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 129

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 129

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In March, 1881, Judge Rhodes married1 Miss Dora Patrick, who was born in Indiana, a daughter of George and Emma (Herndon) Patrick, early settlers of Indiana, who spent their last years in Nebraska. Judge and Mrs. Rhodes are the parents of eight children : Emma Kezziah is the wife of Leslie R. Clav, a civil engineer of Craig. Colorado: Orlando Ross is a farmer of Bushnell, Nebraska ; Laura Belle is the wife of Timothy Hanley, a painter of Ansley ; Marcellus Roy, who is a farmer of Ansley. married Elsa Hyatt ; Ros- coe Bryan is at the time of this writing with Company A. Three Hundred and Forty-sec- ond Machine Gun Brigade, Sixty-eighth Di- vision, American Expeditionary Forces in France; Edith, a graduate of Ansley high school, class of 1918, remains with her par- ents, as do also Maude and Jolin R., Jr., who

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are still attending school. Mrs. Rhodes is d consistent member of the Baptist church.

JOHN M. SAMUELSON. - One of the genial and dependable spirits of Arnold and one who has made a success of both farming and business is John M. Samuelson, who was born April 18, 1863, in the province of Halland. Sweden. He is a son of John B. and Johanna ( Magmuson) Samuelson, both of whom came of that sturdy Scandanavian stock which has contributed so many thrifty citizens to the western hemisphere. In the family of John B. Smuelson were three sons, all of whom are living - John M., Sander A., and Barnard A. John B. Samuelson came to the United States in 1870 and landed at Castle Garden, New York. From the national metropolis he worked his way west and found a location in Carroll county, Iowa, where he remained four years. He then removed with his family to Crawford county, that state, where they re- mained another four years, after which he purchased a farm in Ida county, where he still resides, having retired from active busi- ness.

John M. Samuelson relates many amusing experiences concerning his first years in this country. When he had been here but a few months he hired out to a man to help pull beans. He was then but eight years of age. Other boys working in the same field were double his age and as each boy took a row it was not long until they had left young John far behind. This so discouraged him that when night came, he threw up the job. The farmer for whom he was working gave him ten cents and a watermelon. He took the melon home but as none of the family had never seen one before, they did not know what to do with it. A young lady came to their rescue and showed them that melons were supposed to be eaten. She cut the melon and John started in by eating the rind. He found out, however, that the red part was better than the green and suited better both his complexion and and his digestion. Things have changed since them. Nobody has to show John to-day how to eat watermelons. When twelve years of age he went to work, and his wages were con- tributed to the family living. When twenty years of age he found his way into Custer county, Nebraska, and the following year, 1884, he reached his majority and located a pre-emption claim, five miles east of Arnold. After proving up on the land he returned to Iowa, but one year there was enough and he returned to Custer county, where he has made his home ever since. March 22, 1888, he

married Mary E. McGuire, a daughter of John and Mary ( Wingo) McGuire. Mrs. Samuelson lived but two years, and she left a little girl babe, which survived her but six months. Mr. Samuelson remarried December 22, 1908. At this time he led to the mar- riage altar the present Mrs. Samuelson, who was then Miss Iva M. Anson. The following. clipped from an Arnold paper, gives a brief sketch of Mrs. Samuelson. "Iva M., daugh - ter of Mr. and Mrs. Franklin P. Anson, was born August 29, 1883. near Springfield, Sarpy county, Nebraska. With her parents she came to Custer county at the age of one year. After living near Mills Valley for nine years they moved to the eastern part of the state, where they resided for a year, going to Mis- souri in the fall of 1894, by means of covered wagon. There they lived five years, when they returned to Arnold, to remain only two years. They then went to Missouri Valley, Iowa, where they resided until 1905, when they returned to Arnold for the third time. On December 22, 1908, she was united in marriage to John M. Samuelson."

Concerning Mr. Samuelson's farming and business operations the following extract, clipped from a boom edition of the Arnold Sentinel, gives an epitome of his career. "John M. Samuelson arrived in this country from Ida county, Iowa, in January, 1884, and when old enough appropriated a portion of Uncle Sam's domain for his own individual use, on which he lived about a year. He then returned to Iowa, where he remained about a year before returning to Custer county. This locality has been his home since and he expects that it will continue to be in the future, as it is just as good as any place for a man with moderate means. He farmed his place in Powell Canyon for several years and in 1904 disposed of his land and moved to Arnold. where he has since been engaged in the well, windmill, pump and plumbing business, with a fair degree of success. When first coming to this country he experienced all the dis- advantages common to a new country. His nearest neighbor was two miles away. Set- tlers were few and far between. The nearest railroad trading point was Cozad, fifty miles away, and three days were generally con- sumed in making the trip. He has seen this country develop from almost a wilderness to a moderately settled community of as well be- haved and intelligent people as can be found anywhere in the United States."

