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 123

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 123

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JOSEPH M. GIDDINGS. - No one who has lived and labored in the vicinity of Ansley since the early '80s has more emphatically gained the good will and confidence of his fellow men than Joseph M. Giddings, a Civil war veteran now living in retirement, after years of agricultural effort. Not only have industry and perseverance contributed to the usefulness of this highly respected citizen, but an inheritance of old New England traits has lent peculiar strength and conservatism to his character and influence. He was born in Mc- Henry county, Illinois, September 4, 1840, and is a son of George and Harriet (Montague) Giddings.

On both sides of the family Mr. Giddings is descended from English forebears, for his pa- ternal grandfather. Josiah Giddings, was born in England, early removed to Vermont and passed his life there, and his maternal grand- father, Joseph Montague, was likewise an Englishman by birth, was an early settler and farmer of Vermont, and later a resident of Massachusetts. George Giddings was born at Bakersfield, Vermont, January 15, 1813, and as a youth went to Massachusetts, where he met and married Harriet Montague, who was born in that state. in September. 1812. Al- most immediately after their union they set forth for the west to make a home, first going to DuPage county, Illinois, and later to Mc- Henry county, that state, where they lived for a number of years. In 1844 they penetrated the wilds of Winnebago county, Wisconsin. where, in a virgin country, thev settled on a homestead. There they rounded out their ca- reers, Mrs. Giddings dying in 1900 and Mr. Giddings having passed away a number of years previously. They experienced all the hardship of the wild life of the pioneers, but

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their sturdy New England characteristics car- ried them safely through, and they lived to see their property become valuable, to rear their children to honorable lives, and to secure unto themselves ties of respect and friendship. They were faithful members of the Seventh Day Adventist church, and as a Republican Mr. Giddings was frequently elected to positions of public honor and trust. They were the par- ents of seven children, of whom four are liv- ing: Elvira, who is the widow of Chauncey Ellerton, and resides in Wisconsin : Joseph M , who is the subject of this review: Amy, who resides at Iliawatha, Kansas, and is the widow of Frank Kimball; and Ralph. who is a vet- erinary surgeon in Wisconsin.

Joseph M. Giddings was about four years of age when taken by his parents to Wisconsin, and in the primitive country schools of Winne- bago county he secured a somewhat elementary training. Attending school in the winter months, his summers from early boyhood were given over to work on the home farm, and he thus grew to sturdy and well trained manhood. When he heard of the call for troops, issued by President Lincoln, he was anxious to join the Union army during the early months of the Civil war, but his parents were against his be- coming a soldier and as he was an obedient youth he respected their commands. However, on his twenty-first birthday, he felt that he was free. and immediately enlisted. September 4, 1861. in Company K, Eleventh Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. When his term expired he veteranized with the same com- pany and regiment, and his service therewith continued until beyond the close of the war. he receiving his honorable discharge and be- ing mustered out of the service September 6. 1865. His engagements were numerous. in- cluding the siege of Vicksburg. and other im- portant and bloody battles of the big struggle between the forces of the north and south, and through all the vicissitudes of camp and army life he comported himself as a brave and faith- ful soklier. courageous in battle, and strict in his performance of duty.

When he returned to civilian life, Mr. Gid- dlings resumed the vocation of farming, and in 1871 he founded a home of his own. when he married Miss Tulia Sperry, who likewise was born in MeHenry county, Illinois, and who is a daughter of Rais and Sarah (Lilly) Sperry, natives of Dover Center, Ohio. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Sperry lived for a time in Illinois, but later moved to Wiscon- sin, where, in Winnebago county. Mrs. Sperry clied. Her husband then came to live with his daughter, Mrs. Giddings, and he died in Ne-

braska. Mr. and Mrs. Giddings became the parents of two children: Lillie, who married Wes Lee and lives on a farm at Polson, Mon- tana : and Ira, who married Alice Sherbeck. and resides on his father's old homestead.

In 1873 Mr. and Mrs. Giddings came to Nebraska and settled in York county, where they made their home for two years. Their next place of residence was Custer county. where, on a farm of 160 acres, which Mr. Giddings homesteaded, they continued to live until their retirement to Ansley, in 1912. Here they have since resided quietly, in their mod- ern home. surrounded by all the comforts which they richly deserve, because of their years of strenuous and continued labor.

