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 143

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 143

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sacre tragedy ; also a brother of the late Gen- eral Nathaniel S. Reneau, of the Southern Confederacy, who lies in the American cenie- tery in the City of Mexico. Many other men important in the country's political, as well as military, history belonged to the same family.

Rev. Dr. Isaac T. Reneau married Mary Gibson Wood, daughter of Colonel Thomas Wood, and granddaughter of Major Samuel Wood. The latter came from England in 1755, later became secretary to General Wash- ington and served under him during the Revo- lutionary war: his marriage to Miss Sarah Reaves took place at the home of General Washington. Distinguished members of this family are in the military service of the United States to-day. Dr. Reneau's death occurred in 1885, at his home, at Albany, Kentucky.

Isaac A. Reneau had common-school and academic advantages at Albany, Kentucky, and Chanute, Tennessee. He was twenty- three years old when he first visited the west, pausing for a year near Tekamah, in eastern Nebraska, where he engaged in farming - first as farm hand and later for himself - covering a period from October, 1882, to April, 1884. He then headed west in his lately acquired "prairie schooner", and landed in Custer county May 29th of that year : and this has been his home ever since. For more than three years he worked on ranches in Custer county, and in 1887 he took a position with the newly organized Ansley Banking Company, as their special farm-loan examiner, which position he held about five years, after which, as stated above, he entered into busi- ness for himself, in Broken Bow.

On May 8, 1889, Mr. Reneau was united in marriage to Miss Clarissa M. Blowers, and they have had four children, namely : Vivienne Valerie, Meredith Thurman, Helen Thorne, and Thomas Henry, all surviving except the eldest. The son Meredith, a University of Nebraska junior, is a volunteer in the air service of the American Expeditionary Forces and has been privileged to fly over the iden- tical spot in the beautiful, but now devastated, valley of Picardy, France, from whence his forebears migrated to become American citi- zens. He is a member of the Third air serv- ice squadron, selected to accompany the army of occupation on the Rhine.

Mr. Reneau, with force and energy far above the average, has always held his. own as a money-maker, and yet he has directed his activities in a public-spirited way and along charitable lines rather than for mercen- ary ends, the overburdened farmers of the early '90s, the widows, orphans and unfor- tunates, being the silent beneficiaries. He

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

was secretary of the Custer County Relief Association during the 1894-5 drought period ; was a member of the board of supervisors ; member of the board of education and city council of Broken Bow; was one of the or- ganizers, and for several years was secretary, of the Central Nebraska Cattlemen's Associa- tion ; was for many years principal owner and manager of the Broken Bow Abstract Comp- any; was secretary of the Republican state central committee 1912-14, and a member of the same committee 1912-16; member of the executive committee and president of the Broken Bow Commercial club ; member of the executive committee and an active worker for many years in the Custer County Agricultural Association and was its president 1913-14, at the time of the destructive cyclone that de- molished all buildings from the grounds, and was the active manager in planning and con- structing new buildings on the fair grounds at Broken Bow.

Mr. Reneau is a sound Republican in his political faith, but of the most progressive type, and for years he has been known among his friends over the state as the "Teddy" of Custer county. He has never desired any public honors for himself but is a loyal and husbands to overcome the many obstacles hearty worker for those candidates in whom he feels confidence, and at the present time. as in the past, he is active in using his influ- ence to strengthen party ties along more mod- ern ideas to meet public emergency.

Mr. Reneau is now rounding out his thir- tieth year on the same homestead, in Broken Bow, in which his children were born and reared. However, since the disposition of most of his Broken Bow interests, he has lived the uneventful life, developing his Island Park ranch on the Middle Loup river. where some day he hopes to entertain all of his numerous old-time friends and neighbors at a popular watering resort.

MRS. ADA WOLSLEBEN .- Of the women of Custer county whose fortune it has been to reside in this section during the past thirty or more years and to have witnessed and taken part in the wonderful advancement made along agricultural and other lines, men- tion is due Mrs. Ada Wolsleben, the daughter of a pioneer of 1885. She has passed her life since childhood among the developers of this now fertile region, and in the work that has resulted so satisfactorily has herself borne no inconsiderable part.