The Samuelsons live in a splendid home, modernly equipped and provided with all the comforts of the better days that have come since the pioneering period has passed. They

albert Rohde

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

are congenial, popular people, members of the Christian church, and Mr. Samuelson enjoys the distinction of being a thirty-second-degree Mason. Politically he affiliates with the Democratic party.

Mr. Samuelson relates an interesting inci- dent that occurred in 1887, while he was re- siding on his place in Powell Canyon. He and his family went to Arnold to attend the Fourth of July celebration of that year. A Mexican and a white man, who had been in the neighborhood several days, made them- selves very busy while the various settlers were away from home and participating in the celebration mentioned. The two miscreants went to the home of Ben Lansing, where they cooked a meal and appropriated clean cloth- ing for the habiliments they were wearing - in short, they helped themselves to everything they wanted about the premises. Several other places were subjected to similar inspec- tion and depredations, and at the home of Mr. Samuelson they traded running-gears on wag- ons, leaving their old wagon in place of a far better outfit. When the settlers arrived at their respective homes and discovered what had been done, a number of the men, includ- ing Mr. Samuelson, set out in pursuit of the outlaws. Late the next day these settlers. with others who were searching for the same malfactors, found the two men six miles north of Broken Bow. The outlaws, when thus brough to bay, resisted arrest, and in the con- flict that ensued, the Mexican was killed, his companion making his escape. Reference is made to this event in Butcher's history of Custer county.

ALBERT ROHDE. - Practical industry, wisely and vigorously applied, seldom fails of attaining success, and the career of Albert Rohde, now one of the leading farmers of Custer county, is but another proof of this statement. When he started out in life he had but few advantages to assist him along the road to success, but his diligence and judicious man- agement have brought him ample success as a reward for his labors.

Mr. Rohde was born in Germany, a son of Chris and Henrietta (Rickow) Rohde, who passed the greater part of their lives in Ger- many, where they were people of modest means but highly respected by their neighbors. The father died here on the homestead in Custer county, when eighty-two years of age, and the mother is still living. Albert Rohde received only the advantages of a common-school edu- cation, and he remained under the home roof until he was sixteen years of age, when he be-

gan to shift for himself. Coming to the United States, he made his way to Nebraska, and for four years he was a resident of Grand Island, but in 1887 he came to Custer county. He had been married to Minnie Sherman, of Mecklen- burg, Germany, who died, and in 1888 he was again married, being united with Anna Busem, also a native of Germany. They settled on a homestead farm, where they met and overcame the usual obstacles which appeared in the paths of the early settlers, and gradually they forced their way to a position where they found firm footing on the ladder of success. From that time forward Mr. Rohde's progress was rapid, and he eventually become recognized as one of the capable and industrious men of his lo- cality - an enterprising, pushing man of in- tegrity who transacted business in an honor- able way. Mr. Rohde is now the owner of 800 acres of good land, his home being situ- ated in section 4, township 71, where he has a modern residence, good outbuildings, and the latest and most highly improved equip- ment. He follows general farming and has also been successful as a raiser of pure-blood Polled cattle, fine horses and mules, and a good grade of hogs, principally of the Poland-China breed. He has given his entire attention to farming and stock-raising, but has good in- vestments as well, and has never been at- tracted to public life or to active participation in political affairs. His support of worthy movements, however, has shown his good citi- zenship. Mr. and Mrs. Rohde are members of the Evangelical church, and attend the church of this denomination south of Mason City.

Mr. Rohde had the following brothers and sisters : Fred, August, and Otto, all of whom are engaged in farming in Custer county, where they are the owners of valuable land and good live stock ; Herman, whose death oc- curred in Buffalo county, where he was en- gaged in farming : Mrs. Amelia Paske, resid- ing on a farm in Custer county; and Elizabeth Maliage, a resident of Kansas. Mr. Rohde is the father of the following children: Mrs. Alvina Clamp, who is the wife of a Wisconsin railroad man: Herman, who is one of the op- erators of the home farm; Frank, who is with the American Expeditionary Forces in France at the time of this writing; Roland, who is engaged in cultivating a part of his father's property in Custer county : Mary, who resides with her parents ; and Dora, who lives in Wis- consin. Frank, Herman, and Roland are in partnership in operating the home farm and the two last mentioned are carrying on Frank's work while he is in the service as a soldier.