Mr. Giddings is a valued member of the Grand Army of the Republic, while Mrs. Gid- dings belongs to Stedman Circle, of the Wom- en's Relief Corps. In politics Mr. Giddings is a Republican, and on various occasions he has efficiently discharged the duties of township offices to which he has been elected by his fellow citizens.

MARIUS LANGE. - Eminently success- ful in all his farming operations, eminently successful in all of his dealings and specula- tions, is the way to describe what has been accomplished by the man whose name initiates this review.

Marius Lange was born in Denmark, on the 13th day of June. 1863. and he is a son of Theodore and Anna (Sorrenson) Lange. both representatives of fine old Scandinavian stock. In the father's family were seven chil- dren - Marius, James, Lewis, Christina Sor- renson, Lena Robertson, Anna Robertson, and Theresa Syerson. Concerning his early life. Marius Lange says that when a mere lad he herded sheep for a neighbor for six months. for which he received ten erowns - equal to two dollars and fifty cents. This was the first money that came into his possession and is in reality the foundation of his present compe- tency. He early formed the habit of trading knives, watches, and other boyish commodities. and from these transactions he obtained a little money. When fourteen years of age he was apprenticed to a cabinetmaker, and he worked for four years in learning his trade. during which time he received only his board. After working twelve hours a day for his board, he had to work nights and Sundays to earn his clothes. When eighteen years of age he came to the United States and obtained a position in a rolling mill in New York, where he worked for a short time - till he got enough

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money to reach Chicago. There he worked in H. H. Andrews' bank-furnishing establish- ment and he stayed with this concern for four years. It was in Chicago that he led to the marriage altar Miss Christina Christensen, a lady of Danish blood and, like himself, a na- tive of Denmark. She is a daughter of An- crew and lda Christensen, in whose immediate family were four children - Mrs. Lange, Peter, Catherine Sorrenson, and Hannah Cas- persen. Mr. and Mrs. Lange established a home of their own and in time supplied it with all comforts and necessities. The stork has been kind to them and thirteen children have been born to them. Of the number ten are living: Ida is the wife of Charles Booth, a farmer in Kimball county, Nebraska. and they have five children. Anna is the wife of Willis Chadd, a farmer living near Callaway. Sophia is the wife of Chris Rookstool, a Calla- way farmer, and they have had two children, one of whom died in infancy. Theodore, who is farming near Callaway, married Ethel Hendricks, and they have one child. The mili- tary draft for the great war placed Theodore Lange in the 4th class. Andrew, who married Mabel Kolbo, lives near Pine Bluff, Wyoming, where he is farming. There are two children in his home. Lena married Bert Holibaugh, a Dawson county farmer, and they have two children. Nels married May Woods and lives on a farm near Callaway. The draft exemp- tion board had not yet classified him at the time this sketch was revised. Veile is the wife of William Helmuth, an Oconto farmer. Julius and James are both assisting their fa- ther on the home farm. Leetta, the youngest, is eleven years of age, and is pursuing her studies in the seventh grade of the public schools. She is especially fond of music. in which she is taking a special course.

The Langes came to Custer county in 1886 and settled on what is known as the I,ange Table, north of the Redfern Table and eight miles south of Callaway. The old habit of trading. contracted in youth, broke out again. in after years and has always been a source of some profit to Mr. Lange. He recently sold his home place, consisting of 1,350 acres, for $47,000, and he is still the owner of I,100 acres of good Custer county soil. His health is not good, and he and his wife will travel and investigate conditions in other states be- fore they decide upon their relocation. Few men of Custer county have been as successful as Mr. Lange. When he started in Custer county he had nothing, and was three hundred dollars in debt. The entire family, children and all, are connected with the Lutheran

church. Mr. Lange is an Odd Fellow, affili- ates with the Democratic party, and is one of the valued citizens of the county.

CHARLES E. BRANSTITER. - One of the more recent settlers of Custer county is Charles E. Branstiter, who is carrying on farming and stock-raising near Lomax Sta- tion. He has demonstrated his ability as an agriculturist and by honorable dealing has won the respect and friendship of his neigh. bors. Mr. Branstiter was born in Nemaha county, Nebraska, August 26, 1882, the sixth in order of birth of the ten children born to Daniel M. and Mary A. (Horn) Branstiter, the former of whom was born in Illinois, and the latter in Nebraska. The surviving chil- dren are: Claude M., Jacob L., William H., Dan M., John, Charles E., Mrs. Ethel Van Houten, and Florence. The father was a farmer all his life. He died in Nebraska, May 2, 1915.