Mrs. Wolsleben was born in Elkhart coun- ty, Indiana, October 24, 1876, a daughter of

William and Sarah (Smith) Shettron. Her father was born in Ohio and as a young man moved to Indiana, where he met and mar- ried Miss Smith, a native of Pennsylvania, their home for some years being in Elkhart county, where Mr: Shettron was engaged in farming. Like numerous other ambitious men, anxious to rapidly accumulate property. during the '80s he finally answered the call of the west, and in the spring of 1885 he came to Custer county and settled on a home- stead near West Union. For a number of years he worked industriously and intelligent- ly in tilling his acres, and out of his hard labor he developed a farm of substantial size and superior quality, the while he accumulated a fortune that assured him of all the material comforts during his declining years. On the old homestead, Mrs. Shettron was called to her final rest May 1, 1913, and not long there- after Mr. Shettron sold his property, since then having made his home with his children. His family consisted of eight children, of whom six are living, namely: Nellie, who is the wife of John Hargan, a farmer near Sargent ; Mrs. Wolsleben ; Milton, a retired farmer of Sargent, whose wife was Miss Lucy White; Maud, who married Miles Boyle, a railroad man, and lives at Laramie, Wyoming ; Lucy, the wife of Bert Dickson, a retired citizen of Cherry county, Nebraska; and Pearl, the wife of William Keptler, a farmer at Burton, this state. The father of these children is a man held in the highest of esteem in his community, where he has won respect and confidence by the honorable manner in which his life has been spent.

Mrs. Wolsleben was a child of about four years at the time when her parents came to Nebraska, in 1880, and established their resi- dence in Merrick county, where they remained five years and where Mrs. Wolsleben acquir- ed her rudimentary educational dicipline in the pioneer schools. She was nine years of age at the time of the family removal to Cus- ter county, in 1885, and here she profited duly by the advantages afforded in the schools of the period. She grew up on the home- stead. where she learned the meaning of life in a frontier community, and was taught the thousand-and-one accomplishments by which the women helped their fathers, brothers and that arose in their path. She was married March 6. 1908, at Council Bluffs, Iowa, to Charles Wolsleben, who died in December, 1916, leaving her with three children : Bertha, Marie and Freda. By a former marriage Mrs. Wolsleben is the mother of one daughter : Mattie Pfrehm, who is completing her educa- tion. Bertha and Marie Wolsleben are at-

WILLIAM F. FISHER AND FAMILY

HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

tending the public schools. Mrs. Wolsleben has a wide acquaintance in the vicinity of her home, which is in section 33, township 17, near Sargent, and during her long residence in this community she has gained and re- tained a wide circle of friends.

WILLIAM F. FISHER. - There are few men better known throughout Custer county than William F. Fisher, who owns 706 acres of valuable land, well stocked with cattle, horses, and mules, as the result of years of industry and enterprise, as Mr. Fisher came to this section of Nebraska a poor man. He was born in Marshall county, Kansas, Septem- ber 30, 1864. His parents were Frederick J. and Mary J. ( Triplett ) Fisher, the latter of whom survives and lives at Western, Saline county, Nebraska. Frederick J. Fisher was born in Vermont and died at Western, Ne- braska. April 12, 1918. By way of Kansas he came to Saline county, Nebraska, in 1865. and he bought eighty acres of land from the government, while later he purchased a quar- ter-section from other settlers. L'pon discov- ering that his home site was railroad land, which was not considered a safe investment. he moved a half mile down the creek and kept on acquiring land through purchases madie with money gained by his skill as a hunter and trapper. He sold a great many deer hides and beaver and mink skins in those years. He was much more enterprising than many of his pioneer neighbors and is credited with bring- ing the first harvester into the grain fields of Saline county. Of his family of thirteen chil- dren the following are living: Mary J., who lives at Fairbury, Nebraska, was married first to Joseph Preston and second to Clinton Hol- comb : William F. is the immediate subject of this review; Joseph W., who is a farmer near Western, married Stella Badman; Linnie is the wife of Fred Wheeler, a farmer in Lincoln county ; Daniel, who is a farmer near Broken Bow, married Mamie Adams : Francis G., who is a farmer near Western, married Emma Ki- zer : Guy E., who is a farmer in Saline county, married May Turner; Carrie is the wife of David Kizer, cashier in a bank at Western: and Violet is the wife of Henry Kizer, a farm- er near Western, Nebraska.