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

JAMES WHITEHEAD is an honored Cus- ter county pioneer who is specially entitled to recognition in this history of the county. It was his to do well his part in connection with the initial development of the county, and also to wield influence in the furthering of mater- ial and civic advancement in later years. Though he is now a resident of the city of Emporia. Kansas, he makes annual visits to the old home in Custer county, where he re- news and vitalizes old acquaintanceships and also cements new friendships in the commu- nity that was the stage of his pioneer ex- periences.

James Whitehead was born at Yorkville. Racine county, Wisconsin, on the 27th of Aug- ust, 1846, and his parents, as well as all of his ancestors, so far as known, were natives of fine old Yorkshire, England, whence his father immigated to the United States in 1842. Mr. Whitehead is a son of Benjamin and Sarah (Smith) Whitehead, and upon coming to America the father settled as a pioneer in the vicinity of Racine, Wisconsin. He was a blacksmith by trade and as a skilled artisan he found much demand for his services in the pioneer community, the while he also gave his careful attention to the development and im- provement of his farm. For fifty-five years he gave faithful service as a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church, and his life was guided and governed by lofty principles. In April, 1855, after having sold his farm in Racine county, he removed with his family to Marquette county, Wisconsin, where he passed the remainder of his life. He was summoned to the life eternal in December 1884, his devoted wife having passed away fifteen years previously. Of their ten chil- dren James, subject of this review, is now the only survivor.

Owing to the exigencies and conditions of time and place, James Whitehead received but meager educational advantages in his youth. After he was eleven years old he was able to attend the district school only three months during the year and when the Civil war was precipitated, his youthful patriotism was quickened to action. On the 4th of July. 1862, somewhat more than a month prior to his sixteenth birthday anniversary, Mr. White- head enlisted, at Portage, Wisconsin, as a pri- vate in Company II, Twenty-seventh Wiscon- sin Volunteer Infantry, subsequently he was transferred to the Thirteenth Regulars, from which organization he was later discharged on account of "permanent disease of the heart." He was sent home, supposedly to die, but fortunately it proved that the dictum of the surgeons was not infallible, for the gal- lant youth eventually recuperated his physical

wellbeing. In the stress of conflict and the consequent demand for men, Mr. Whitehead re-enlisted as soon as he could show himself again physically eligible, and January 23, 1864. recorded his enrollment as a member of Com- pany D, Nineteenth Wisconsin Volunteer In- fantry, with which he continued in service until the close of the war.

Upon his return to civil life Mr. White- head resumed work on the home farm, and later he purchased the homestead on which the father of John Muir, the eminent natural- ist, had settled on coming to America and which John, the future scientist, assisted in reclaiming and preparing for the plow, this farm being in Marquette county. Wiscon- sin.

In the Badger state Mr. Whitehead con- tinued his association with agricultural in- dustry until he numbered himself among the pioneer settlers of Custer county, Nebraska. In the winter of 1883-4 he came to this county and entered claim to a homestead twelve miles south of the present village of Calla- way, in the district now known as Redfern Table. On the 24th of July of the same year he established his residence on this home- stead, upon which he constructed a sod house, and in the following December his family joined him in this pioneer home.

In the fall of 1888 Mr. Whitehead was elected to the Nebraska legislature, and upon the close of the legislative session he returned to his homestead, in 1889. In July of the same year he received notice that he had been appointed deputy collector of internal revenue, and he forthwith entered upon the duties of this office. A new land district having been created, with its office at Broken Bow, to be opened July 1, 1890, Mr. Whitehead received information that he had been appointed re- ceiver of this new land office, with Hon. John Reese as register. Having thus exerted large and benignant influence in connection with public affairs in this part of the state, in 1892 Mr. Whitehead was made the Re- publican nominee for representative in con- gress from his district. The Populist party was then in the zenith of its strength in the district, and after a spirited campaign Mr. Whitehead met defeat at the polls - purely as a matter of political exigency. . At the ex- piration of his term as receiver of the land office, he removed to Callaway, in October. 1894, in order to be near his farm, which had been leased. A year later he was informed by the Nebraska board of lands and build- ings that he had been appointed state agent of the Nebraska penitentiary, the duties of which office he at once assumed, and in due time his family joined him in the city of Lin-

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

coln. At the end of one year he resigned this office, but he continued his residence in the capital city, in order to permit his daughter to continue her studies in the University of Nebraska.

