History of Custer County, Nebraska; a narrative of the past, with special emphasis upon the pioneer period of the county's history, its social, commercial, educational, religous, and civic developement from the early days to the present time, Part 116

Author: Gaston, William Levi, 1865- [from old catalog]; Humphrey, Augustin R., 1859- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western publishing and engraving company
Number of Pages: 1180

USA > Nebraska > Custer County > History of Custer County, Nebraska; a narrative of the past, with special emphasis upon the pioneer period of the county's history, its social, commercial, educational, religous, and civic developement from the early days to the present time > Part 116

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The McDonalds have a half-section of land and rent 420 acres where they now live. They are hard-working, industrious, painstaking people and enjoy the respect and confidence of a large circle of friends. They are socially connected with the best circle in the commu- nity and are members of the Catholic church. They have two children - Ellen. aged four- teen years (1919), and Loyde, aged twelve years. Independent in politics, Mr. McDon- ald insists that it is his right to select his candidate when exercising his election fran- chise.

JOE TALBOT, who belongs to the younger generation of representatives of the farming industry of Custer county, is showing judg- ment, skill, and good management in the op- eration of 290 acres of land near Berwyn. This property has been his home from boyhood, and since he has assumed its management he has attained results that mark him as one of the progressive and energetic young farmers of his community.

Mr. Talbot was born in Missouri, May 6, 1896, and is a son of Benjamin and Minerva Helen ( Evans) Talbot. His father was born in Illinois, in 1850, and there received his education and was reared to agricultural pur- suits. When still a young man he came to Butler county, Nebraska, where, in 1874. he was married to Minerva H. Evans, who was born in 1857, in Wisconsin, a daughter of Sterling and Mary J. (McKnight) Evans, the former a native of West Virginia and the lat- ter of Wisconsin. The parents of Mrs. Talbot were married in Wisconsin and in 1869 came to Butler county and located on a homestead, later moving to a farm in Custer county. Fol- lowing the death of her husband, Mrs. Evans went to live with her daughter, at Berwyn, with whom she now makes her home. Mr. and Mrs. Talbot became the parents of nine children, of whom three are living: Ethel, the

wife of Owen Miller, engaged in farming in Custer county ; Cora, the wife of U. Sorensen, also a Custer county farmer ; and Joe, of this review. At the time he started housekeeping, Ar. Talbot's cash resources were represented by the sum of fourteen dollars, but this amount was sufficient to start him on his way to suc- cess, and as the years passed he accumulated more and more property until, at the time of his death, he had 590 acres of land, all of which he had obtained solely through his own efforts. He was a man of marked business ability, shrewd and far-seeing, and able at once to recognize an opportunity, the while he always bore an excellent reputation for in- tegrity and commanded the esteem of the peo- ple of his community. He was a Republican in politics, but did not seek office, while his religious faith was that of the Church of God. His widow still survives him and makes her home at Berwyn. she likewise being a member of the Church of God.

Joe Talbot attended the district schools of Custer county, as well as those of Ansley and Janesville. He was brought up to habits of industry and integrity and was taught the principles of farming and stock-raising, so that he was competent to be named the successor of his father when the latter died. He was married before attaining his majority, January 18, 1917, to Miss Vera Gebhart, who was born at Ansley, Custer county, a daughter of Fred Gebhart, a native of Germany. Mr. Geb- hart immigrated to the United States in young manhood, and was one of the early pioneers of Custer county, where he settled in 1875. For many years he was successfully engaged in farming, but at present is living in Broken Bow.

Alr. Talbot is now engaged in operating 290 acres of land. this property being owned by his mother and being a part of the estate of his father. This land is under a high state of cultivation, and by reason of the fertility of its soil and the ability of its manager is a pro- ducer of big crops, while its buildings are commodious and modern and its equipment up-to-date in every way. Mr. Talbot has not had time thus far to engage in activities aside from those connected with his farm work. In political affairs he maintains an independent stand.

JOHN A. MYERS. - One of the younger farmers of West Table who has made good use of his opportunities, and by diligence and a display of good judgment has won for him-

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

self a place among the progressive men of his community, is John Abner Myers, of whom mention should be made in this history.

Mr. Myers was born in Jersey county, Illi- nois. February 24, 1874, and is a son of Henry H. Myers, whose record as a pioneer settler of Custer county is to be found elsewhere in this volume.