William F. Fisher grew up in Saline county at a time when hardships were many and great courage and resourcefulness were needed at all times. During boyhood he attended school three months in the year, walking long dis- tances, as the schoolhouses were then from three to five miles apart, and for many months

he herded cattle over the old Mormon trail. He passed through the notable drouth of 1894 and experienced many other hardships and had innumerable adventures, but he escaped diffi- culties with the Indians, although many of the settlers were driven off their homesteads and even killed. As mentioned above, when Mr. Fisher came to Custer county he was yet a poor man, but success has attended his efforts and he is now one of the leading stock men of the county, as well as a substantial citizen in every way. He is a Democrat in politics but is not a seeker for office.

In 1894 Mr. Fisher married Ella Belders. who was born in Holland, January 31. 1875. and they have fourteen children, a fine, vig- orous family, concerning whom record is here given: Frederick J., who was born January 19. 1895, is a bachelor and remains at the pa- rental home; Gertrude, who was born Febru- ary 22, 1896, is the wife of Ernest Gibson, a farmer living in Custer county : William C .. who lives at home, was born September 9. 1897 ; Clarence D., who was born March 3. 1899, enlisted for service in the world war, and served as a member of Company A, Third Engineers, American Expeditionary Forces in France. The other children are all members of the parental home circle, and their names and respective dates of birth are here re- corded: Edward, October 25. 1900; Bessie, January 15, 1902; Ella, November 5, 1903 : Homer, March 12, 1905; Arthur, November 15, 1906: Harvey, November 5, 1908: George W., May 9. 1911 : Orvie V., October 11. 1912; Woodrow. July 17, 1914; and Elgie B., Febru- ary 9, 1916.

OMER T. STORY. - Many of the young- er generation of agriculturists in Custer county have passed their entire lives either on the farms which they now operate or have been born in the immediate vicinity, with the beneficial result that throughout their careers they have been familiar with condi- tions existing here and have not been called upon to unlearn any methods which in an- other case they might have followed in some other community. In this class is found Omer T. Story, who was born on his father's homestead south of Sargent, February 20. 1894, and who is still engaged in farming and stock-raising in this immediate community.

Orvel B. Story, the father of Omer T. Story, was born in Indiana December 3, 1855. and as a young man he went to Missouri and engaged in railroading. From that pursuit he turned his attention to farming. Prior to

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coming to Nebraska he had lived in Missouri and Illinois, and on the 6th of February, 1885, he came to Custer county, where he settled on a homestead near Somerford. He continued his farm enterprise until the time of his death, which occurred November 24. 1914. In addition to this he also operated the eighty acres which had been homesteaded by his wife, and his operations were carried on in such an energetic and able manner that he became one of the substantial and leading farmers of his community. He was a Demo- crat in his political views, took a public- spirited interest in civic matters, and was an active worker in the neighborhood church, of which he was deacon, while his wife, who died in 1903, served for some years as sec- retary.

On the 4th of July, 1888, was solemnized the marriage of Orvel B. Story to Fanny Pierce, and they became the parents of three children-Era, who is the wife of Frank King, a farmer of King City, Missouri: Georgia, who is the wife of Jim McIntosh, a farmer on Boggs 'l'able, Custer county ; and Omer T., whose name introduces this sketch.

Omer 'T. Story was educated in the common schools of the country near Sargent. and grew up on the homestead, where his father instructed him in all the matters pertaining to the successful cultivation of the soil and the proper handling and raising of live stock. He adopted farming as his vocation when called upon to make a choice for his career, and has continued to follow this occupation. While he is still classed among the younger representatives of his vocation, he has already achieved marked success, and his past achieve- ments point toward a prosperous career in farming and stock-raising. While he has followed his vocation in a general way, he has paid particular attention to the raising of short-horn cattle, a department of his work in which he has met with success, and he is al- ready accounted somewhat of an authority upon the subject.