In June, 1898, while visiting in Wisconsin, Mr. Whitehead received notice that he had been appointed register of the United States land office at Broken Bow, with Frank Young as receiver, and, entering upon his duties July Ist, he continued the incumbent of this office eight years, under the administrations of Presidents Mckinley and Roosevelt. At the expiration of his second term, upon re- ceiving from physicians the advice that he must seek a lower altitude, Mr. Whitehead reluctantly left Nebraska and established his residence at Emporia, Kansas, where he has maintained his home since July 6, 1907.

Mr. Whitehead still owns the Custer county homestead which he obtained thirty-four years ago and to which he has added, by purchase, an adjacent tract of 640 acres. To this fine rural estate he returns each succes- sive summer and here he remains from one to three months. He recalls vividly the trials and early struggles which the pioneers here encountered in contending for victory over the untried forces of a new land, and, not- withstanding the anxiety and arduous toil im- posed, he looks back to those days as among the happiest of his life - a view that is fully shared by the other members of his family. But few of his old neighbors now remain, but, instead, he meets their children, now middle-aged, and they in turn introduce him to their children, to whom he and the "early days" are almost as a tradition. Referring to those stirring times, Mr. Whitehead com- pares them with the radical conditions that obtain at the present time. Thus he makes comparison between the present high price of farm labor - amounting at times to from three to five dollars a day - with the seventy- five cents that he, as a lad of fourteen years, received for service in the harvest fields of Wisconsin. The farm hand of the early days worked with primitive implements. To-day are in evidence the tractors and the gang plows, and the "hired man" frequently is dis- covered driving about in his own automobile. In the realm of such retrospection, Mr. White- head is duly impressed with the fact that "the world do move," as the negro philosopher ex -. pressed it.

In conclusion is made brief record concern- ing the felicitous domestic chapter in the life history of the sterling Custer county pioneer to whom this review is dedicated: On the 30th of December, 1867, was solemnized the

marriage of Mr. Whitehead to Miss Hannalı M. Eagleston, and their only child, Sadie E., still remains at the parental home.

CHARLES S. CHRISMAN, who is one of the most favorably known and most com- fortably situated of the retired farmers of Custer county, has achieved unequivocal suc- cess and prosperity through his former years of active association with the great funda - mental industries of agriculture and stock- growing, and his indefatigable and well or- dered activities in past years have brought to him the merited rewards of contentment, good health, freedom from exacting cares and a gracious knowledge of work well done and service earnestly rendered in connection with the duties and responsibilities that canopy every life.

Mr. Chrisman was born in Lafayette county, Missouri, on the 6th of April, 1849, and is a son of Joseph and Jane (Chrisman ) Chrisman. The genealogy traces back to staunch German origin, but Mr. Chrisman has pride in the fact that he is a scion of a family whose name has been worthily linked with American history since the colonial era. From a most interesting family record pre- pared by George Chrisman, a cousin of him whose name introduces this article, may con- sistently be taken certain data that properly find place in this review. At some time in the decade between 1720 and 1730 three brothers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob Chris- man, left their native province of Bavaria, Germany, and immigrated to America. Land- ing in Philadelphia, they thence made their way to the town of York, Pennsylvania, and they figure as the founders of a now numer- ous and honored American family. Of the three original American immigrants, Jacob figures as the ancestor of Charles S. Chris- man, of this sketch. At York, Pennsylvania, Jacob Chrisman met and married Mary Madaline Hite, a daughter of Jost Hite, who was a wealthy nobleman who left his father- land on account of religious persecution and came to America in 1910, the voyage being made on a ship which he owned, as did he also a second ship which crossed the Atlantic at the same time, one of the ships being laden with goods and the other affording transpor- tation to this distinguished ancestor and his people. Concerning him the following rec- ord has been given: "He settled in New York, but soon moved from there to York. Pennsylvania. There he became acquainted with William Penn, who told him of the rich land of the south branch of the Potomac