John A. Myers was a lad of nine years when the family came to Nebraska, and the home was established in Boone county. Two years later witnessed the packing up and again going to a new country, this time to Custer county. He attended the district school which his father helped organize, his time as a boy being divided between his studies in the school- room, the pleasures of the playground, and assisting in the work of the farm. As his years and strength increased, he assumed more and more the heavier tasks, and under the in- structions of his father he learned the best method of planting, caring for, and harvesting crops, so that when he became a man he was in a position to take up farming on his own account. At first he operated land as a tenant, meeting with the success that enabled him to see his way clearly to invest in land of his own. He purchased 160 acres that had been entered by his maternal grandfather in an early day, as a homestead. The place was un- improved when it came into his possession, but he has erected a large frame house with suitable barn and outbuildings for the shelter of grain and stock, and he is to-day the owner of 400 acres of valuable land, devoted to gen- eral farming and stock-raising.

As a boy Mr. Myers witnessed the hardships of the early days, and as a young man starting out upon his own career he shared in some of the same privations and trials as the older settlers. He has often unhitched his team at noon and gone to find a water-hole to supply his horses with water before he would go to the house for his dinner. He has hauled water for long distances, to supply stock and for family use.

February 24, 1897, Mr. Myers was united in marriage to Barbara Thostensen, a daugh- ter of Zachariah Thostensen, an early settler of Custer county who now lives retired in Broken Bow and whose record as a pioneer will be found elsewhere. Mr. and Mrs. Myers have seven children.

Mr. and Mrs. Myers are members of the Methodist church. He is a Republican in politics and has rendered efficient service as a member of the school board. By untiring industry and a display of good judgment he has become one of the substantial men of his

community, and he is held in the highest of esteem by all with whom he comes in contact.

JOHN C. WEHLING. - By reason of his sterling character and large and worthy achievement, John C. Wehling is a citizen who may well be honored and valued by Custer county, within whose borders he has main- tained his residence for more than thirty-four years, so that he is clearly entitled to pioneer distinction. His fine farm estate, comprising 1,240 acres, is eligibly situated about twelve miles west of Broken Bow, and is one of the model places of the county, so that it is grati- fying to present in connection with this sketch an attractive view of this admirable farm property. The career of Mr. Wehling has been marked by purposeful energy and well directed endeavors, so that he has been one of the constructive forces applied in the splen- did civic and industrial development and pro- gress of Custer county.

Mr. Wehling was born in Germany, on the 25th of August. 1850, and after he passed the school age he learned the carpenter's trade. After he had attained to his majority, in ac- cord with the regulations of his native land, he served two and one-half years as a soldier in the German army, in which connection he has sagely stated that he learned obedience, frugality, and work. He received his discharge from the army in the year 1874, and in that same year he severed the ties that bound him to his home and fatherland and came to the United States. He landed in the port of New York City and thence proceeded forthwith to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he was em- ployed six months as a carpenter, by the firm of Brandt, Bennett & Company. Work then became slack and he was discharged by the firm. After that he worked in a livery stable for his board. thus continuing until the fol- lowing spring. For the ensuing five years he was employed in a second-hand store in the Wisconsin metropolis, and this service he then abandoned to assume a position as driver for a livery stable, an occupation that engaged his attention for two years. In 1880, as a member of a Milwaukee turnverein, Mr. Weh- ling returned to Germany. He remained for an interval at Frankfort on the Main, and thence proceeded to his native village, where his marriage was solemnized soon afterward.

In 1881, in company with his young wife, Justine, Mr. Wehling returned to the United States, and it is worthy of special note in this connection that 150 other young folk from Germany immigrated to America with Mr.

JOHN C. WEHLING AND FAMILY

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

and Mrs. Wehling at this time. After landing in New York City Mr. and Mrs. Wehling came direct to Madison county, Nebraska, where they remained three years. Mr. Weh- ling then sold his 160 acres in that county and removed to Boone county, where he purchased a quarter-section of land, near Albion. This was in the year 1884, and within a short time after his arrival in Boone county Mr. Wehling there formed the acquaintance of Thomas Fay, who offered him his pre-emption claim in Cus- ter county. In obtaining this property, Mr. Wehling paid to Mr. Fay the sum of $257 for the latter's relinquishment. He then filed on the claim as a pre-emption, and in six months he perfected his title to the property, after paying to the government the sum of $200.

