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 94

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 94


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has a good reputation for honorable dealings in all matters of business, having many warm friends. His first purchase of land in Wayne county, was one hundred and sixty acres, and he has since added eighty acres more.


In 1896, Mr. Thomas was united in marriage to Miss Ida Edwards, a daughter of Richard and Ann Edwards, and a native of Iowa. Seven children have blessed this union, their names being: Dewey, Hayden, Wendell, Cecil, Laverne, Dale and Viola.


JOSEPH F. WOODS. (Deceased.)


Joseph F. Woods, who before his demise was a prominent and substantial citizen of Colfax county, Nebraska, was a son of Horace P. and Jane (Mumford) Woods; he was a native of Ohio, his birth occurring in Stark county, July 1, 1842. He was third in a family of seven children, and has one sister, Mrs. Wallen Cameron, and one brother, Dr. J. D. Woods, residing in Schuyler, Nebraska, which was also the home of our sub- ject at time of death; he has one sister living in Washington, D. C., and two sisters and one brother in Ohio; the parents are deceased, the father's death taking place on March 4, 1892, and the mother having passed away on September 2, 1854, both deaths occurring in the state of Ohio.


Mr. Woods grew to manhood in his native state, having received a liberal education, and in 1862 enlisted in company G, Eighty-seven Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and while serving in this company was captured at Harper's Ferry and taken prisoner, but was soon parolled. In June of 1863, he re-enlisted, serving until close of war. He was mustered out in Nashville, Ten- nessee, August 23, 1865, the time having been spent in garrison dnty and scouting.


In the spring of 1869 Mr. Woods came to Colfax county, Nebraska, homesteading one hundred and sixty acres of land seven miles north- west of Schuyler. Owing to ill health, Mr. Woods left the farm in the fall of 1873 and moved to Schuyler where he built a fine home which still remains the home place. Mr. Woods served on the city school board; also as post- master of Schuyler for twelve years, and for many years engaged in the real estate business. At the time of his death he was a member of Phil Sheridan Post, Grand Army of Republic.


On January 4, 1872, Mr. Woods was united in marriage to Mrs. Maria Curry Matheson, who was born in Nova Scotia, and came to Nebraska in 1870 with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Woods have had four children: Anna; wife of Frank Tobin, resides in Canada, they having four chil- dren; Etta V., is the wife of John C. Sprecher, they having three children, and live in Schuyler; Alma, whose husband, E. Folda, is a banker in


Omaha, has one child; Horace C., is a resident of Los Angeles, California.


Mr. Woods died January 18, 1888, at his Schuyler home, deeply mourned by hosts of friends and relatives. Mr. Woods was a self- made man, prosperous and successful, interested in all pertaining to the upbuilding of his home state and county. He was one of the earliest settlers in this part of Nebraska, and was widely and favorably known.


Mrs. Woods' parents, Mr. and Mrs. Curry, were of Scotch-English stock, and came from Nova Scotia to Nebraska in 1870. Mr. Curry was a sea captain and a man of large means; he died in 1883, in Schuyler, where his wife also died in 1879. Mrs. Woods still lives in the old home place, surrounded by a large circle of friends.


HON. GEORGE H. McGEE.


In compiling a history. of the representative farmers and ranchmen of Antelope county, Ne- braska, a prominent place accorded the name of George H. McGee. For many years past be has been engaged in agricultural pursuits in Ante- lope county, and has done his full share as an old settler towards the development of the bet- ter interests of his community, and enjoys the respect and esteem of all who know him. He has a comfortable - home on section thirteen, township twenty-five, range eight, where he and his family reside surrounded by a host of good and true friends, and many acquaintances.


Mr. McGee came to Antelope county, May 29, 1871, from Dubuque, Iowa, which was his birth place, that event having taken place Sep- tember 30, 1848. He is the son of James and Martha McGee; his father was a native of county Armagh, Ireland, born May 21, 1808, and grew to his young manhood days in the land of his nativity ; in June, 1831, he came to America, embarking on the sail boat "Adelaide," and after a voyage of eight weeks from Liverpool landed in the new world. The mother's parents were John and Elizabeth Haggard.


George H. McGee lived in his native state until attaining his young manhood, when after deciding to start out in life for himself, he left the parental roof May 15, 1871, going to Sioux City, and from thence driving to Clearwater ('reek, Antelope county, where he engaged in the lumber business, running a saw mill, and did surveying. At the time he came here the nearest postoffice was Norfolk. Mr. McGee creditably filled the office of county surveyor for Antelope county for many years, serving from 1872 to 1882. From 1886 to 1900 he operated in connec- tion with farming a flouring and grist mill upon his farm.