Mr. Story was married October 25, 1916, at Broken Bow to Miss Nellie Wolsleben, daugh- ter of Carl L. and Lena ( Lorenzen) Wols- leben, natives of Germany who immigrated to this country as young people. Carl Louis Wolsleben was born near Berlin, Germany. on the 12th day of July, 1854, and was reared and educated in his native land. At the age of twenty-two years he entered the German military service, in which he continued three years. In 1880 he came to America and up- on coming to Nebraska he made as his desti- nation Papillion, Sarpy county. In 1883 he married Miss Lena Lorenzen, and in 1888 he

came with his family to Custer county and located at Somerford. In this locality he passed the remainder of his life, as a success- ful exponent of farm enterprise. He died December 11, 1916, his wife having passed away in the year 1904, and their children having been eight in number. Mr. and Mrs. Story are the parents of one child: Virginia L., who was born February 8, 1918. Mr. Story is a Republican.

T. W. BASS, D. D. S. - In point of con- tinuous service Dr. Bass is the oldest prac- ticing dentist at Broken Bow, where he has been well known to the people of this com- munity as a skilled member of his profession since 1899, when he was entering upon his career. He was born in Steuben county, Indi- ana, November 23, 1867, and is a son of Alex- ander and Lamira (Holcomb) Bass, natives of that state.

On both the paternal and maternal sides, Dr. Bass belongs to families that settled in Indiana during the Hoosier state's early his- tory, and for the most part his ancestors were farming people, although his paternal grand- father was a local Baptist preacher. His father was born in 1837 and married in Indi- ana, where his mother was born in 1845, and they came to Nebraska in 1883, first settling in Hamilton county, but subsequently remov- ing to the vicinity of Broken Bow, in Custer county. Mr. Bass continued to be engaged in farming operations until the time of his retirement, and his last years were passed at Broken Bow, where he died in 1903, Mrs. Bass having passed away two years before. They were faithful members of the Baptist church and Mr. Bass was a Democrat in his political views. Of the ten children in the family, eight still survive.

The education of Dr. T. W. Bass was initiated in the public schools of Indiana, but when he was sixteen years of age the family removed to Nebraska and he accompanied his parents to the farm in Hamilton county. In the district schools there and the high school at Grand Island he continued his studies, and finally he entered the Omaha College of Den- tistry, in which he was duly graduated. He was successful in passing the examination at the state board meeting in 1899 and in that same year established himself in practice at Broken Bow, where he has since been located. now being the dean of his profession here. As in medicine and surgery, the science of dentistry is constantly developing new phases of usefulness, and in order to secure success the dentist of to-day must keep fully abreast

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of the latest achievements of his profession. This Dr. Bass has not failed to do, and it is one of the reasons why he has attained such a large patronage during the twenty years of his practice and why he has retained uniform confidence. Dr. Bass has also been an advo- cate of organization among the dental practi- tioners of the state and has done some valu- able and constructive work in this direction. In political matters he is a Republican, but his profession has played such a large part in his life and has demanded so much of his at- tention that he has been left little time for out- side affairs, so that politics has been a field which he has not cared to enter. In fraternal matters he has shown a somewhat greater interest, being a prominent member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which organization he has passed all the official chairs. He is past grand master of the Ne- braska Grand Lodge and has been a repre- sentative to the sovereign grand lodge on four occasions.

Dr. Bass was married in October, 1893, at Grand Island, Nebraska, to Miss Josephine E. Thralls, who was born in Michigan. Mrs. Bass was educated at the Grand Island high school and a commercial school, and prior to her marrigeg to the Doctor was connected with the Custer County Chief. To this union there has been born one child: Ethel, the wife of Carl Abbott, bookkeeper in the Broken Bow State Bank. Dr. and Mrs. Bass are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.

MRS. SADIE E. BAILLIE, who has spent many years in Nebraska and since 1882 has been a resident of Custer county, is well quali- fied to speak good words of both state and county. The daughter of a pioneer business man and the wife of another, and living in different sections, she had experiences that many others did not meet with, and her remi- niscences, which cover a period, of thirty-six years and more, are exceedingly interesting. Mrs. Baillie is well known over Custer county and here has many friends, especially at Wes- terville.