Mr. Wehling has given the following inter- esting account concerning incidents of his pioneer experience in Custer county, and the same is well worthy of perpetuation in this sketch :

"In March, 1885, I removed to Custer county. At the time I arrived in Broken Bow the people here told me I was crazy to es- tablish myself on the West Table, as no water was to be had there. In that locality I met Hiram Caswell, who had a well outfit. Amos Gandy, who had a mortgage of $140 on this outfit, assigned this chattel mortgage to me and I moved the well outfit to my farm on the West Table. In October, 1885, Caswell and I attempted to construct a well on the place. We bored down to a depth of 140 feet and this was as far as the drill would go down. I heard that Charles Milligan, residing in the Eureka valley, had 200 feet more of the well- auger than I had, and this extra supply would give me a total of 340 feet. In order to obtain the outfit and services of Mr. Milligan I had to give him a mortgage on my two mules. Then I went to Plum Creek and bought tubing for 400 feet. We put the tubing down 300 feet and then came to quicksand. Under these conditions we used the sand-pump for fifty feet and then struck water, which raised up for fifty feet in the tubing. I then pro- ceeded to have a bucket constructed, this be- ing eight feet high, and with this equipment I was able thereafter to draw water for do- mestic and other farm uses. For two years I used an old mare to pull up our water supply, and afterward I bought a windmill, besides putting iron casing in the well. This well stood in a lagoon, and after it had been in service six years it was destroyed by a cloud- burst that struck this part of the county. In 1891 Charles Willis, of Broken Bow, con- structed the hydraulic well which I am using

at the present time, and which is one of the four now on my farm."

Mr. Wehling is now the owner of two sections of land on the West Table. He erected on the home place an attractive and modern residence of eight rooms, and he has given to his valuable landed estate the consistent name of "Die Deutchie Farm," the accompanying illustration showing the legal authorization of this name. On his home place Mr. Wehling gave thirty-three years of assiduous, unremit- ting, and well directed toil, and the results of all this are plainly shown in the fine farm es- tate of the present day. Thus Mr. Wehling is well entitled to the ease and comfort which he has enjoyed since his retirement from the farm and his removal to Broken Bow, where he and his wife have a pleasant home that is known for its generous hospitality and good cheer. Mrs. Wehling has been a true help- meet to her husband during the many years of their gracious companionship. They became the parents of five sons and two daughters, all of whom are living except one, John, who was drowned in a water tank on the old home farm, when about eighteen months old. The sons of Mr. and Mrs. Wehling have attained to maturity and are accounting well for them- selves as productive workers in the world. A fitting close for this review are the following reminiscences, which are given in the words of Mr. Wehling himself :

"In March, 1886, I went to Plum Creek for flour, and in making the trip I drove a four-mule team. I loaded 3,000 pounds of flour and other goods and then started for home. Coming close to Charles Finlen in crossing a bridge, the bridge gave away and we fell into the water. I lost 600 pounds of my flour. Mr. Finlen dried my clothes for me and when I arrived in Broken Bow, with the remainder of my flour and other supplies, a constable arrested me for having destroyed the bridge. He took me before Justice of the Peace Olcott, who, after hearing my account, discharged me.

"In October, 1888, horse thieves stole two of my finest horses - four and five years old respectively and weighing 2,400 pounds. I called on Sheriff Penn and told him my story. He assigned to my case his deputy, who was Jesse Flora. We were both green in the mat- ter of detective skill. We trailed the horse thieves to a point ten miles northwest of North Platte. The thieves stayed all night at the home of Joseph Wolfor, and thence we fol- lowed them into Colorado, where we lost all trace of them. I never saw my team again. Penn ran for sheriff again and he looked well

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JOHN C. WEHLING

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

to his political fences. His deputy was as green as I -and greener yet. His activities in connection with the attempt to recover my team clearly justify this statement."

WILLIAM SMITH. - Among the well known farmers of Custer county whose in- dustry, energy, and good management have placed them in comfortable circumstances and gained for them a reputable standing among their townsmen, is William Smith. Mr. Smith is one of the early settlers of the Ansley dis- trict, where he filed on a homestead in 1884, and during his career here he has been known as a constructive and public-spirited citizen and a supporter of movements which have led to advancement and resulted in development.

