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 89

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 89

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).

In 1893 Mr. Drobny was united in marriage to Miss Rosa Slanido, and Mr. and Mrs. Drobny are the parents of two fine children, named as fol- lows: Frank A. and Mary Kate.

Mr. and Mrs. Drobny and family are highly respected in their community, and are surrounded by a wide circle of kind friends and acquaint- ances; and Mr. Drobny is known throughout the county as a man of sterling qualities who can be always relied upon.

409

COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY, REMINISCENCE AND BIOGRAPHY.

FRANK POCHOP, JUNIOR.

Frank Pochop is a prominent and much re- spected resident of Pierce county, Nebraska, and owns and resides on a farm in the east half of the northwest quarter of section twenty-one, township twenty-eight, range three.

Mr. Pochop was born October 9, 1870, in Bo- hemia, and is the son of Frank and Barbara (Panas) Pochop, who were both born and raised in Bohemia.

Our subject's parents came to America in 1871, locating in Saunders county, Nebraska, where they homesteaded eighty acres of land, walking the entire distance, thirty-five miles, to their claim, from Fremont. They lived first in a dugout, later erected a sod honse, and finally a frame dwelling. The family experienced all the priva- tions and hardships of the early pioneer days, hauling their grain to Fremont, the nearest mar- ket place, by oxen, with which their early farm- ing was done, horses being too expensive for the earliest settlers.

Mr. Pochop's father came to Pierce county in 1892, where he purchased four hundred and eighty acres of good land, which he later divided between his sons.

Frank Pochop was married to Miss Anna Vachal in 1896, the result of this union being six children, whose names are as follows: Frank, Anna, Otto, Lizzie, Emil and Lydia.

Mr. Pochop is a member of the C. Z. B. J. lodge, and also of the Modern Woodmen of America. In politics he is independent, voting for whom he considers the best man.

CHRISTEN A. CHRISTIANSEN.

Prominent among the large number of sturdy Danes who have left everything they held dear in their native land to seek their fortunes in an entirely strange country, is the gentleman whose name heads this personal history. Mr. Christian- sen was born October 11, 1848, and is a son of Mogens C. and Annie Christiansen. They had a family of five children, Christen being the sec- ond in order of birth. He remained at home until his twenty-third year, following farming in Den- mark, then came to America alone, his first stop- ping place being northern Michigan, where he worked in the copper mines for one year. From there he went to Illinois, settled on a farm and worked it for three years. He spent several months in traveling through the different states, coming to Kearney county, Nebraska, in the spring of 1876, where he took up a homestead and lived on it for about eight years, engaging in farming and stock raising. He then sold out and removed to Minden, securing a good position with a leading hardware firm for whom he worked twelve years as a tinner.

Mr. Christiansen came to Howard county in 14 %

the spring of 1901, purchasing eighty acres of choice land on the tableland, situated in section fourteen, township thirteen, range twelve, which he developed into a fine farm, completely equipped with substantial buildings, etc., and is regarded as one of the well-to-do and progressive agricultur- alists of his locality.

Mr. Christiansen was married at Minden, Ne- braska, in 1862, to Annie Blase, who was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, and came to America with her parents in 1870. Our subject's parents also came to this country and took up a homestead in Kearney county, near their son's farm there, and were among the pioneers of that region. The father died there in 1906, at the advanced age of eighty years. His wife had passed away in 1890.

Mr. and Mrs. Christiansen have had eleven children, four now being dead. and the remaining ones named as follows: Oswald, married and living in Howard county; Clara, wife of Carl Hanson, residing in Boelus; while Nora, Etta, Amy, Walter and Nannie are at home. Our sub- ject and his family are popular in their com- munity, and actively interested in local and county affairs.

CHRIS HANSEN.

Among the old settlers who have watched the growth and development of central Nebraska from the early pioneer days, who have taken an active part in its history from the very beginning and helped to advance its commercial and agri- cultural industries, the gentleman above named holds a foremost place. Mr. Hansen resides on section eleven, township eighteen, range fifteen, in Valley county.

Chris Hansen was born in the village of Fried- ensberg, near Copenhagen, province of Sealand, Denmark, February 19, 1840, where he received his education and grew to his manhood years. He served in the army from the spring of 1862 to the fall of 1864, and during this time participated in the war with Russia. In 1868 he came to America, sailing from Hamburg to New York in the "Cym- bria," which was lost on its next trip. He came west and first located in Dodge county, Nebraska, several years later taking up a homestead in Saunders county. He came to Valley county in 1882, purchasing the west half of section eleven, township eighteen, range fifteen, which was rail- road land, and this is still his residing place ; here he has a good home and a fine grain and stock farm.