Mrs. Baillie was born near Ithaca, New York, where her father conducted a hotel. ller birth took place December 5, 1862. Her parents were William D. and Rebecca J. ( Ryno) Lefler, the former of whom was a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of New York. Mrs. Baillie has two sisters-Mary, who is the wife of George Whitman and lives in Michigan, and Annie, wife of John Tisdale, of Pleasanton, Nebraska. Mrs. Baillie was

vet a child when her father sold his hotel at Ithaca and moved his family to Hartford, Michigan. There he opened a meat market, which he conducted until 1875. He then set- tled in a neighboring village that never grew to be more than a hamlet and now is forgot- ten. The family remained in that village only a short time, the father in the meanwhile be- coming interested in Nebraska, and removal was soon made to a farm near Sweetwater, this state, but after one year on the farm, Mr. Lefler moved into Loup City and carried the mail from Loup City to Seneca. He was a Republican in his political views and was affilliated with the Knights of Pythias.

While living in Michigan, in girlhood, Sadie F. Leffer attended the public schools, and it was after the family moved to Loup City, Nebraska, that she married. Two years later she came to Custer county, which has been her home ever since. While circumstances preserved her from many of the pioneer hard- ships of those early days, she well remembers the attending disadvantages and how her sym- pathy often was called out for the overtaxed pioneer women of her acquaintance. In the midst of the present comfortable prosperity that prevails in Custer county, it is well, perhaps, sometimes to recall those days. Al- ways a kind and helpful neighbor, there are many who have reason to kindly remember Mrs. Baillic.

At Kearney, Nebraska, December 19, 1880, Sadie E. Lefler was married to William B. Baillie, a son of William and Jeanette (Law- son) Baillie. He was of Scotch ancestry, a college-bred man and was educated in Scot- land. At the time of marriage he was con- chicting a general merchandise store in Loup City, and they continued to live there until 1882, when they came to Custer county. Here Mr. Baillie opened a drug store in the town of Seneca, the name of which town, through his influence, was changed to its present form, Westerville. Later Mr. Baillie conducted a drug store at Berwyn, and he also entered a timber claim, which is now the property of his widow. Mr. Baillie died in 1902 and is survived by one son, Raymond C. Baillie.

OSCAR M. JUNE. - There are many young farmers in Custer county who claim the county as the place of their nativity. In the case of the young ranchman named above this statement is true. Here he was born, and here his wife was born, here their chil- dren were born, and here they have lived all their lives. Accordingly, Custer county is in-

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

JOHN A. GSCHWIND AND FAMILY

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debted to them for all of the service rendered during the intervening years.

Oscar M. June was born in 1889 and is a son of Isaac and Ida (Lear) June, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Iowa. The father died at the age of fifty-nine years, but the mother, at the age of fifty-one years, is still living in Broken Bow. In their family were six children: Frand lives in Dunning ; Oscar M. is the subject of this sketch ; Myrtle Loun lives on a Custer county farm; Minnie Shoemaker lives at Broken Bow; and Millie also lives in Broken Bow. A half-brother and half-sister, Elmer and Ella Carpenter, are living in Custer county and Stella, Ne- braska, respectively.

Isaac June homesteaded in Custer county thirty-one years ago. He had practically nothing when he arrived and began improv- ing his farm. He and his wife came directly from Ohio to this county and brought with them nothing but the determined spirit by which the difficulties of the west are always overcome. He was a veteran of the Civil war, and he was residing at Anselmo, in this county, at the time of his death.

Oscar M. June received his education in this county. Here he received also his train- ing for farming and stock-raising, and here he formed the habits of industry by which he has accumulated what might be considered a fair start for a man of his year. In 1910 he took up a homestead upon which he put fair improvements and made final proof. He has 160 acres under cultivation, rents 320 acres, has forty-seven head of cattle, and fifty- five head of hogs, with a contingent of horse power equal to the demands of the place. He married Miss Vera Potter, who, as stated above, is a native daughter of this county. She comes of a splendid family and in every possible way has been an invaluable assist- ant to her husband. She has presided over her home and done well her part in their joint operations. Two children have been born to this union. Kenneth is eighteen months old at the time of this writing and Carl died in infancy. Mr. June is an inde- pendent voter, owes affiliation to no party, and is proud of the fact that he can claim Custer county as his native heath.

JOHN A. GSCHWIND. - No proper alignment of Custer county farmers could pos- sibly be made that would not put John Arnold Gschwind in the first rank. While his name is a foreign extraction and suggests that Würtemberg and Tyrol blood flows in the veins, he is, nevertheless, a native-born Amer-

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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 143

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