USA > Nebraska > Seward County > General history of Seward County, Nebraska > Part 11
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HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
on to the change to township organization when each pre- cinct was represented by a supervisor, the three men county board was in disfavor. The change to the supervisor sys- tem was made in January, 1886 and each precinct elected a supervisor at the election in November of that year. But this system soon went out of favor on account of the expense for the salary of so many which was wisely considered un- necessary and in 1895 the system was revised and changed from the precinct supervisor to the district system which reduced the membership of the county board to seven. The districts under this arangement are composed of and repre- sent precincts as follows :
Ist Dist. B, C and D precincts. and Dist. E and F.
3rd " City of Seward. 4th A, H and G.
"
5th I, J and P. 6th L, K and. M.
7th " N and O.
-A- precinct is broken with hills and ravines. The soil is mixed in many places with an unusual amount for Nebraska soil, with gravel and in some localities large stones or "nig- ger heads," as they are called in their native country, appear above the surface. Regardless of these seeming defects the soil is as rich and productive as any soil in the county. The early settlers of the precinct were favored with an abund- ance of oak and other valuable native timber. A saw mill was built at Oak Groves in -A- precinct in the early sixties where oak lumber was sawed out to supply settlers of a large portion of the country, some of it finding its way to the city of Lincoln. It was the banner precinct of Seward county for fuel timber. Springs of pure water abound along the ravines. Among the other natural advantages in -A- pre- cinct was its deposite of lime stone from which lime was produced by the early settlers in sufficient quantities to supply the needs in that line of Seward county and ajacent towns including the capital city. The precinct has no village or
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HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
town, but is in proximity to railway stations on two differ- ent roads in that many different directions-Bee on the C. & N. W., and Raymond on the Union Pacific. Settlement began in 1864.
-B- precinct is much more level than -A- but is quite broken in places where draws or ravines extend from Middle Creek which heads just west of it. In the original organiza- tion of the precincts in the early sixties, -B- was known as Plum Creek precinct and comprised two and one-half towns being six miles wide north and south by fifteen miles east and west. Under these conditions the precinct caught a large percentage of the county's settlement in the early six- ties. It has at present one market, postoffice and trading place-the village of Bee, established on the C. & N. W. rail road line in 1887.
-C- precinct is a North Blue river township, that stream entering it in section three flows to the south-east corner of the precinct. It also has' Lincoln creek in the south-west quarter. While these two streams cause it to be rough they have added their fertile valleys to the agricultural wealth of the precinct and in early times furnished the settlers with needed timber of spontaneous growth along their banks. It had a post office and trading place at Marysville early in pioneer days. It has a railway station and market at the enterprising village of Staplehurst.
-D- precinct is located, as will be noticed in the diagram, in the north- west corner of the county. It is mostly up-land from the North Blue river and Lincoln creek. In regard to the quality of the land we can say that it needs no recom- mendation from any one. It is sufficient to say that it is Seward county land and as good as the best.
-E- precinct lies south of -D- and has perhaps the most level surface of any other precinct in the county, the south- ern portion requiring artificial drainage. The B. & M. rail
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HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
road passes through from east to west in about the center of the precinct. It contains Utica, the third largest village or town in the county.
-F- precinct is one among the best farming towns in the county. It is up-land that gradualiy slopes towards the North Blue river and Lincoln creek. And while it is not subject to damage during wet seasons it stands drouths as well as any town in the county. It contains Tamora, one of the later villages and an excellent market and trading place.
-G- precinct is more rough than the others named, having the hills and ravines leading from the North Blue river which passes entirely through the township in an angling course from north-west to south-east, also the breakes from Lincoln and Plumb creeks. It contains the city of Seward which has been transformed into a precinct within a precinct. There was a greater early settlement in -G- than in any other town in the county.
- H- precinct is on the east line of the county. It is broken with hills and ravines and springs and spring runs abound along which an excellent grade of native timber has added to its advantages. The precinct contains German- town, a grain and cream market, with two elevators and one of Nebraska's large creamries.