In 1882 Mr. McGee took up a homestead claim in section thirteen, township twenty-five, range eight, and also took a tree claim in section


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COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY, REMINISCENCE AND BIOGRAPHY.


thirty-five, Blaine township. He now has twelve hundred and forty acres of good land in addi- tion to which he has forty acres of school land, forty acres of land in Dubuque county, Iowa, and has thirty acres of trees on his home pro- perty, which is known as the "McGee Ranch." Stockraising is Mr. McGee's principal business, in which he takes a commendable pride, having about one hundred and fifty head of fine Polled Durham cattle, seventy head of horses and eleven mules.


Mr. McGee, like others of those sturdy pioneers who were the advance guard of civilization in the far west, experienced all the hardships and discouragements incident to those days. In the years of 1873 and 1874, the crops were entirely destroyed by the grasshopper raids; in the mem- orahle blizzard of 1888, Mr. McGee lost a few head of sheep, and in various other ways suffered losses which at the time were severely felt.


Mr. McGee was married in 1881 to Miss Adelaide Van Ostram, a native of Wayne county, New York, born June 16, 1861 ; her parents were early settlers in Nebraska, locating there in 1874, in Clearwater township, Antelope county. Mr. and Mrs. McGee are the parents of nine children, namely : Emma L., Stella E., wife of Ernest Mil- ler, now living in Blaine township, they having one child, named Mary Adelaide; Georgie Anna ; Edward C., Susie M., Minnie M., James E., David N., and Frank.


Mr. McGee is a popular man in his community and state. He was the first county assessor elected in Antelope county. First election for that office heing held in 1903. He has held the office of county supervisor six years and was re- elected to office 1910; was chairman of board of supervisors for three years; served as repre- sentative of his district in the Nebraska legisla- ture for one term. He taught school in Iowa in the early days. He was one of the organizers of his school district, number six, in 1872, which his- tory goes to show the high esteem and popular- ity in which Mr. McGee is and has always been held by his fellowmen.


JAMES LANMAN. (Deceased.)


A long and useful life closed the day James Lanman, late of Plainview, Nebraska, breathed his last. He entered this world on the 4th day of October, 1830, near the town of Rome, Indiana.


His parents, James and Elizabeth Lanman, were of old southern stock that originated in the Carolinas, and lived successively in Tennessee and Kentucky, in their migration to Ohio and Indiana. They lived in the region at so early a date that they were frequently harrassed by the Indians in their attacks on the frontier settle- ments along the Ohio river. Mr. Lanman was the fourth in the line of descendants to be named 15


James, his great-grandfather bearing that name also.


When an infant, Mr. Lanman's parents moved to Illinois, living for a season or two in the viein- ity of Springfield, and in 1834, as soon as the In- dians had been pacified, after the Black Hawk war, moved across the Mississippi river and set- tled near Fairfield, Iowa.


When of age, Mr. Lanman moved to Wapello county, Iowa, where he resided until his marriage, when, with his bride, he migrated to what was then the frontier, the line between Monroe and Appanoose counties, living from time to time in each county. He was living here when the call to arms prompted him to enlist for service in the war of the rebellion.


Leaving his wife and little ones at Moravia, he enlisted in Company C, Thirty-ninth Iowa Vol- unteer Infantry, January 4, 1864. His regiment was assigned to service in Texas, and here, after a battle in which the confederates outnumbered them, the regiment with two others was captured and marched on scant rations some seventy-five miles to Shreveport, Louisiana, and held prison- ers there. After ten months in the prison pens, they were exchanged at New Orleans, and shortly after the war closed, when the weary sol- diers were sent home, received their discharge at Davenport, Iowa, June 8, 1865.


Rejoining his family, Mr. Lanman engaged in farming in Appanoose county, Iowa, and in con- nection therewith, ran a small grist and saw mill until he moved to Nebraska in 1868.


Loading their possessions in a wagon, the young pioneer and his family journeyed over- land, camping by the wayside and, after days in the open, settled in Douglas county. Four years later, he proceeded further into the state and be- came a resident of Pierce county, Nebraska, where the autumn before he had filed on a home- stead five miles northeast from Plainview and at the same time had pre-empted eighty acres, under a soldier's warrant, to the east of Plainview, a tract now adjoining the town. Through trickery, his homestead was lost after three years, but his pre-emption was retained, and he resided on this tract until about 1878, when he moved into the village and made this his home until his death, February 19, 1904.


