USA > Nebraska > Seward County > General history of Seward County, Nebraska > Part 23
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SUICIDED IN JAIL.
Hugh R. Fullerton, a young man confined in the jail at Seward, com- mitted suicide by hangirg himself with a rope constructed of a pair of draw- ers, Saturday, April 14, 1894. He left a short note to his father as follows: "Well father I have waited for you till I can't wait any longer. I want you to take me back home and lay me by the side of my brother, so I will bid you all goodbye. I would sooner be dead than shut up in a cage.
H. R. Fullerton."
BURNED HIMSELF TO DEATH.
William R. Connor, twenty years old, son of Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Con- nor of -A- precinct, destroyed his own life, Saturday night, August 24, 1906 bv burning himself to death in his father's barn. There was a disagreement existing between the young man and his father and he had left home in the spring. He returned home about two weeks prior to the tragedy, but there was still a feeling of disagreement between them which seemed diffi- cult to become reconciled. He tried to borrow a revolver and failing to do so, resorted to the terrible manner named, of ending his trouble. He left a note which was afterwards found, stating his intention to burn himself and the barn together.
JOHN MUIR SUICIDE.
Despondent over financial dificulties and the death of a baby daughter, John Muir, one of the early settlers of Milford, took his own life by firing four shots into the right side of his body from a 32-calibre revolver, Septem- ber 30, 1902. He left a note directing the disposition of his life insurance, amounting to four thousand dollars, which he wished divided equally be- tween his wife and little son.
JOHN TUCKER drowned himself in Conelley's fish pond, five miles west of Seward, May 30, 1901. He was suffering with a despairing fit of insanity, resulting in self destruction.
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HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
MARY A. WHITE.
Mary A. White, aged sixty- five years, committed suicide by taking strychnine, Monday afternoon, September 25, 1899, at the home of her sis- ter, Mrs. Neff, who lived twelve miles north of Seward. Mr. and Mrs. Neff had been at Seward during the day and were greatly shocked at the sad occurance, both being very old people. A nephiew to whom she told that she had taken the poison, ran to a neighbor's and gave the alarm, a physicion being immediatly summoned, but he arrived too late.
RILEY HORNADY.
Riley Hornady, an 1882 pioneer settler in Seward county, commited suicide by taking carbolic acid, Tuesday morning, August 29, 1916 at Council Bluffs, lowa, where he had moved in April to enter the mercantile trade. He was fifty-seven years and six months of age, and left a wife, four sons and one daughter to mourn his sad death. Mr. Hornady was a near neighbor to the writer for a period of nine years, in the village of Beaver Crossing, and we knew him as a man of exemplar habits, cheerful disposition, innofensive and kind. He was an able farmer and as such, combined with a financial ability, had accumulated sufficient means for the comfortable support of his family and to enable him to spend the remainder of his days in ease and comfort. He had made a good home in Beaver Crossing to which he was personally attached, the attractiveness of which with what seemed to him an abandonment of it in a fruitless business effort which had no encouraging prospects for him, with other disappointing and discouraging matters, helped to sink his previous cheerful mind into that dispondent state which prompted self destruction. A short time before his fatal deed he visited his Beaver Crossing home and spent several hours with the writer, during which time he freely expressed his desire to return to his home to stay, declaring his mistake in listening to the advice of others to enter into a loosing deal in trade. In his death we feel that another of God's noble men, whose face was always lit up with a kindly smile, has passed to the great city beyond the silent river.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Soldier Element in the Early Settlement of Seward County. A Closing Glance at the Early Advance Guards of Civilization. An Eloquent Narration of Pioneer Achievements From the Omaha Bee-Prompt- ings of the Semi-centenial Celebration of Nebraska's Statehood.
In the late sixties and early seventies Seward county was comparatilvely a bee-hive swarming with Union soldiers, rem- inents from the fields of Anteitam, Atlanta, Stone River, Shiloah, Vicksburg, Gettysburg, the Andersonville stockades and many other places renouned in history for scenes of conflict and prison horrors. The county could well claim to be the camp ground of a large brigade of that grand army that kept "Old Glory" undivided and floating in the breeze, and made it represent, at last, a real free and undivided country. The number of this indomitable band of home- seekers which settled in Seward county is not and perhaps never will be fully known, but beneath its sod, on the last camp ground are sleeping those who have answered the last roll call, while the fast depleting ranks of remaining com- rades press forward to pitch their tents upon the field with those gone before.