Mr. Hansen was united in marriage to Miss Christine Hansen in Denmark in March, 1868. Mr. and Mrs. Hansen have five children living, whose names are as follows: Henry, of whom mention is made elsewhere in this work; Carl, Annie, who is the wife of Andrew Johnson and lives in Cherry county, Nebraska; William and Louie.

410

COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY, REMINISCENCE AND BIOGRAPHY.

Mr. Hansen is indeed one of the very first old settlers of eastern Nebraska, he having come to Dodge county forty-four years ago when this re- gion was but an open, unbroken prairie, inhabited by Indians and wild game. Few people have had the honor and opportunity to have seen so many years of Nebraska life and the ever evoluting changes which time brings from the sod dugout in which the family first lived to a comfortable farm dwelling with good barns and outbuildings protected by orchards and groves.

ANDREAS SCHWANK.

Andreas Schwank of Madison, Nebraska, until recently an implement dealer, was one of the sub- stantial business men of that place. He is a man of sterling eitizenship who has met with deserved snecess in his business ventures, and commands the respect and confidence of all with whom he eomes in contaet in a business or social way.

Andreas Sehwank, son of George and Mar- garet (Ammer) Schwank, was born in Widenburg province, Germany, April 8, 1860, and was the sev- enth in a family of nine children, six boys and three girls. Mr. Schwank has one brother who re- sides one mile west of Madison, Nebraska; one brother in Platte county, Nebraska; one brother in Springfield, Missouri ; and one sister in Omaha, Nebraska; two brothers died in Germany, and two sisters died in America. His father died in 1894, and his mother in 1882.

In the spring of 1868, our subject came with his father and family to America, locating in Kankakee county, Illinois, for one year, and in May of 1869, they moved to Madison county, Ne- braska, where the father, George Schwank, home- steaded one hundred and sixty acres of land in the southeast quarter of section twenty-three, township twenty-one, range two, west, which re- mained the home place until 1885, when he retired and moved to Madison, where he lived until the time of his death. Andreas Schwank lived on his father's farm until 1888, when he went to Mad- ison where he engaged in different enterprises.

On September 17, 1889, Mr. Schwank was joined in wedlock to Miss Doretta Clausen, of Madison county, Nebraska, this union resulting in the birth of three children, named as follows: Manferd, Hilda and Doretta, all of whom are liv- ing under the parental roof. Mrs. Schwank died December 4, 1895, survived by her husband and three children.

In the earlier days, Mr. Schwank was presi- dent of the Madison Ilook and Ladder company, and was an active member of the company for eighteen years.

On February 14, 1897, Mr. Schwank was again married, to Sophia Stolle, of Madison county, Nebraska. They have one child, Selma .J.

Mr. Schwank passed through all the trying experiences and hardships of the early pioneer

and is widely and favorably known. He well re- members the early days of Madison county, when the nearest postoffice was thirty-five miles away, at Columbus, Nebraska, and from which place they bought all their provision.

JEREMIAH SHETLER.

One of the prominent old settlers of Sherman county, Nebraska, is the gentleman whose name heads this biographical sketch. When but a young man, he showed his love of country by enlisting and serving for three years during the civil war. He gained an enviable war record, and was after- wards for a time in business in Taylorville, Illi- nois. Since that time he has made a name for himself in Sherman county as a successful farmer. and is now a resident of Loup City, having retired from active management of his estate.

Mr. Shetler was born in Ohio, on May 29, 1834, and was the fifth in a family of ten children born to Henry and Mary Hammel Shetler. Of this large family, only five are left, two sisters in Indiana, one brother in Illinois, one in Sioux county, Nebraska, and the subject of this sketch. The father, Henry Schutlar, as the name was orig- inally spelled, was a veteran of the war of 1812, and was born in Pennsylvania, of German de- scent ; he died in 1867 in Illinois. The mother, Mary Hammel before marriage, of Scotch-Irish de- scent, was also a native of Pennsylvania; she passed away in New Philadelphia, Ohio, in 1887.