The winter of their migration to Pierce county was memorable for the deep snow, and although the white blanket lay thick on the ground, they were comfortable as they journeyed along in their two wagons, in which beds were fitted, and in one a kitchen arranged. They had many hard- ships in their new home, but escaped most of the grasshopper raids. To save part of their eab- bage, Mrs. Lanman once tied some of the heads up in eloth to keep the pests from devouring them.


Mr. Lanman was married in Appanoose county, Iowa, November 12, 1853, to Miss Sarah Sumler, who was born in Spencer county, Indiana,


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COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY, REMINISCENCE AND BIOGRAPHY.


November 25, 1835. Her parents, Seward and Elizabeth (Cummins) Sumler, were natives of Kentucky and Indiana, respectively. The family had lived in the Ohio valley for a generation or two and participated in the Indian wars that accompanied the settlement of the great north- west. The great Grandfather Sumler was killed by Indians in one of their raids, but not before he had made a valiant fight, and had taken five lives for his one. A year or so before, his wife had been scalped by them and left for dead, but she attained a century of life, and was full of stories of the terrors of the wilderness that beset the early settlers. When Mrs. Lanman's father who was one of the earliest settlers in Appanoose county, migrated to the west about 1850, he brought his family in covered wagons. He died there, and later the mother died at her daughter's home in Nebraska.


To Mr. and Mrs. Lanman four children were born, two of whom are living: Reuben, who was first married to Miss Amy Brower, who died, leaving four children, Olsey B., Frank, Roy, and Amy ; and who was then married to Miss Mary Tepner in Nebraska, they are living at Nor- folk with three children, Merril, Lester and Hester, the latter being twins; Isabel is the wife of Dominicus H. Neal, living twelve miles south of Plainview.


After coming to Plainview, Mr. Lanman en- gaged in the ice business and for ten years was in the local mail service. Later he was interested in the livery business with his son, Reuben, and others.


The Lanman family were living in town dur- ing the blizzard of 1888, at which time the son- in-law, D. H. Neal, proved himself to be a hero. He made his way through the suffocating storm to the school house for the younger ones and brought several of the neighbors' children with him, and although only about a hundred yards were traversed one of them lost hold of the next . ones hand and came near being lost. Mrs. Neal kept calling to him through the blast or he might have drifted past the house with his charges. The hardships of those early days are almost past believing by the younger generation.


Our subject, Mr. James Lanman, was a demo- crat in politics and a member of the Grand Army of Republic.


CHRISTIAN SORENSEN. (Deceased.)


Christian Sorensen was born in Denmark on February 6, 1838, and came to America at the age of twenty-two years. His first location was in Wisconsin, where he followed farm work for about two years, and was there married to Anna Margaret Hansen, on August. 24, 1862. Only a few days after their marriage the young man enlisted in company B, twenty-eighth Wisconsin Infantry, and remained with his company which


experienced hard service up to the close of the war, receiving his honorable discharge in the fall of 1865. Mr. Sorensen had a splendid record as a soldier, and while he did not participate in any great battles, he spent considerable of his time doing duty as a hospital nurse, and in this way was able to help many poor fellow-sufferers to re- gain their health which had been shattered in following their country's fortunes of war. He did, however, take an active part in a number of minor engagements, while serving under General Sherman's command.


After leaving the army Mr. Sorensen returned to Wisconsin and establish a hop raising busi- ness, which he continued in for about six years, then with his wife and three sons, came to Howard county, Nebraska, arriving here in the spring of 1872. He took up a homestead on section eight, township thirteen, range eleven, erected a rough building for a dwelling, and started to develop a farm and home, occupying this shanty for a good many years and during that period passed through the usual pioneer ex- periences of the region in those days. He proved up on the land, and later purchased two hundred and forty acres of railroad land on section five, which he also built up in good shape, following farming continuously up to 1896, then retired and with his family moved to Dannebrog where he owned a very fine home. He engaged in truck gardening, which work he carried on successfully up to the time of his death, which occurred on April 27, 1907. He was survived by his widow and five children, whom he left well provided for in worldly goods.


During Mr. Sorensen's residence on his farm he took an active part in neighborhood affairs, serving as moderator of school district number seventeen, for a number of years, also held the office of road supervisor for some time.