-I- precinct is hilly. The Middle creek breaks extend through it. Springs are numerous along the ravines and Middle creek valley. There is an abundance of very nice red sand stone along the creek which constitutes fine building material. The village of Pleasant Dale is located in the southern portion of the precinct.
-J- precinct lies next west of -I- and in many respects is a model township. The North Blue river traverses it from the north-west to the south-east, giving it excellent water and drainage advantages, and adding its rich bottom land to the agricultural wealth of the precinct as well as the timber
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HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
production along the stream. The village of Ruby is locat- ed in the precinct.
-K- precinct is one of the most valuable tracts of farming land in Seward county. There is scarcely a foot of waste land in the precinct, either from roughness or swampy ba- sins. The village of Goehner is located in the western por- tion of the town since the construction of the C. & N. W. rail road. But in pioneer time Seward was the market for the farm produce of -K- precinct.
-L- precinct bounds -K- on the west and extends to the York county line. It contains considerable rough and broken land. Beaver creek cuts the south-west corner and Walnut creek rises in the north-west corner and passes through to the south-east. And in addition to the roughness from those two creeks, ravines extend to the south half of the precinct from the West Blue river. But regardless of this seeming defect -L- town is an up-to-date farming precinct and its hills and hollows are worth from one hundred to two hundred dollars an acre. There is no village in the precinct. It has the advantage of markets at Utica, Tamora, Goehner and Beaver Crossing; being almost surounded by rail road sta- tions near its borders.
-M- precinct contains a rough and rich tract of land. It is broken in the northern portion by the West Blue river which passes through it from west to east and Johnson creek passes through the southern half of the town from west to east, the ravines extending from these streams well over the land. There was an abundance of natural timber along the river in pioneer days which was nearly exhausted by the early settlers, but a second growth has about replenished the product. This precinct has more water than any other precinct in the county. In addition to the excellent water power of the West Blue river and its bed of running water there are a hundred or more flowing wells, from which
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HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
enough pure water goes to waste every day to supply a power to run the county's eiectric light plants and grist mills. In fact a water power could undoubtedly be constructed from the flowing well body of water that would excel any other water power in Nebraska and not injure the natural system. - M- is the only precinct in the county that con- tains two distinct villages and rail road stations-Beaver Crossing, a pioneer town, in the northern portion, and Cor- dova, established later, in the south-west corner of the pre- cinct.
-N- precinct is similar to -M- in the land surface and is favored with the same water advantages. The West Blue river and Johnson creek extend through the sections from west to east and flowing wells exist along the river bottom to near the east line of the town. There is no railway sta- tion nor postoffice in the precinct. Its market places are Milford on the north, Dorchester on the south and Beaver Crossing on the west. In -N- precinct Seward county's last remanent, a memorable sod house was inhabited as late as 1892. This interesting relic of days gone by stood mid- way between what was termed "the two churches" in the south part of the precinct.
-O- precinct is watered by both the North Blue river, which passes through its northern sections, and the West Blue in the southern portion. As must be supposed the pre- cinct contains a broken land surface from the two rivers, but there is no discount upon its agricultural value, it being one among the best in the county. It has a railway station and excellent market at Milford. - O- was singularly noted in the late sixties and early seventies by what will be remembered by early settlers as "Dobie Town." It was located about a mile and a half west of Milford and consisted in a row of five pioneer dwelling houses, composed of adobe brick from which it derived its name. These unique dwellings were the
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HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
results of the pioneer ingenuity of S. S. and John Atwood, Wm. H. and Lee Smiley and Ira Gallup who owned and occupied the structures in those early days of Seward county settlement.
-P- precinct is in the county's south-east corner and is the end of the alphabetical list of townships. It contains, undoubtedly, the richest agricultural tract of land in Seward county. It lays largely upon the river bottoms, the vallies of the North and West Blue rivers coming together here form an extensive plteau of level surface of rich, loomy soil. The precinct has no railway station and its nearest and best market places are at Crete and Milford. It has the distinc- tion of having the first village, Camden; the first postoffice; first school and first bridge in Seward county all of which have received previous mention in this work.