Our subscriber received his limited education in the local sehools of his native state, and in his young manhood learned wagon and carriage mak- ing, working at his trade in Ohio, until 1857, when he went to Illinois for a short time. Later, he went to Keosanqua, Iowa, and during his resi- dence there, he was married on February 8, 1858, to Miss Matilda A. Hunt, a native of Pennsyl- vania. He went next to Huntsville, Randolph connty, Missouri, and after four years' residence in this state, the family came to Taylorville, Illi- nois. This was at the outbreak of the civil war, and the Missourians at that time being intolerant, his life was in danger, as his sympathies were with the north. Being a fine marksman, his neigh- bors stood somewhat in awe of him in a fair fight, but they were treacherous and apt to kill in the night.

In Angust, 1862, Mr. Shetler enlisted in Com- pany A, One Hundred and Fifteenth Illinois Vol- unteers, and served until the close of the war, be- ing mustered out at Camp Harker, Tennessee, in June, 1865. Ile was in a number of decisive en- gagements and during the winter of 1863-64 and being one of the finest meehanies in the army, was engaged in building pontoons at Nashville, Ten- nessee.

After the war was over, he returned to Illi- nois and engaged in the manufacture of the fa- mous Schutlar carriages and wagons and until

411

COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY, REMINISCENCE AND BIOGRAPHY.

the spring of 1883, when he came to Sherman county, Nebraska, and took up a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres in sections twenty and twenty-one, township fifteen, range sixteen, and this homestead was his home for many years. At the same time, he also took a timber claim of like acreage near the homestead. He still owns the original three hundred and twenty acres.

On April 27, 1887, our subscriber was united in marriage to Mrs. Martha Rouse, who was a native of Tennessee, but grew up in the state of Illinois. They have but one child, Walter, who is married and living on the old Shetler homestead.

In June, 1906, Mr. Shetler retired from active lahor and removed to Loup City, where he has built a comfortable home, and where he is now en- joying the results of his early toil. He is a man of much native ability and is respected by all who know him. He has considerable artistic talent and has executed many fine pieces of furniture and wood carving, heads of dogs, deer, lions, and other animals. For many years he has served as a member of the school board in his home district and has also held office as justice of the peace. In politics Mr. Shetler has been successively re- publican, populist and democrat. He is a member of the Masonic lodge and chapter at Taylorville, never having transferred his membership. For over sixty-five years he has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

Mr. Shetler first lived in a dugout with a sod front, the most primitive residence of the pio- neers. At the time of his residence in Missouri, during the fifties, deer were plentiful on the Charitan river. On coming to Nebraska he killed one while on a trip to the Dismal River Valley. Often the family camped in that region to gather the wild fruit that grows there in profusion. While there they occasionally saw mountain lions, lynx and grey wolves, but were never mo- lested by them.

JUDGE ENSINE S. MILLER.

The advent of Judge E. S. Miller, of Ran- dolph, to Nebraska. dates from February 28, 1889, when he purchased a farm in Pierce county known as the Suckstorf ranch, two and a half miles west of Randolph. This he cultivated until the spring of 1898, when he rented the land and moved into Randolph to make his home. He pur- chased a cottage home in the south part of town and here takes life easy, as one may when life's work has been well done. Being still energetic and thrifty, he cannot endure idleness, so has asked and received at the hands of his fellow citi- zens the office of justice of the peace, which he has efficiently filled for the past eight years.

Mr. Miller was born in Wyoming county, New York, June 24, 1836, and lived in that state until his mother's death in 1850, since which time he has made his own way in the world and with creditable success. Coming west he found work

at Neenah, Wisconsin, nearly one year, and went thence to Du Page county, Illinois, and while here met the girl whom he found indispensable, and for whom he later returned to make his wife. He retraced his steps to his native state and later found work in Ohio; he traveled from time to time into seventeen states and in sixteen of them sojourned for a longer or shorter time. After his marriage in 1861, he settled down in Du Page county and opened a shoe store in Wheaton ; after the Chicago fire many of the big printing houses of the city came out to Wheaton to establish tem- porary plants, and one of these catching fire, burned along with it part of Wheaton's business district, including Mr. Miller's store. He came to Vinton, Benton county, Iowa, in 1872, and was in farming there for seventeen years, moving thence to Pierce county, Nebraska, as before stated.

Mr. Miller is a son of Simeon B. and Julia Ann (Gates) Miller; the father, who died when Mr. Miller was quite young, was a native of the town of Sharon, Litchfield county, Connecticut, whence he moved to New York; the mother was horn in Connecticut, of Scotch descent.