Anna Margaret Sorensen, widow of our sub- ject, is also a native of Denmark, coming to America with her parents in 1857. They settled in Wisconsin, where they went through the usual pioneer experiences, but succeeded in building up a good home and valuable property. Mr. and Mrs. Sorensen were the parents of seven children, five of whom are now living, all filling honorable careers in life. One daughter, Rosa. remains at home with her mother, while the rest are married and settled in homes of their own. Their names are as follows: Charles Augustus, Hans Edward, Louis Henry and William Fred- erick. The first and last mentioned are in Bel- lingham, Washington, Hans Edward in Phelps county, Nebraska, and Louis Henry lives on an eighty acre tract belonging to the old farm. Jens Laurets and Rasmine Christina are deceased -the former at thirteen years of age and the latter at twelve.


RESIDENCE AND FAMILY GROUP OF J. S. WISDOM, INCLUDING MR. AND MRS. GEORGE MORTON.


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COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY, REMINISCENCE AND BIOGRAPHY.


J. S. WISDOM.


Among the leading old settlers of Cedar county, the gentleman above mentioned and his wife deserve a foremost place. Mr. and Mrs. Wisdom have passed nearly all of their wedded life on the farm here, as they came to this lo- cality just two years after their marriage. Mr. Wisdom has aided in no slight degree in the de- velopment of the commercial and agricultural resources of the region and has done his full share in the betterment of the community.


Mr. Wisdom is a native of the state of Iowa, having been born there in 1856. His father, M. B. Wisdom, at a very early date eame to Iowa, being one of the the earliest settlers there.


In 1880, Mr. Wisdom was nnited in marriage to Miss Laura Shearer, and two years later, as has already been related, the couple came to Cedar county to make their permanent home. Mr. Wisdom purchased a fine piece of land, which is still his home. Since his occupation of the place, the farm and its buildings have been much improved, and the estate is now a very valuable one.


During the long period Mr. Wisdom has been farming here, he has met with many and varied experiences, in common with other pioneers. In comparison with many, his losses have been more severe than those which usually fell to the lot of the settlers. Like them, he lost heavily by grasshoppers, blizzards, and prairie fires, and in addition, on the fourteenth of June, 1890, he had the misfortune to have his house and almost all of the farm buildings wrecked by a cyclone which passed through that locality. His farm suffered most, as it lay directly in the path of the terrible storm.


Mr. and Mrs. Wisdom are the parents of eight children, named as follows: Orville C., Daisy, Nellie, now Mrs. George Morton; Ona, Mable, Murrell, Ivan and Dean. Orville C. is an attorney- at-law located at Emerson, and Daisy, the eldest daughter, has entered the professions as a trained nurse. On another page will be found pictures showing the residence and family.


ORLANDO K. PHILBRICK.


As an old settler of Valley county, Nebraska, and an agriculturist of untiring energy and per- severance and a worthy eitizen, the gentleman here named needs no introduction to the people of his locality. He has spent some thirty years in their midst, has gained a host of staunch friends, and incidentally acquired numerous acres of good land, and placed himself in a position to enjoy the latter part of his life in peace and comfort. He resides on section twenty-three, township twenty, range fourteen, where he and his family are surrounded by a host of good friends.


Orlando K. Philhrick, son of Harrison and Jane (Closson) Philhriek, was born in Dela-


ware county, Ohio, April 2, 1845; he was fifth in the family of eight children, and has three sisters living in Ohio, one in Iowa, one in Illinois, and another in Colorado; another child is de- ceased, as are also the parents, the father having passed away in 1872, and the mother in 1852, their deaths occurring in Delaware county, Ohio.


Mr. Philbrick received his education in the home schools, and at the age of seventeen years, on Angust 22, 1862, enlisted in Company H, One Hundred and Twenty-first Ohio Infantry, serving one year. He participated in the battle at Per- ryville, and a few months later was taken prisoner, paroled to Camp Chase, Ohio, and owing to illness he was discharged. On February 1, 1865, he enlisted in Company G, Fourth Ohio Cavalry, serving until the close of war. He re- ceived his discharge about July 25, 1865, in Nashville, Tennessee, and after the war returned to Ohio, where he engaged in farming.