In our brief mention of the precincts we have merely out- lined in rotation and alphabetical order the sixteen localities which compose the whole area which we have had and still have under consideration-Seward county-therefore we pass from their separate mention to the general work which includes all sections and towns of the county.
CHAPTER XXII.
W. W. Cox and His History of Seward County-Its Dedication-His Daughter's Touching Portray of Her Pioneer Childhood Home.
The subject of this sketch was one of the grand charac- ters of Seward county manhood. To speak of his greatness of heart is to speak of the man as his heart dominated every fibre of his body and soul. While there are those whose opinions may differ with his views there are none with kindly motives who can sustain a reproach to his good will towards his fellow man. As one among the earliest settlers of the county, he and his good wife were perhaps the only ones of that never to be forgoten advance guard called pioneers, who emegrated to its wild prairie in search of a home by the only mode of conveyance God had given them-on foot. They had been engaged in drying salt at Salt Basin, near where the city of Lincoln is now located, and the gradual decrease in the salt product gave them reason to think that the time had come when they must make a change, therefore one bright morning in 1863 they bade farewell to their cabin and struck out accross the prairie in search of a home with noth- ing to guide them but the setting sun. After a weary day's journey they landed in Seward county and finding their ideal section, took a homestead near the present city of Seward, having for neighbors a few stalwart pioneers, the howling wolves and stroling bands of Indians. Here our former county historian and his faithful wife spent their pio- neer period, sharing its enjoyments with its adversities, and later enjoying, for many years, the fruits of the advanced changes their hands had aided in establishing. After the death of that loved and loving wife, which occurred several years ago, he spent a number of his declining years in com-
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HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
piling a history of the county they had done so much to im- prove. And as a matter of respect to the memory of our worthy historical predecessor we here quote his eloquent ex- pression of sentiment in the dedication of his work to the memory of his departed wife.
"To the ever kind and loving companion that walked hand in hand with me nearly forty-four years of life's journey, sharing all the privations of frontier life, and lending cheer in all the dark hours and performing so nobly all the duties incumbent on her as wife and mother, as neighbor and friend, ever ready to lend a helping hand in matters of charity or public enterprise-she that walked so faithfully in the service of her Divine Master over half a century and when her work was all done passed over the dark river to dwell in the Heavenly home --- is this book lovingly dedicated as a memo- rial to Rebecca Sampson Cox. AUTHOR."-Cox's History.
In regard to Cox's History we wish to first speak by a reference to the work. It is a book worthy of a place in the library of any Seward county citizen. It has, as such works do, its merits and demerits, but perhaps enough of the former for sufficient redemption from the latter and enough to make it a valuable reference record.
Mr. Cox's efforts to embody too many matters out of line of his theme and foreign to real county history forms the greatest point for criticism of his work. While it crowded his space, enlarged his work and gave his readers too much reading to get a little history, it taxed his ability to give im- partial accounts of the many different lodges, churches, news- papers, etc., and prevent those matters crowding the real work under consideration. His history contains one hun- dred and eight pages of territorial matter, mostly devoted to memorable stketches of J. Sterling Morton, Gen. John M. Thayer, Dr. Miller, Nebraska City's fire, some territorial newspapers etc., all of which are published under the head
HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA. 141
lines of "Seward County History." It is not such in any sense whatever. He devotes forty-four pages to newspaper clippings, mostly incomprehensibly brief and without loca- tion such as "S. R. Douglas caught a coon." "Jan. 28th- The Baptist church was completed." "The Presbyterian church is raised." "July 2nd-Four fights in the streets are mentioned." Now these items are supposed to be newspaper clippings (only a very few however of similar ones published in his book) and as such will substantiate our statement that newspaper clippings are not history.