While we realize our inability to give a complete list of the dead and living vetran soldiers of the war of the rebellion who were early settlers in Seward county, we present the fol- lowing statement of the number of well known dead, there being perhaps an equal number throught the county that are not accounted for :
In the cemeteries at Seward there are resting in their last sleep, ninety-two comrades. In the Ruby, Staplehurst and Germantown cemeteries there has been fifteen accounted for while in the Beaver Crossing, Utica and Milford cemeteries there are forty-six more, making a total of one hundred and fifty-three dead. Many of the soldier pioneers of Seward
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HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY. NEBRASKA
county have moved away, some to other counties and some to other states where many of them are tenting upon the new camp ground. It is perhaps a fair estimate to say there are one fifth of the squad of old soldier settlers in Seward county that can be counted as living at the present time, October 1916. Those living comrades who settled upon homesteads in pioneer days have nearly all retired from their farms to the towns and it is to be noted that there is not a sufficient num- ber in any one of the villages for a quorum in a G. A. R. Post. Cordova has but one old soldier of the war of the re- bellion, and the Beaver Crossing post which had at one time about thirty members, was forced to surender its charter several years ago on account of insufficient numbers for a quorum-nine members. Surely these signs signify some- thing. The old boys are silently passing away.
There are perhaps not one of the dead or living comrades who settled in Seward county whose services are not worthy of special mention, but we are not personally acquainted with the facts only in a limited number of cases throught the county. Of those burried at Seward we will mention Wm. W. Konkright, who enlisted in the 8th Iowa Infantry, August 17, 1861, being one of the first volunteers for the war of the rebellion and was mustered out of the service, April 20, 1866, at Selma, Alabama, having served four years and eight
months. During this time Mr. Konkright participated in eighteen regular battles and thirteen skirmishes, and was one who passed safely through the great conflict. Isaac D. Neihardt, enlisted early in the war as a private and was pro- moted several times, reaching the rank of captain. Took part in many battles, being wounded in 1864, and was must- ered out of the service in May, 1866.
Chas Emerson who settled on a homestead in-L-precinct in 1870, enlisted in an Indiana regiment upon the breaking out of the war and served to its close, participated in seven-
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HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY NEBRASKA.
teen general battles, marched with Sherman through Georgia to the sea, was not wounded and did not spend a day in a hospital. Comrade Emerson died at Tamora in 1896.
George H. Winand, for many years a resident of Beaver Crossing, now resting in its cemetery, saw much service in the field during the war, and had the unenviable experience of being a guest of Captain Werz, in his Andersoville prison several months. Comrade Winand had formed a great dis- respect for his landlord and expressed no emotional senti- ments of regrets because he, "the meanest man on earth" had been hung, only that he was not hung soon enough.
Victor Vifquain, previously mentioned in this work, was the only representative of Seward county in the Union army during the war of the rebellion. And he left no cause for his county or state to feel dishonored by his services. In fact he mounted the upward steps of fame for valuable and heroic service as rapidly as most any other man in the army, and returned to his home bearing the well earned, honorable title of General Vifquain.
SPANISH WAR VETERANS IN SEWARD COUNTY.
Seward county furnished a number of soldiers for the war with Spain who went where duty called them. Some lost their lives and many their health. One of the former, Orson E. Humphery, previously mentioned in this history, was a son of an 1861 veteran. And it has been a matter of pride to the old soldiers to know that the sons of Seward county, if not their own sons, stood ready to take from their feble and trembling hands that starry emblem known to them as "Old Glory," and place new honors upon its folds through- out the civilized world. And in this grand achievement of the younger "boys in blue" the older ones view a new victory gained from their school of patriotism and all are glad to honor and cherish the deeds of the boys of the "Spanish war."
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HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
FOOT PRINTS OF PIONEER TIMES.
As the final closing of this history approaches in this, the sixteenth year of the twentieth century, we are reminded of the flight of time by it and also by the demonstrative prepar- ation of Nebraska's citizens to celebrate the semi-centenial of the state's statehood. And we review the chain of event- ful time from the period of the red man's dominion as lord and king, in vain search for a missing link in the onward march of progress.