Mr. Miller was married near Wheaton, Illinois, January 1, 1861, to Sarah, daughter of Isaac and Ruth (Wright) Woodward, the former from Con- necticut, the latter a native of Rutland county, Vermont. Mrs. Miller was born in Du Page county, Illinois, to which locality her parents emigrated in 1849, settling near Wheaton. The father died at the age of sixty-eight, and the mother attained the goodly span of seventy- seven years. Mr. and Mrs. Miller are the parents of four daughters: Vina, wife of Ed. A. Bark- doll of Longmont, Colorado; where the parents visited them in the summer of 1910: Julia, a very successful teacher of music until her marriage to Oran MeCrary in 1891, was left a widow in 1897, and in 1910 married Walter S. Hamilton, and re- sides in Randolph; Carrie, a former teacher in the Randolph schools, married Daniel Kerr, who died in 1910, and resides in Randolph; Blanche was a successful teacher in Cedar and Pierce counties until her marriage in 1911 to William Ranard, and lives near Randolph.

The blizzard of January 12, 1888, extended into Iowa, and though severe, was not so bad as to prevent Mr. Miller attending to his stock. Un- like many of the early comers to the west, Mr. and Mrs. Miller never found it necessary to live in a log or sod house, a comfortable frame dwelling having always fallen to their lot; nor did they ever have to move by covered wagon, railroads having penetrated to the region in which they settled prior to their coming.

It is pleasant to know that after a life of in- dustry and economy Mr. Miller is enabled to live in comfort in his declining years. Mr. Miller is a republican in politics, having supported the prin- ciples of that party since its organization.

412

COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY, REMINISCENCE AND BIOGRAPHY.

LUTELLUS L. FRAZER.

Lutellus L. Frazer, of Central City, Nebraska, is widely known as an earnest and reliable citi- zen, and a man who is to be relied upon and trusted.

Mr. Frazer was born in Pennsylvania, May 21, 1836, the son of Alexander and Amy (Long) Frazer, being the eldest of nine children, and is now the only one living. His father died in Au- gust, 1871, and the mother in 1891, both in Penn- sylvania.

Mr. Frazer received his education in the home schools, and later carried on tailoring. On June 27, 1861, he enlisted in Company B, Twenty- eighth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, serving until the close of the war, receiving his discharge July 17, 1865, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mr. Frazer's first term of enlistment expired in December, 1863, and immediately re-enlisted and veteranized in the same company and regiment. Decisive battles engaged in were at Chancelor- ville, Virginia, Antietam, Gettysburg, Lookout Mountain, Atlanta campaign, march to the sea with Sherman, through the Carolinas to Wash- ington with Sherman, and many minor engage- ments and skirmishes. He participated in the Grand Review at Washington in June, 1865. At one time he was taken prisoner while scouting and held for three weeks in Virginia. After war Mr. Frazer returned to his home state and en- gaged in mercantile business for ten years, then followed farming for three years.

On July 4, 1867, Mr. Frazer was united in matrimony to Miss Eliza J. Newmyer, of Pennsyl- vania. In March, of 1878, our subject came with his wife and family to Merrick county, Nebraska, where he homesteaded eighty acres in section twenty-six, township fourteen, range seven, seven miles northwest of Central City, which remained the home place until 1908, when Mr. Frazer re- tired from the farm and moved to Central City and purchased a good home where they now live. Mr. Frazer served in various offices of his school district number twenty-six nearly all through his Nebraska years. Mr. and Mrs. Frazer have had four children: Howard M., lost in the first rush to the Klondike gold fields; Jessie M., wife of C. K. Sinsel has eight children, and lives four miles west of Central City ; John N., resides in Basin, Wyoming ; and Arthur L., married, has three children, and lives five and a half miles northwest of Central City.

Mr. and Mrs. Frazer are among the early set- tlers of Merrick county, have passed through all the trying experiences and hardships incident to pioneer life, and are widely and favorably known. They are both members of the Baptist church and Mr. Frazer is a member of Buford Post Grand Army of the Republic of Central City. He is a republican in politics.

JOSEPH H. BARKER.

Few men remain in the west who have seen it in as early a stage of its development, or as many phases of its varied career, as the venerable Joseph H. Barker, and, after the storm and stress of a lifetime on the plains, still retain their facul- ties as little impaired as he. He has reached nearly four score years, most of his career spent on the frontier, where he has experienced every vicissitude of the pioneer in the west.