Private correspondence or so called "historical letters," some of them, like A. E. Sheldon's, written from the fanci- ful memory of a very small child, exaggerated to the gro- tesque desire of irresponsible and careless statements or air castles, made in disregard of public sentiment, are very far from true history. Fifty-two pages of Mr. Cox's history are devoted to letters from different individuals. While some of them are instructive some of them are scarcely worth the ink they are printed with and there is but little history in the majority of them.
He devotes two hundred and four pages to paragraphical sketches of indiveduals which were paid for by the parties receiving the notice, thus making his work a partial and not a general history of the county-it being general only so far as it was paid for. It might be said that while those para- praphs were paid for they were biographical sketches of the lives of Seward county people, but what has the history of any person, previous to his or her Seward county residence got to do with that county's history? But since we are in- vestigating the injuries his history sustained from the public sentiment and opinion its own contents created we must re- call the general tendency of his work to partisan politics and in this consideration we are brought face to face with two of those biographical sketches of at least two men who were
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HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
never Seward county citizens, one of them being none other than E. H. Hinshaw, one of the lowest down political dem- agouges Nebraska ever had and a disgrace to the party that honored him and fully as much so to Cox's history. The other, an honorable christian gentleman, J. H. Mickey, twice governor of Nebraska, but received space in the afore said history on account of party politics. While the foregoing matters were detriments to Mr. Cox's history they are dam- aging in their effects upon the minds of many people to any work which may follow in the line of county history. It is not easy to compete with the size of Cox's history and pro- duce no other matter than historical matter of Seward coun- ty. We mention these things because they are true condi- tions in regard to his work and not to injure Mr. Cox nor the history he so diligently compiled. He is at rest and his book is out of print and it is beyond our power to injure or benefit them.
Among the several letters published by him as "histori- cal letters," there is one we feel justified in reproducing. It displays a grand sentimentality and comes from the pen of not only Mr. Cox's daughter, but a Seward county daughter.
And her story seems, perhaps, more pathetic in view of the fact that the writer passed to her final rest while quite young, leaving a husband and one son one year old. She was born at Nebraska City in 1861. She was married to Frank P. Pingree, and with him settled at Colby, Kansas, but removed to Washington, D. C., in 1891, where she died in 1892. She was the second daughter of W. W. Cox and will be remembered at this date by many as a successful teacher in several Soward county schools, commencing her career as teacher before she was fifteen years old. She took a great interest in chautauqua work, and although never permitted to meet with a circle, she was graduated and received the white seal for proficiency in the work.
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HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
The Wilderness Home of My Childhood.
NETTIE M. COX PINGREE.
"The hills are dearest which our childish feet Have climbed the earliest; and the streams most sweet Are ever those at which our young lips drank,
Stooped to their waters o'er the mossy banks."-Whittier.
"Though years have passed since our last visit to the old homestead, visions come to us of the woods and valleys by the sparkling waters of the beautiful Blue.
"The river winds its crooked way through the valley with many a curve, forming broad acres of woodland which were a perfect paradise to us during the whole year. There in the spring time the green grass and violets formed a beautiful carpet for our feet, while around us the alder and wild plum blossoms made fragrant the air with their sweet scented odor.
"Down the garden path bordered with moss roses and morning glories, we would speed away to the river, bait our hooks for fish, and cross the foot log and follow the path through the woods to the schoolhouse. That little rough board shanty, sodded all around, and the home-made, knife- marked desks have given place to new and better ones. The children upon the playground are strange to us, but the same games of "blind man's buff," and "drop the handker- chief," are played by them as we played them long years since.
"The grape-vine swing must not be forgotten, for there, with choicest flowers, was crowned the queen of May, and also, in childish sport, were wedded two schoolmates, just twenty years ago.
"Under the welcome shade of the old walnut tree by the ford, we studied our Sunday-school lessons, and were often
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HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
lulled to sleep by the merry song of the wild birds.
"During the long summer days, wading around the sand- bars and gathering shells afforded us a delightful pastime, and as the sun was seeking the western horizen, we would mount old Ned, the family horse, ford the river and go to the farther pasture after the cows.