While we are unable to even make an outline of the great display of modern thought and inventive attractions that will round out a full and appropriate program of that historic event, the first part of which was recently rendered in the city of Omaha, we can point back with pride to the foot- prints of the pioneers in their endavors to lay the foundation upon which this great commonwealth rests today, and for which proud rejoicings are echoing and to re-echo throughout the nation. And along this line we are pleased to quote up- on the pages of this history the following able and eloquent tribute of appreciation of the courage, fortitude and endur- ance of the people who with primitive methods and means, were the advance guards of civilization, from the Omaha Bee of October 8, 1916, prompted by the grand desplay of that part of the program, carried out by that city, of the semi- centenial historical exhibition.
A MESSAGE OF PRIDE.
"The magnificient moving picture of western progress staged on the streets of Omaha in honor of the semi-centen- ial of Nebraska's statehood carried a message of pride to hearts that revere the deeds of pioneers. Not in the prehis- toric floats, the legions of Coronado, nor in the figures of trappers and fur traders, was the message glimpsed, nor yet in the gorgeous colors of statehood's fruition. It threaded through and linked up the primitive tools and vehicles with
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HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY. NEBRASKA.
which pioneer settlers trekked over prairies, deserts and mountains, uncovered the treasure houses of gold and silver and transformed the wilderness into fruitful fields.
"The prairie schooner and the patient plodding ox teams are as a mirage of long ago, almost unreal to people of an au- tomobile age. Yet they carried both power and sustenance, combined the pull and the meat, and enabled the pioneer to reach his destination. While lacking the speed of the horse and the mule, the ox team was well within the average re- sources of the home and fortune seekers, and thus became linked with the forces which implanted civilization in the west.
"These typical instrumentalties of western settlement merely glimpse the courage and fortitude of the men and women who employed them in their quest for material bet- terment. The hardships of primitive shelters, the struggle to wring from virgin soil uncertain crops, the lonely vigils in a hostile country, and the great distances which too often prevented neighborly co-operation -- all these and more united in testing the strength, confidence and determination of the empire makers. Their dauntless courage and sublime faith in the future shone forth with equal luster in the trek of Mor- mon converts behind pushcarts from the Missouri river to Salt Lake.
"There were heroes and heroines in the pioneer days. They were cast in large molds-large of heart, of generosity and of cheerfulness amid privations. Too many, unfortun- ately, filled nameless graves, succumbing to the rigors of cli- mate and primitive habitation, but those who overecame the hardships of the early days and lived to enjoy the fruition of their struggles deserved the crown and tribute of work nobly done."
CLOSING OF OUR SEWARD COUNTY HISTORY.
The closing of this work does not close Seward county history which will continue to the end of time, but we trust
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HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
that our efforts will aid others in producing records of past events, especially those which will never be repeated, their time and condition having passed to eternity and will never be known the second time, such as the sod house and dugout period together with the pioneer time in general. Ill health and other matters have combined to detain us in our work on this history. However it has proven to be a task that could not be accomplished in a day nor any other short pe- riod of time. While we are glad to say that it is done we cannot say we are entirely satisfied with it, and perhaps that is no exception to other authors in closing a work.
Fully realizing the fact that in these days of speed and hurry people do not care to read extended articles we have condenced the matter as much as details of facts will permit.
No printer can reliably read and correct the proof of his own work, but we trust that our little errors, though many, may for that reason, not be taken seriously nor draw attention of readers from the interesting features of the work.
We wish to extend our sincere thanks to Editor E. A. McNeil for his kindly assistance in the art features of this history. And we hold in greatful rememberance the valu- able and kind assistance in compiling it, rendered by Lewis S. Konkright of Seward.
INDEX TO CHAPTERS AND CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. Introductry. The vast plains area. The Path Finder and his path the artery of civilization west of the Missouri river. The California Trail, etc.
Pages 1 -- 3.
CHAPTER II. Nebraska. Territorial area and organiza- tion. The State. Area, rivers, land, counties etc. Ad- mission to the Union. 4 -- 6.
CHAPTER III. Seward County-I ts boundries, territory, population etc. Beaver Crossi ng -Its name-From what derived. The freight route. Historical Steam Wagon Road. 5 -- 9.