Joseph H. Barker was born in Russia, Herki- mer county, New York state, on September 10, 1832, and is a son of Oliver and Ruth (Hubbard) Barker, the former killed by lightning when Joseph was but four years of age. Mrs. Barker married again, and in 1844 the family emigrated west, locating in Wisconsin, where they took up their residence in the primeval forest thirty-five miles from Milwaukee. The journey from the east was made by wagon and was necessarily long and tedious. The family, with the exception of Joseph remained in Wisconsin during the balance of their lives. Our subject lived with his mother until he reached the age of fifteen, then went to Milwaukee to make his own way. He had two dollars and fifty cents in his pockets, given him by his mother, which was all the money he had in the world, and all that his mother and a step- sister could obtain. On reaching his destination he secured work on a lake vessel plying the great lakes during the summer season, and in the high seas through the winter, remaining at this work for five years.

The year 1853 he spent with his mother in Wisconsin, and the following spring struck out for the west, locating at Mankato, Minnesota. where he clerked in a hotel for a time, after- wards becoming proprietor of a billiard hall, continuing as such until the call to arms in 1861. He enlisted at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, on No- vember 25, of that year, in Company B, Brack- ett's Minnesota Battalion of Cavalry, which was later consolidated with Company I, Fifth Iowa Cavalry, and they were mustered out in Decem- ber, 1863, but re-enlisted as veterans at Pulaski Tennessee, on January 1, 1864, serving contin- uously up to June, 1866. Brackett's Brigade saw the longest term of service of any company sent out of Minnesota, and, so far as is known, longer than any body of troops from any of the states during the war. The regiment was formed of battalions from Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri. They proceeded to Benton Barracks at St. Louis, and were soon sent to the front, reaching Fort Henry the day after it was re- duced by the gunboats. They participated in the fights around Fort Donaldson, and were in three engagements, followed by the battles of Pitts- burg Landing, Siege of Corinth, Loekhridge Mills, and the Tullahoma Campaign, before they were ordered to the northwest to subdue the Indians in 1864. Major Brackett's Battalion was ordered

MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM FOSTER.

413

COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY, REMINISCENCE AND BIOGRAPHY.

to join General Sully at Sioux City, marehing across the country from Fort Snelling to the ren- desvous. From Fort Randall spuads were de- tailed to the various settlements for protection against the redskins, and later Mr. Barker was one of the detachment in which were the first white men to cross the Bad Lands to the Yellow- stone river. On starting, they were aceompanied by thirty friendly Indians as scouts, and were attacked by hostile tribes, who killed a number of their company, ineluding the chief scout. After three days of privation, much of the time without water for themselves or their mounts, they came into the valley of the Yellowstone, where they were cheered by the whistle of a steamboat which had been sent from Sioux City up the river to bring them supplies. In 1865 their campaign extended as far west as Devil's Lake, returning to Fort Union, and in the spring of 1866 they marched baek to Fort Snelling, re- eeiving honorable discharge from the service on June 1, of that year.

In 1868 Mr. Barker went to Fort Randall and secured a clerkship with the military traders, Hamilton & Thompson, remaining with them until they lost their franchise, when he obtained a similar position with John W. Smith, an Indian trader, and filled it for two and a half years. They did business with the Spotted Tail Sioux, (now known as the Rosebud Indians), at Whet- stone. When Mr. Smith also lost his franchise, our subject moved to Springfield, South Dakota, and kept a hotel for about one year, then followed farming for about the same length of time near the town. In 1874 he secured a franchise for trading with the Indians at the Santee Agency, and for eleven years operated the store and post- office at that point. He had previously taken an allotment of land under the Indian rights through his wife's relationship with the Sioux tribe, and stocked it with horses, cattle and hogs. On this tract he erected a substantial dwelling, costing $1,500, and his family occupied it while he ran the store. On resigning his rights at the Santee Agency he joined them, remaining on the place and accumulating considerable property, up to 1905, at which time he bought a comfortable cottage in Verdel. This he has improved with shrubbery and flowers, having beautiful lawns, etc., and is prepared to enjoy the remaining years of his life in peace and plenty.

Mr. Barker was married at Fort Randall on October 9, 1871, to Miss Fannie Tackett, who was born at Fort Laramie, and is a daughter of George L. Tackett, a native of Kentucky, of French descent, while her mother was of French and Indian blood. Mr. and Mrs. Barker have four living children : William J., engaged in the real estate business at Gregory, South Dakota; Mabel, wife of Charles Black, living in South Dakota also; Maude, wife of E. J. Dunlap; and Byron J., well know dealer in horses residing in

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 89

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