"Each land hath its shadows and each home hath its ghosts and ours was not an exception. The "Big grove" was the most beautiful of all the "bends," on account of the heavy timber and heavy foliage. There the sugar maple trees abounded, and there grew the most berries, the latter being very important, for many a new dress and coat were bought with the profits realized from their sale.
"One evening at dusk something large and white, resem- bling a great bear, was seen to come out of these woods and although we afterwards learned that it was only a neighbor boy with a bed-tick over his head, we never ventured again into that grove without company.
"When the autumn sun changed the foliage and ripened the fruits, then was our harvest. It would be difficult to de- cide who worked the harder to store away the winter's sup- ply of walnuts and acorns, we children or the squirrels. Perhaps we tired of the labor more quickly than our little forest friends, for frequently the restful shade of the great oaks would be too tempting, and we seated ourselves by their roots and wove wreaths of the brilliant-hued leaves, while the autumn winds sighed and rustled the branches overhead, making a beautiful accompaniment to our fancies. But when winter came with its hoary frosts and covered the earth with its blanket of snow and the cold winds whistled through the barren timber, then, like all the children of the woods, the most comfortable place for us was home. That little log cabin, with its great fireplace and clay-chincked walls, is the most cherished of all places. The dove-cote
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HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
upon its roof, the cave behind it, the box-alder and cotton- wood trees, and the old fashioned well will always be re- membered.
It seems but yesterday that father brought in the huge back-log and built a brilliant fire in front of it, then popped the corn for our first Christmas eve in our new home. He took us children on his knee and told us of Santa Claus, and how he would come down the huge chimney and fill our stockings, if we would hurry off to bed. Mother tucked the covers carefully about us and resumed her knitting, while father read aloud, by the light of the blazing brushwood, the latest news of the rebellion, which was then raging with all its horrors.
We watched the shadows cast by the flickering light of the burning embers upon the hearth until we fell aleep, dreaming as all childeren do, of Kris Kringle and his won- derful sleigh full of toys. In the morning, when the sun's first rays peeped through the curtains of the one window in the cabin, with a bright Christmas greeting, we hastened to our stockings to find them overflowing with popcorn and doughnuts. Away down in the toe we found a stick of can- dy and a pair of lovely red mittens with little snowflakes all over them. We were a happy little band, and although many Christmases have come and gone, and Santa Claus has filled our stocking with a far more lavish hand, none will have the same place in our memory as the one of '64.
But now, far removed from those loved scenes of child- hood and looking out upon the broad expanse of prairie and corn land, our minds will naturally wander back to the old homestead, and decide that, though home is home where'er it may be, yet that halo cannot be taken away from our father's hearthstone."-Cox's History.
The foregoing interesting letter was reproduced in respect and memory of the historian, W. W. Cox and family.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Seward County's Newspapers.
We are not here to give a newspaper history only so far as their history is connected with the history of our county. We mention this because we note the failure of W. W. Cox in his effort to publish the histories of the county newspapers embodied in his county history. Mr. Cox presented only a partial history of two or three of the county's newspapers, and let the ballance "go to grass." In this matter he made the error in his opinion that history of minor things within the county was county history and found it a "white ele- phant" which he was forced to drop, as he did some other things, on account of the immensity of the work. The news- papers are to be remembered among the prime factors which advanced Seward county towards the grand changes that have covered it with the luster of precious gems by placing a crown of inestimable valuation upon its natural resources.
The first paper in the county was published at Seward in March, 1870 by O. T. B. Williams, under the name of "Nebraska Atlas." The support to a paper in those days was very weak and the "Atlas" was forced to suspend after a short life of four years. In December 1870 the "Blue Valley Record," the second paper to make an appearnce in Seward county, was started at Milford by Culver & Parsons. It managed to live on Seward county fare for two and a half years when it took its flight to Lincoln where it was con- solidated with another pioneer journal and where one of its former editors, J. H. Culver, abandoned it and returned to Milford after a short period.
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