Charles E. Branstiter attended the country schools in boyhood and grew up on his father's farm. Farming has been his business all his life, and as he is an intelligent and enterpris- ing man he has made his vocation profitable. He has been established in Custer county since February, 1918, when he bought 320 acres of what is known as Lomax land, situated near Lomax Station, a fine property that Mr. Bran- stiter is rapidly developing and improving. When he was not more than eight years old Mr. Branstiter went on record concerning the matter of good wages being the due of farm laborers, his uncle, Charles Horn, being fond of telling a humorous story concerning a cer- tain job of dropping corn from an old corn- planter, when there was much discussion as to salary.

Mr. Branstiter was married in 1909, in Ne- maha county, Nebraska, to Miss Cora B. Cath- cart, who was born in that county and who is a daughter of William C. and Mary C. (Starr) Cathcart, the latter being a native of Illinois. The father of Mrs. Branstiter was a native of Pennsylvania and from that state he went forth as a soldier in the Civil War. Afterward he located in Nebraska and he became well known in Nemaha county, where, with his family, he belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church. Mrs. Branstiter has two sisters, Mrs. Nettie Bailey, and Mrs. Lala Weaver. Mr. and Mrs. Branstiter have one son, Beryl E., an engaging child of three years. Mrs. Bran- stiter, as implied above, was reared in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal church, but Mr. Branstiter belongs to the Christian church. He takes a good citizen's interest in public

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matters and gives hearty support to the Dem- ocratic party, but his personal affairs have up to the present time so engaged his atten- tion that he has never entertained a desire for public office of any kind. He is well known in several communities, through his member- ship in the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows and the Modern Woodmen of America - orders largely made up, in this section, of representative and reliable men.

EDWIN F. MYERS. - The kind of energy, resource, and initiative required of the young man who would succeed in any of the learned professions, seems to have been an integral part of the equipment of Edwin F. Myers when he entered upon his career. He was still a school boy when he began laying practical plans for a thorough education, and his faith in himself has been fully vindicated, for to-day he is one of the successful lawyers practicing at the Cus- ter county bar. Mr. Myers' birthplace was Georgetown, Custer county. He was born November 22, 1879, in a cedar-log house such as all the more industrious of the early settlers provided for their families.

From boyhood Mr. Myers showed marked ambition and business ability. He did his grammar-school work in the country school dis- trict and at the age of fourteen years he entered the Broken Bow high school. At the age of nineteen he built the two-story building where his office is now located, and liere ran a bicycle shop on the lower floor, for two years. At the expiration of that time he sold out to enter the University of Nebraska, and had $1.000 of clear profit.

In 1904 Mr. Myers was graduated from the State University and immediately entered the Harvard Law School, at Cambridge, Massa- chusetts. He was graduated from Harvard. with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, in 1907, passed the bar examinations in Massachusetts, and was admitted to practice there. His first practical work was done in the collection de- partment of Marshall Field & Company's great retail store in Chicago, where he worked dur- ing the fall and winter following his gradua- tion. He there became a member of the bar of the state of Illinois.

In the spring of 1908 Mr. Myers came to Broken Bow, and opened a law office, as the partner of Judge Silas .A. Holcomb, former governor and former justice of the Nebraska supreme court. This partnership continued until January 1. 1910, since which date he has conducted his law office alone.

October 29, 1910, recorded the marriage of

Mr. Myers to Miss C. Julia Haumont, daugh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. Jules Haumont. Mrs. Myers was born at Elton, Nebraska, May 18. 1890. To this union there have been born four sons - Edwin Jules Francis, seven years of age (1918) : Kenneth Lucian, aged six years : Frank Marcellus, aged two years; and an infant. John Robert.

At the State University Mr. Myers was cap- tain of the football team of his class, as well as a member of his class baseball team, and the second football team. At Harvard he won the much coveted "H" as a member of the swimming team. He also played on the first football team in one of the early games of the season but was put out for the remainder of the season by an injury to his face, and the following year the rules were changed to bar graduates.

