost considerable money.

Mr. Perrine returned to Creighton for perma- nent residence about 1894. He still owned a quar- ter seetion of land here, purchased in 1886, and put his capital into the real estate and land busi- ness. being representative of the Perkins Syndi- cate Land Company, of which George B. Perkins. president of the Burlington & Missouri railroad. was then the head. He has always been interest- ed in the stoek business, raising and shipping eat- tle, etc.

Mr. Perrine has a very pleasant and comfort- able home. Mrs. Perrine died September 8, 1910. She was particularly gifted as an artist, this tal- ent having been developed by such teachers as the locality afforded, and some very creditable specimens of her work in oil as well as china paintings, adorn the home. Since the death of Mrs. Perrine, the son Bruce S. and his wife have lived with him.

JOHN N. DEAN.

Among the prosperous and successful farmers and stockmen of Nance county, none deserve more credit for their energy and perseverance, than the gentleman whose name heads this review, sinee he has spent the greater part of his career in that region and has been instrumental in a large measure in promoting the general prosper- ity now enjoyed by the residents of the section.

John N. Dean was born in New Jersey. June 2, 1858. He is a son of Isaac N. and Elizabeth Dean, and the second youngest of their four children. He grew up in New Jersey, until his thirteenth year, when the family settled in Rock Island, Illinois, and his time was spent in helping carry on the farm until his twentieth year, at which time he began for himself. In the spring of 1883 himself, wife, his father and mother settled in Whiteside county, llinois, and followed farming there for about three years, then came to Nanee eounty. Nebraska. Here our subjeet settled on a farm and began raising stock and grain. Ile at first purchased eighty acres situated on seetion six. township sixteen, range five, which remained his home farm up to the year 1910, when he sold and bought one hundred and forty acres on the north-

east quarter of seetion twenty-two, Cedar town- ship, where he now resides.

The father and mother of our subject made Nance county their home for a number of years, the former dying here on January 8, 1892, at the home of another son, W. D. Dean, while the latter died March 10, 1887, both sincerely mourned by the family and many warm friends.

Mr. Dean was married in Rock Island county, Illinois, on December 29, 1880, to Elsie A. Ryder, at the home of her parents. They have one son, Ralph William Dean, who was born on the anni- versary of his parents' marriage, in the year 1893. He lives at home. The Dean family are prominent in their community, have a very pleas- ant home, and active in all social affairs. Mr. Dean was for eleven years a member of the board in school district number thirty-seven.

JOHN P. WOOD.

Among those who have lived since childhood along Nebraska's northern border line and have seen it develop from a wild open prairie into a highly developed farming community, may be mentioned Mr. John P. Wood, the progressive hardware and implement dealer of Butte. He was a lad of but a few years of age when his father settled in the then unoeenpied portions of Ne- braska included in Keya Paha county.

John P. Wood was born in Foxburg, MeKean county, Pennsylvania, June 30, 1875. His parents, Frank B., and Elizabeth (Allen) Wood, were resi- dents of Bradford at the time of their migration to the west. A colony of sixteen or eighteen fam- ilies was formed in the spring of 1882 and came in a body to Stuart, Nebraska, which was at the time but a small station on the new line of railroad pushing to the west, and was not equipped to en- tertain so large a body of settlers. John Skervin, a merchant of the place, gave the colonists the use of the upper floor of his store building, and here they lived in a tribal way until other provisions could be made. A long table was laid of rough boards through the middle of the room, and for sleeping quarters they crowded down in blankets on the floors or got what rest they could sitting in chairs. After the comforts of a Pennsylvania home, where everything had for a century or more been established, the crudeness and discom- fort and the monotony of the wide, dreary, tree- less prairie was too much for some of them. Part of the colony returned at once to their native re- gion to begin again where they left off, with their resources reduced by the amount of their expen- sive trip to the plains. Abont twelve families had the courage to persevere and, while they suf- fered many privations during the early years, have prospered to a greater degree than the aver- age family who remained in the erowded east.

The remaining colonists found a traet of land to suit their purpose in Keya Paha county, near the north line of the state, and here the elder

297

COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY, REMINISCENCE AND BIOGRAPHY.

Wood filed on a homestead about thirteen miles north and a little east of Springview, and began to improve his place. Leaving his wife and younger children in Stuart, the father, with John P., went to his claim, erected a lean-to shanty and proceeded to break ground and plant a crop of corn. It was during the early days on the new ranch that the boy had, for him, a hair-raising experience with Indians. Usually he accompan- ied his father to the field, but this day he hap- pened to remain at the shack. Along in the day he happened to look out and was terrified to see some twenty wagon loads of Indians coming that way, the old spotted Tail trail, as it was called. crossing his father's claim but twenty yards from the shack. Slipping out at the door, he ran around the shack, and keeping it between him and the caravan, ran down into the draw and on into a slough where he hid the rest of the day, until he felt certain his father had returned. In the fall a good sod house was built, the family was brought from Stuart, and home life again established. But a few good crop years followed before the drouth caused hard times. In 1885 and 1886 nothing was raised in the fields, not even so much as the seed was recovered in some sections; but later the fertile land yielded to the plow and no more pros- perous section of the west is to be found. After living eight years in the sod house, a more com- modious frame dwelling was erected with its ac- companying barns and outhouses, since which time the emigrants from the old Keystone state have lived in as much comfort as they did in their old community.