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

river. He, with three partners, Williams, Duff, and Green, bought 60,000 acres of this land, from Lord Fairfax, who, under a grant from the king of England, owned all of Vir- ginia north of a line running east and west on the south line of Shenandoah county from Chesapeake Bay to the headwaters of the Potomac. He also bought 54,000 acres in the Shenandoah valley, extending from near Winchester up to Edom. In 1732 he moved to this last purchase, cutting a wagon road through the timber and brush from York to the Potomac, a short way above Harper's Ferry. Jacob Chrisman came with him and settled on a tract of 800 acres of fine land, on the road leading from Winchester to Staun- ton and just south of Stephen City, at a fine spring known to this day as "Chrisman Spring." Jacob Chrisman became the father of seven sons and three daughters, and of the sons John was the next in line of descent to him whose name introduces this Custer county review. John Chrisman became a soldier and distinguished officer of the Con- tinental forces in the war of the Revolution, in which he held the rank of colonel. He married Elizabeth McDowell, daughter of General Joseph McDowell and Margaret (O'Neal) McDowell, the latter having been a daughter of Lord O'Neal, a most powerful Irish nobleman who left a great estate. John Chrisman left one son, Isaac, who lived on the old home estate near Stephen City. Isaac, son of John. inherited this ancestral home. Of the five daughters of Isaac Chrisman, one was Jane, who became the wife of Joseph Chrisman, and this couple figure on record as the parents of Charles S. Chrisman, to whom this review is dedicated. The above record pertains to the lineage of Mr. Chris- man on the maternal side. In the agnatic, or paternal line, he traces his ancestry back to the same original American progenitor. Jacob Chrisman, whose son George was a captain of the Continental Line in the Revolutionary war. George Chrisman married Hannah Mc- Dowell and they settled near Edom, Virginia. Their son John married Ann Harrison, and they had three children, - Joseph, George HI., and Margaret. Joseph first married Eliza- beth Lincoln, and after her death he wedded Jane Chrisman. Joseph and Jane Chrisman, parents of the subject of this sketch, removed to Missouri about the year 1837, both hav- ing been born and reared in the historic Old Dominion state, as the forgoing record duly indicates.

Upon their removal to Missouri Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Chrisman became pioneer set- tlers in Lafayette county, where Mr. Chris-

man reclaimed and improved a farm and de- voted the remainder of his life to agricul- tural pursuits. In Virginia he had served as a colonel in the state militia, and while the Civil war found him too advanced in years to render military service, he was profoundly loyal to the cause which gained his allegiance in that climacteric period of our national his- tory. He never manifested any desire to be- come active in public affairs in the state of his adoption. His political support was given to the Democratic party and he and his wife were earnest members of the Presbyte- rian church. Of their twelve children only two are living at the beginning of the year 1919 - Virginia, who resides in the city of Chicago, she being the widow of Lee Cooper, who was a soldier of the Confederacy during the Civil war; and Charles S., whose name initiates this record.

Charles S. Chrisman acquired his early education in the common schools at Lexing- ton, Missouri, and as a youth he gave effective aid in connection with the work of the home farm. On this homestead he eventually conducted independent operations, and there he remained until 1883, when, at the age of thirty-four years, he came to Nebraska and numbered himself among the pioneers of Cus- ter county. Here he entered claim to a home- stead and began his career as a sheep-raiser in the new country, after having brought a herd of sheep from Missouri. Soon after- ward, however, he sold his sheep and turned his attention to the raising of cattle, hogs, and horses, in which field of enterprise he made rapid and satisfactory progress. Mr. Chris- man was so determined and persevering that he permitted no discouragements to affect him, and he was aggressive enough to overcome the obstacles which appeared in his path. While many of his neighbors were bewailing the lack of timber and the necessity of living in makeshift homes, mostly of sod, the while they sheltered their stock, grain and machinery as best they could - Mr. Chrisman hitched up his team and made numerous trips to Kear- ney, whence he hauled lumber to his home- stead, where he erected a comfortable house and also built good structures for the protec- tion of his live stock and farm products, im- plements, etc. As his finances permitted, he added to his land holdings from time to time. and he is to-day the owner of 800 acres of valuable Custer county land -all accumu- lated through his own efforts. This estate includes his original pioneer homestead, situated twelve miles south of Ansley, in which pleasant little village he is now living virtually retired. As a man of inflexible in.

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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 129

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