On October 4, 1867, Mr. Philbriek was united in marriage to Miss Mary M. Stanton, in Dela- ware City, Ohio, near which plaee she was born, a daughter of Frances and Margaret (Wooden) Stanton, natives of the states of New York and Virginia, respectively. Mr. and Mrs. Philbrick have had ten children, namely: Claud O., who is married, has three children, and resides on the home farm; Mary J., living at home; Frank D., who is married, has four children, and lives in Garfield county, Nebraska; Ray A., resides at home ; Lulu M., wife of John Dever, they having three children, and reside in Grand Island ; Maud A., at home; Scott M., at home; and Dudley A., Florence, and Ben H., who also reside under the parental roof.


Mrs. Philbriek's father died in 1852 in In- diana; and her mother passed away in 1889, in Ohio; she has a brother residing in the state of Michigan, two sisters in Ohio, and another brother in Garfield, Nebraska.


In 1869 Mr. Philhrick migrated from Ohio to Washington county, Illinois, remaining one year, then moved to Randolph county, Missouri, where he followed the occupation of farming near Moberly five years, before going to Shelby county, Iowa. In the spring of 1882 he came to Valley county, Nebraska, where he pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land seven miles southwest of Ord, residing there a couple of years; he then purchased six hundred and forty acres in section twenty-three, township twenty, range fourteen, which is still the home place, and which is now a fine stock and grain farm, well improved. On this farm Mr. Philbrick built a fine ten room residence in 1907, lighted by gas and having hot and cold water on every floor. With his sons he owns one thousand and twenty acres of raneh land in Garfield county, on which he runs a fine bunch of eattle.


The Philbrieks are a prosperous and suc- cessful family, owing seventeen hundred acres of fine land. They are an old pioneer family. and


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COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY, REMINISCENCE AND BIOGRAPHY.


have passed through all the trying experiences and hardships incidental to frontier life, and are widely and favorably known. Mr. Philbrick has had the usual "soddy" experience of the west, having lived on his present farm in a large one fifty-two feet in length, one of the largest in the country.


Mr. Philbrick, as before stated, is a promin- ent farmer and ranchman of this part of Ne- braska, and has served as director of school dis- triet number forty-five for years. He is a re- publican in politics and a member of the Grand Army of Republic.


J. A. KOST.


J. A. Kost, a prominent farmer and stoek man living on section thirty-one, township twenty-four, range one, is well known through- out Madison county, Nebraska, as a progressive and successful agriculturist, highly esteemed by all with whom he has had to do.


Mr. Kost is a native of Illinois state, his birth occurring there in the year 1862; he is a son of Adam and Mary Kost, both of whom were born in Germany; the mother died in Norfolk, Nebraska, September 28, 1903, and our subject's father died June 15, 1911, at Sturgis, South Da- kota, at the ripe old age of eighty-one years. Our subject's father came to America in 1852, sailing from Hamburg for New York on a sail boat, and was on the sea seven weeks. He came to America on hearing such glowing aecounts of the new world where a poor man had a better chanee to get along in the world, and where land could be had for almost nothing by proving up on it. After landing in the United States, he was married to Anna Marie Voltz at Galena, Illinois, in 1856. They resided for twelve years at Galena, Illinois, and from there moved to Clinton, Iowa, where they lived four years.


In 1872 the family including six children came to Madison county, Nebraska, locating four miles west of Battle Creek, where they took a homestead. While living here in the early days, the family experieneed many hardships and dis- eouragements, and suffered many losses through the many different causes of grasshopper pests, drouths, prairie fires, etc. The first few years the entire crops of those seasons were completely desroyed by the ravages made by the grasshop- pers that eame in great clouds and ate every- thing in their path. This made it very hard for the family, and the father being a plasterer by trade went to Des Moines, Iowa, where he se- cured employment to get money for his family in Nebraska. But those days have passed into history, and although they never can be forgotten, they have heen deeply buried in memory and other and more recent incidents have dimmed their vividness.


In 1887, Mr. Kost, our subject, moved onto his


father's farm which was bought from Mr. Doug- las Priest, it being loeated, as before stated, in section thirty-one, township twenty-four, range one, where he "hatehed" it two years; on this land he planted a few trees which now have de- veloped into a fine grove.


In 1890 Mr. Kost was married to Miss Matilda Kent, and Mr. and Mrs. Kost had four children born to them, whose names are as follows: Mary, Rose, Florence and Irene. In 1899 Mrs. Kost passed away to the great beyond, survived by her husband and children, and deeply mourned by many friends and relatives.




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