John P. Wood remained under the parental roof until completing his eighteenth year, when he started out to procure a better education than the local schools afforded. He had attended a year or two in the east, but for the first three years in the west there were no schools of any kind on the frontier. In the fall of 1893, he went to Fremont and sold papers and did chores for Dr. E. L. Colburn, to pay his board and tuition in a business college, which he attended two and a half years. His first position was with the Bell Insurance company of Omaha, for six months. He then returned to his father's house, where, during the summer of 1896, he was employed on the farm. The following winter he was employed freighting from Stuart to Brocksburg for his brother-in-law, H. S. Jarvis, who had a store at the latter place; and then in the spring of 1897, Mr. Wood filed on a homestead a mile south of Jamison, a village on the state line in the north- east corner of Keya Paha county, living here the five years necessary to perfecting title. In 1902, Mr. Wood purchased the MeKuen ranch, five miles west of Mills and near his father's home place, and lived here until the first of June, 1908, when he bought the hardware and implement business he now owns in Butte. Here he carries a full line of shelf and heavy hardware, imple-

ments, engines, threshers, vehicles, furniture, and musical instruments ; as complete a stock as is to be found in any inland town in the west.

Mr. Wood was married near Jamison, June 15, 1898, to Miss Ora G. MeCumber, who was born near Elsworth, Kansas. Her parents, James M. and Lucinda (Jennings) MeCumber, moved to Kansas in an early day, and in 1894, came to Keya Paha county. To Mr. and Mrs. Wood three children have been born: Frank, Ray and Mary Gayl. Mr. Wood is a republican in politics, and is a member of the Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, and the Royal Highlanders.

At the time of the blizzard of January 12, 1888, Mr. Wood with a sister, a younger brother, and the school teacher, was on the ranch, his par- ents having yoked the oxen to the wagon and gone to a neighbor's to attend a party the night before. The children fed the stock and afterward kept safely in the house until the storm had spent its force. There were still some deer and antelope in the country when the Wood family settled in Keya Paha county, but none were killed by them. During the Indian scare in 1893, Mr. Wood was at school at Fremont, but his home folks felt the un- easiness. The mother was safely lodged in Springview, but the father remained on the ranch to look after his stock until the fear of attack sub- sided. Oxen were their first work animals, and it took the father two days each way to make the trip to Stuart for their supplies. Most of the streams had to be forded, there being no bridges in the early days of settlement.

But these primitive hardships have all passed away; the country has developed in education, culture and refinement to the extent that older communities enjoy, and men of the age of Mr. Wood have witnessed these astounding changes and have been potent factors in the making of the west.

THOMAS J. MATHEWS.

Thomas J. Mathews, one of the pioneer farm- ers of Nebraska, and a business man of influence in Boone county, has won prosperity by industry, enterprise and energy. He is now a resident of Albion, carrying on a successful feed store.

Our subject is a native of Wisconsin, born in Juneau county, September 16, 1854. His parents were Michael and Mary Mathews, who were old settlers in that part of the country, and Thomas was the fourth child in their family of six boys and one girl. He grew up in his native county, receiving his education in the local schools. The daughter of the family married Jolin O'Neill, and the young couple came to Nebraska about 1874. The following year our subject and one brother joined them in Boone county, the two en- gaging in farming, and for thirty years continued in the work, becoming known as among the lead- ing agriculturists and stockmen of the county.

On coming here, he at first purchased a small

298

COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY, REMINISCENCE AND BIOGRAPHY.

tract of land in section seventeen, township twen- ty, range five, and since that time has added to his original farm until he is now owner of two hundred and forty acres of well improved land, and has erected on the place good buildings of all kinds.

In 1905 Mr. Mathews came into Albion, where he owned residence property, and engaged in the feed business, carrying this on in connection with his farming operations, and is meeting with splen- did success in both lines of work.

During his early residence in this section of the state, onr subject did not think much of the country as a money-making proposition, but rap- idly changed his opinion, and is now one of the foremost boosters of his county. He is always found standing for the best interests of his local- ity, and has done a great deal towards promoting the prosperity now enjoyed in the section.

On November 26, 1880, Mr. Mathews was united in marriage to Miss Mary A. Roach, the event occurring in Albion, where both were well known. Mrs. Mathews comes of a prominent Boone county family. They have two children, Celia E. and Harold T., both living at home.

Mr. Mathews' father and mother and three brothers settled in Boone county shortly after he came here himself, both parents now being dead, and himself and sister are the only members of the family now living here, the others having re- moved to other states some time ago.

SAMUEL BARNES.

The thrifty blood of old English peasantry flows in the veins of Samuel Barnes, now living in comfortable retirement in the college addition of Wayne, where he owns thirty-four lots, enough for pasture, a garden, and room to turn around; when one has been accustomed to the wide space of the country, a small, restricted city lot gives him a sense of smothering; he must have room to stretch his limbs and draw a deep breath.

Mr. Barnes was born in the village of Manea, Cambridgeshire, England. November 25, 1841. His father, Samuel Barnes, senior, with his wife (who was Mary Ann Good) and two of their children, Samuel, junior, being one of them, em- igrated to America in 1854, sailing on the ship "Albert Gelleton" from Liverpool, October 22, and arriving at New York the day before Christ- mas. He settled on a small tract of land near Cleve- land, where he had a market garden for six or seven years. Four years later he came to Rockford Illinois, where his wife died, after which he made his home with his daughter in Rock Island county, Illinois. until his death, which occurred when he was nearly eighty-seven years old.

Samuel Barnes, junior, married in Cleveland, and in 1859, came to Illinois. He traveled by lake on the "May Queen" to Detroit, took a train to Chicago and traveled thence to Rock Island, Illi- nois. Shortly after, he crossed the river to Dav- enport and was employed there until January,

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 64

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