CHAPTER IV. Seward county's name. Its climate .- General homesteads, soldier's homesteads and railroad land. Homestead law. Amos Reed's tract. The
water. Springs and flowing wells. 10 -- 16
CHAPTER V. The soil of Seward county. . Indigen- ous people, wild game, fish and pests. Disappear be- fore approaching civilization. 17 -- 20
CHAPTER VI. Origin of the Great American Desert's name. Drouth, dust and sand storms. Rain, snow and wind storms. ": : 21 -- 30
CHAPTER VII. Beaver Crossing's first settlement a result of the civil war. The ranchers. John E. Fouse, Daniel Millspaw, William J. Thompson and Roland Reed. 31 -- 35
CHAPTER VIII. Agriculture in pioneer days. Hazardous experiments improve productions. Disadvantageous early markets. 36 -- 43
CHAPTER IX. Breaking prairie. Sod houses and dug- outs. How to build them. Pages 44 -- 48
CHAPTER X. Amusements. A popular song by two popular young men. A 4th of July celebration of pio- neer type. 49 -- 54.
CHAPTER XI. The timber craze of the first settlers. Wind breaks for orchards. Fruit.
CHAHTER XII. Beaver Crossing. Pioneer postoffices and postmasters. Star route served on back of broncho.
55 -- 57.
INDEX TO CHAPTERS AND CONTENTS.
Beaver Crossing moved. Its name and new location a misfit --- A story. Pages 58 -- 68
CHPTER XIII, Pioneer towns. Stores, saw and grist
mills. Bridges and highways. 69 -- 82
46
CHAPTER XIV. Pioneer schools of Seward County. 83 -- 88
CHAPTER XV. Ordinary customes, habits, dress, and foods of the pioneer cetizens of Seward county. " 89 -- 91
CHAPTER XVI. Pioneer horses, mules and work cattle. Grasshoppers. 92 -- 98
CHAPTER XVII. Exciting rail road bond campaign 'of 1871. 99-106
CHAPTER XVIII. Church conditions in pioneer times in Seward county.
106 -- 108
CHAPTER XIX. Past and present political events and conditions in Seward county.
66 109 -- 113
.. CHAPTER XX. Criminality. Nathan Clough, George 1. Monroe and other murders committed in Seward county. 114 -- 128
CHAPTER XXI The precincts -- their location by govern- ment survey-Range and Town numbers. Precinct representation on county board. Its change. 66 129 -- 138
CHAPTER XXII. W. W. Cox and his history of Seward county. Its dedication. His daughter's touching por- tray of her pioneer childhood home. " 139 -- 145
CHAPTER XXIII. Seward county's newspapers. 66
146 -- 151
CHAPTER XXIV. Early official conditions in Seward county. The first election. First board of county commissioners and county officals. Tax asseeements and collections. 152 -- 154
CHAPTER XXV. Precinct settlements and Pioneer Set- tlers. 155 -- 172
CHAPTER XXVI. THE MIRAGE. ١٩ 172 -- 174
CHAPTER XXVII. Deaths of Seward county pioneers. 175 -- 191
CHAPTER XXVIII. Seward county Agricultural Society and other societies and lodges. 202 -- 204
INDEX TO CHAPTERS AND CONTENTS.
CAHPTER XXIX. Notable advancements in prosperity
leading up from pioneer times to the great changes to modern times. Pages 205 -- 209
CHAPTER XXX. A reflection and backward glance at pioneer days gone by. 210 -- 212
CHAPTER XXXI. The changes from pioneer conditions to those of the new era. A startling prophetic vision of the golden future upon the great expanse of the Western Plains of 1866. 213 -- 216
CHAPTER XXXII. Seward County-Its towns, post- offices, schools, etc, after the changes from pioneer con- ditions. 217 -- 247
CHAPTER XXXIII. The Chicago & Nort Western Rail Road in Seward County. 248 -. 249
CHAPTER XXXIV. Seward county farms and farmers. The county's agricultural wealth. Extended drouth period. Schools and school system. Gold excitement 250 -- 253 CHAPTER XXXV. Miscellaneous items. Produce sta- tistics of mid-pioneer period. First marriages in Sew- ard county. Rattlesnakes more dangerous than Indi- ans. Seward county court house and courthouse prop- ositions. Death of Etta Shattuck. Rememberance of Henry Cashler. 254 -- 262 66
CHAPTER XXXVI. Beaver Crossing Telephone Com- pany and its changes. Additional early settlers.
263 -- 268
CHAPTER XXXVII. Additional list of deaths of early settlers. Fatal accidents and untimely deaths. Sui- cides.
66 267 -- 285
CHAPTER XXXVIII. Soldier eliment in the early settle- ment. Glance at the advance guards of civilization. An eloquent narraation of pioneer accheivements from the Omaha Bee-promptings of the Semi-centenial celebration of Nebraska's statehood. 286 -- 291
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