Since coming to Broken Bow Mr. Myers has been instrumental in organizing the Round Table Club, which meets once each month dur- ing the winter season, for a good dinner and the discussion of some live topic.

Three of Mr. Myers' direct ancestor on the maternal side fought as patriot soldiers during the war of the Revolution, and this gives him membership in the Sons of the American Revolution. His mother's people on both sides came from old colonial stock. She is one of the more than 5.000 direct descendants of Daniel Shedd, whose landing place of 1636. now a part of greater Boston, is marked by a marble shaft. One of the very prominent members of this family is the capitalist. John Graves Shedd, president of Marshall Field & Company, of Chicago, chairman of the board of directors of the Illinois Central Railroad and prominent in other big business institutions of his city and state.

The name of Mr. Myers' maternal grand- father was Bezaleel Shedd and his maternal grandmother was Ann ( Prouty) Shedd. The Proutys descended from Richard Prouty, who landed in America in 1667. This Prouty fam- ily has furnished a member of the federal in- terstate commerce commission, a governor, and two congressmen.

Mr. Myers' father is John E. Myers, who is spending his declining years in the milder cli- mate of Boise, Idaho. He was born August 22, 1841, in Sussex county, New Jersey, and is a son of Jacob W. and Hannali I. (Saun- ders) Myers. Jacob W. Myers was a native- born American, and a minister in the Metho- dist Episcopal church. Rev. Jacob W. Myers moved from New Jersey to Pennsylvania. where he resided some twenty years. He came from Pennsylvania to Nebraska Territory in

Edwin J. Myers.

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1864, with team and wagon, and died soon afterward, while out on a hunting trip.

In 1861 John E. Myers enlisted for service in the Civil war, in which he served three years and two months. While so serving he had the remarkable experience of being knocked down and stunned by a shell that grazed his fore- head but did him no damage. He arrived in Nebraska Territory on April 1, 1865, with only such money as he had saved from his soldier pay of thirteen dollars a month, after supporting a bedridden grandmother, but, like most of the other pioneers, he possessed a very strong body and a good, clear mind. He or- ganized a gang and went through as far as Green River, Wyoming, getting out cedar ties for the Union Pacific Railroad, the track for which was then being laid. He then re- turned to Nebraska and went into the cattle business, first near Grand Island, later near Fort Kearney, and finally, on June 13, 1877, he moved to the South Loup, where he pre- enipted a quarter-section. Thereafter he bought land from time to time, until, at the time of his retiring, in 1910, his ranch con- sisted of 3,240 acres.

John E. Myers was county commissioner of Dawson county in 1875 and 1876. and of Custer county in 1879, 1880, and 1881. He was chairman of the board during the year 1881, when the commissioners ordered the county clerk to "take charge of the county properly and remove the same to Broken Bow."

At Overton, Nebraska, on the 5th of March, 1876, was solemnized the marriage of John E. Myers to Miss Amanda M. Shedd, of North Brookfield. Massachusetts. Of this union were born five sons, of whom four are still living - Edwin F. and Morris E. are still resi- cents of Custer county, Nebraska, while Ar- thur I. and Herbert G. are residents of Idaho. Each of these four sons was given a college education. Mrs. Amanda M. (Shedd) Myers was born in Chester, Vermont, on February 16, 1849, and her parents soon afterward! moved to North Brookfield. Massachusetts.

JAMES R. LAUGHRAN was born in Montreal, Canada, in 1852, and is a son of the late Thomas Langhran, of whom extended mention is made on other pages of this volume.

James R. Laughran is the eldest in a family of four children and accompanied the family to Nebraska in 1869. When his father moved to Custer county young Laughran remained on the farm in Saunders county. In 1876 he came to Custer county, where he remained that

winter. In 1879 he engaged in the cattle busi- ness in Blaine county, where for many years he was one of the largest cattlemen in this part of the state. Upon the death of his moth- er he purchased the old homestead, in the An- selmo district of Custer county, and here he is now living practically retired. The record made by his father as an early settler and the associations surrounding the old home make it a very desirable place to live.