William Smith was born on a farm in Wash- ington county, Iowa, May 24, 1863, a son of John and Nancy ( Morris) Smith. His father was born in Pennsylvania, in 1826, and was married in that state, where the mother was born in 1836. Not long after their marriage they went to Iowa and in 1870 they came to Saline county, Nebraska. In 1884 they came to Custer county, where they passed the re- mainder of their lives, the father dying four years after their arrival, and the mother hav- ing survived him until 1911 and having been seventy-five years old at the time of her de- mise. Mr. Smith was a Republican, and he and his wife, who were industrious and hon- orable farming people, were consistent mem- bers of the Presbyterian church. They were the parents of eight children, of whom seven are living : Henderson, who resides in Oregon ; O. F., who is a nurseryman of Blackfoot, Idaho: Emma, who is the wife of Arel Real, a retired farmer of Ansley: William, whose name initiates this sketch; Florence, who is the wife of S. A. Gardner, of Salem, Wash- ington ; Mrs. Seth Gibson, who resides at For- est Grove, Oregon ; and Mrs. Charles Daniel, who is a resident of Spanaway, Washington.

William Smith gained his early education in the common schools of Nebraska and as a youth learned the trade of butcher, which he followed for several years. This vocation, however, did not prove congenial, and he sub- sequently turned his attention to farming and stock-feeding, in which he met with success. This encouraged him, in 1884, to come to Cus- ter county and secure a homestead near Ans- ley, and, although he was but twenty-one years old at the time, he immediately displayed abil- ities that gave him an even opportunity for success with the older and more experienced men of the community. His advancement has

been continuous and consistent, and from the time that he dug the first well at Ansley and duplicated that accomplishment at Mason City, he has continued to show himself a man of advanced views and progressive ideas. He has had his share of success and his share of reverses, but successes have been in the ma- jority, and as a result he is to-day accounted one of his community's well-to-do men. His first house, built to succeed the small habita- tion of pioneer days, was destroyed by a tor- nado which visited these parts, but this he subsequently replaced with a more modern structure, commodious in size, attractive in appearance, and with all modern conveniences. His other buildings are proportionately sub- stantial and handsome, and his machinery and appurtenances are of the latest manufacture. He is a Republican and a public-spirited citi- zen, but has not been a candidate for office. He and Mrs. Smith were charter members of the local organization of the Royal Neigh- bors, to which order they still belong, and Mr. Smith is also a member of the Masonic fraternity and the Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica. Mrs. Smith holds membership in the Methodist Episcopal church at Ansley.

In April, 1888, Mr. Smith was united in marriage with Miss Alice Kestner, who was born in Belmont county, Ohio, a daughter of Henry and Mary (Howard) Kestner. Mr. Kestner was born in Germany, and was four- teen years of age when he came to the United States, settling in Ohio, from which state he moved to lowa. At the time of the Civil war he enlisted in an Iowa regiment of volunteer infantry and served bravely for the Union for three years, establishing a splendid record. In 1881 he removed to Seward county, Nebraska, where both he and his wife were residing at the time of their death. Eight children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Smith; Glenn is engaged in farming in Custer county ; Ralph is a member of the United States navy ; Ray is farming in Custer county ; Kathryn resides with her parents: Walter is with the American Expeditionary Forces in France at the time of this writing ; and Edith, Dean, and Dale re- main with their parents.

MISS ELIZA DOWSE. - Both personally and professionally is Miss Dowse to be desig- nated as one of the most highly esteemed wom- en of Custer county, which has represented her home in a generic sense since the year of her birth, when she was brought here by her par- ents, who became sterling pioneers of this now favored section of Nebraska. While she has

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

thus looked upon Custer county as her home, Miss Dowse is known in other sections of Nebraska and also in other states of the Union, her mature life having been one marked by earnest service and distinctive . usefulness.