In 1877 James R. Laughran was married, in Omaha, to Miss Margaret Foley, a native of Princeton, New Jersey. Mrs. Laughran is a daughter of Timothy and Mary Foley, who were natives of County Cork, Ireland, and who were residents of Princeton. New Jersey, for many years after coming to America : eventi- ally they came to Saunders county, Nebraska, and both are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Laughran have become the parents of seven children: James, who conducts the ranch in Blaine county ; Thomas, who is farming in Custer county ; Lizzie, who is the wife of H. C. Cox, of Brewster. Nebraska ; Timothy and William, who are residents of Canada ; Kate, who is the wife of William Christen and lives in Custer county ; and Mike, who is a farmer in Custer county.

James R. Laughran has been successful in his business ventures and his family own a ranch of thirty-two quarter-sections of land, besides his father's old homestead in Custer county.

He and his family are members of the Catholic church, and after a residence of forty years in this section of the state lie is well and favorably known.

HENRY E. ZIMMERMAN, who for many years was one of the influential and substantial men of Custer county, came here as a pioneer from an old settled community in Iowa, where he was already a man of prominence. During his thirty-seven years of life in Custer county he became equally respected and relied on, and he is recalled as one of Custer's most use- ful and worthy citizens.

Mr. Zimmerman was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, October 9, 1851, and died in Custer county, Nebraska, July 27, 1916. When he was seven years old his parents set- tled in Iowa, and there he was educated and lived to the age of twenty-eight years. In the meanwhile he perfected himself in two trades and when he came to Nebraska he could point to what he had done as a brickmason and stonecutter, his work being sound and solid yet in the beautiful capitol building at Des

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

Moines, Iowa. Later he did a part of the fine brick work in the construction of the court house at Broken Bow -the first brick court house in Nebraska. It was in 1879 that Mr. Zimmerman came to Custer county. He took up a tree claim and homestead, and he still owned valuable farm property when he died. This had been so improved that Mrs. Zimmer- man was able to dispose of it for $125 an acre.

In May, 1880. Mr. Zimmerman was united in marriage to Miss Anola Amsberry, who was born in Marion county, Iowa, where she was educated. Her parents, Lewis Norton and Jane (Coffman) Amsberry, were born in West Virginia and had come to Marion county. Iowa, in 1851. Mr. Amsberry was a carpen- ter, farmer, and tanner. After his death, in Iowa, his widow came to Custer county, in 1879. and bought, for ninety dollars, a pre- emption claim, on which she lived for a num- ber of years. She then removed to the home of her son, ten miles southwest of Ansley. where she died. The parents of Mrs. Zimmer- man had twelve children, and of these the fol- lowing survive: Florentine, who became the wife of T. J. Mossman, and lives in Kansas; WV. Z., who is a resident of Mason City; Mrs. Henry Zimmerman, who lives at Ansley, and is the widow of him to whom this memoir is dedicated ; Charles, who lives at Broken Bow at the present time: and Lyman, of Custer county. The father of Mrs. Zimmerman was a Democrat in politics. Her parents were mem- bers of the Missionary Baptist church.

A family of seven children was born to Mr. and Mrs. Zimmerman, as follows: Lewis Ray. who is a farmer twelve miles west of Ansley ; Thomas E., who is operating his own farm. eight miles northeast of .Ansley: Addie, who is the wife of Garfield Eggleston, a farmer : Lottie, who is the wife of Aaron Staab, a farmer: Frona E., who is the wife of J. W. Parkhurst, an expert electrician residing in Lincoln, Nebraska : and Mabel and Flora, both of whom reside with their mother, Flora be- ing employed in the State Bank of Ansley.

In politics Mr. Zimmerman was a Republi- can and at times he was called upon to accept public office. For a number of years he served as a very useful member of the school board. his progressive ideas being particularly bene- ficial in the deliberations of this body. Fra- ternally he was identified with the order of Woodmen and he was somewhat prominent as a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he served as an official while living at Oskaloosa, lowa. He was a man of Christian life and character, and belonged to the Baptist church.

JOHN MULVANY. - There are many reasons why John Mulvany, who is one of Custer county's best known residents, should be regarded with respect, interest, and esteem by his fellow citizens. He is a veteran of the great Civil war that, prior to the struggle in which the United States is now engaged, was second only to the Revolutionary war, the most tremendous military event of our na- tional history. He is one of Custer county's oldest pioneers, and perhaps the oldest contin- uous-resident pioneer in the county. He is one of the wealthy men of the county, although he came here forty-one years ago with empty hands. He thus exemplifies patriotism, cour- age, enterprise, and that determination that made his industry worth while.

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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 123

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