Miss Eliza Dowse, educator and trained nurse, was born at Grinnell, Iowa, on the 13th of March, 1873, and she is a daughter of Lewis R. and Sarah M. (Wagner) Dowse, who now have the distinction of being the oldest living pioneers of Custer county, Sam- uel Wagner, father of Mrs. Dowse, having been one of the very first settlers in Custer county. The parents of Miss Dowse came to this county in 1873, long before the great rush of homeseekers to this part of the state, and the government land which they then obtained constitutes the fine homestead on which they have lived during the long intervening years. The hardships which they endured in their isolated frontier home were serious enough at the time and called for great courage and re- sourcefulness, but all of these tribulations are virtually forgotten by the venerable couple save in a retrospective glance from the van- tage point of their present-day comfort, ease, and prosperity - the due rewards for years of earnest toil and endeavor. They have a wide acquaintanceship, and in their charitable and kindly attitude and their interest in others is still displayed that sympathetic friendliness that was so strong a tie among the early set- tlers of the county. Mr. and Mrs. Dowse, of whom further mention is made on other pages of this publication, thus have a circle of friends that is limited only by that of their acqain- tanees. They are earnest members of the Con- gregational church. In politics Lewis R. Dowse gives unfaltering allegiance to the Re- publican party, and while he has never sought or desired the honors or emoluments of public office, he has at all times been loyal and pub- lic-spirited as a citizen and has lent his in- fluence and co-operation in the furtherance of the civic and material development and ad- vancement of the county. Concerning their children the following brief data are consist- ently entered: William R. is a farmer near Comstock, this county and the maiden name of his wife was Florence Murphy; Eliza, the immediate subject of this review, was the next in order of birth ; Alice is the wife of Charles R. Sims, a farmer near Newkirk, Oklahoma : Lewis S., who married Miss Marie Pickel, op- erates a saw mill at Lake Stevens. Washing- ton : Lawrence E., who married Miss Mabel Miner, is a farmer near Comstock. Custer county : Elmer E. married Miss Elsie Day and they reside on the old and historic Dowse

homestead, near Comstock, the same being under his active management : Ethel M. is the wife of Frank S. Steele, a shoe manufacturer at Comstock; and Nellie died at the age of seven years. Mr. and Mrs. Dowse have also an adopted daughter, Faye, who is at the present time in the service of the government, as a skilled stenographer and bookkeeper, in the city of Seattle, Washington.

As previously stated, Miss Eliza Dowse was not yet one year old when the family home was established in Custer county, and here she was reared on the old pioneer homestead of her parents, under the conditions and influ- ences that marked the early period in the history of the county. Her initial educational advantages were those afforded in the primi- tive rural school in the vicinity of her home, and later she attended the high school at Ar- cadia, as well as summer sessions of the nor- mal school at Broken Bow. That she made good use of the scholastic opportunities thus afforded her, is shown in the marked success and popularity which she gained as a repre- sentative of the pedagogic profession. For a period of fourteen years she was continu- ously engaged in teaching in the public schools, and her services were thus given not only in Nebraska but also in Idaho and Massachusetts. She proved very successful as an instructor and gained the affectionate regard of the many pupils who thus came within the sphere of her influence. With her fine intellectual attain- ments and executive ability, Miss Dowse has the dominating sympathy and kindliness that ever beget confidence and love in the. school- room, and the same qualities have also inured greatly to her success in the field of endeavor in which she is now working with character- istic earnestness and ability and with a high sense of personal stewardship. Upon her re- tirement from the pedagogic profession Miss Dowse began a thorough course of training in hospital work, and on the 16th of October, 1915, she was graduated as a trained nurse, in the celebrated training school maintained in connection with the Massachusetts General Hospital in the city of Boston. Since that time she has followed the work of her profes- sion in Custer county, and her ministrations have done much in the alleviation of human suffering and distress. She finds satisfaction in being a member of a professional sister- hood whose heroism has met the highest test during the climacteric period of the great world war, for greater heroism than that of the devoted nurses who have ministered with all of self-abnegation and zeal to the wounded soldiers in France and Belgium has never

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

been recorded in the annals of humanity. Miss Dowse remains on the old homestead at such times as her professional duties do not re- quire her presence elsewhere, and she is known and loved as one of the noble women of the county in which virtually her entire life has been passed.

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History of Custer County, Nebraska; a narrative of the past, with special emphasis upon the pioneer period of the county's history, its social, commercial, educational, religous, and civic developement from the early days to the present time, Part 116

Author: Gaston, William Levi, 1865- [from old catalog]; Humphrey, Augustin R., 1859- [from old catalog] Publication date: 1919 Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western publishing and engraving company Number of Pages: 1180

Author: Gaston, William Levi, 1865- [from old catalog]; Humphrey, Augustin R., 1859- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western publishing and engraving company
Number of Pages: 1180