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 146

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 146

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During the hardships and privations of early years the Mackleys stayed on their land, never leaving for drouth or crop failure, and to-day the old homestead is still their place of resi- dence. Their holdings have increased until to-day they own 1.120 acres of land and, as a neighbor said of them, "Their house fronts on Easy street." Mr. and Mrs. Mackley have worked together and each has contributed to

their accumulations of the present day. They are well known and highly regarded in the home community. They have reared a fine family of sons and daughters, of whom they can be justly proud. Politically. Mr. Mackley affiliates with the Democratic party.

HENRY H. ANDREWS. - The inherent dignity of New England strength and re- sourcefulness has been significantly exempli- fied in the career of Henry Harris Andrews, whose activities along productive lines have been wide and varied and whose powers have come effectively into play in the furtherance of civic and material development and progress in Nebraska during his residence of more than thirty years in Custer county. He has shown distinct initiative and executive ability and has had much more to do with the advancement of Custer county, and especially that of his home town of Callaway, where his interests are manifold and where he is known and val- ued as a representative and influential citizen.

Mr. Andrews, to whom may well be ascribed pioneer honors in Custer county, was born at Otisfield Gore, Cumberland county, Maine, on the 17th of February, 1859, and is a scion of a family that was founded in New England in the early colonial epoch of our national history. He is a son of David Sawyer Andrews and Mary Elizabeth ( Howe) Andrews, both like- wise natives of Cumberland county, where they were reared and educated and where their marriage was solemnized. In his native county Davis S. Andrews eventually became an ex- ceptionally progressive exponent of farm en- terprise, in which he brought to bear methods and policies not commonly in vogue in the Pine Tree state at that period. He continued his active alliance with farm industry until he engaged in the lumber and cord-wood business in Maine, and in this connection he achieved the success, with comprehensive experience, that fortified him for the broader operations in which he later became prominent in the south. Suffering from a disorder of the heart, he was advised by physicians to seek a less rigorous climate, and under these conditions, when in middle life, he went south and became largely interested in productive timber and lumbering operations in Virginia, where for many years he was associated in this line of enterprise with General Fitzhugh Lec and Daniel Lec. In his lumbering operations in the Old Dominion Mr. Andrews gave special attention to white-oak car lumber and red-oak railway ties, as well as lumber used in the manufacturing of sugar hogsheads. There he continued his lumbering

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activities for a period of fully eighteen years, but the summer months he customarily spent in the north. He was a man of fine character and of exceptional ability, so that he naturally became prominent and influential as a citizen, the while he commanded unqualified popular confidence and esteem. He was seventy-three years of age at the time of his death, which occurred in Maine, his wife having preceded him to eternal rest, her death having occurred about the year 1889. Mrs. Andrews likewise was a representative of a sterling New Eng- land colonial family, and she was a kinswoman of Elisha Howe, the inventor of the first sew- ing machine, the initial trial of which was made by his sister, in the same section of Maine in which the subject of this review was born. David S. and Mary E. (Howe) All- drews became the parents of ten children, of whom only two attained to maturity - Henry H., whose name initiates this article ; and Flor- ence May, who became the wife of Dr. An- drews, of Auburn, Maine, and who passed her entire life in the old Pine Tree state ; she and her husband are survived by three chiktren - Arthur, Harold, and Helen. Arthur Andrews, who gained no little celebrity as "the boy astronomer of Maine," constructed his own tel- escope and used for this purpose tools that were sent to him by his uncle, Henry H. An- drews, to whom this review is dedicated. With this telescope young Andrews made observa- tions that formed the basis of many important scientific articles published in leading astro- nomical journals. He finally opened a chemi- cal laboratory at Auburn, Maine, and after our nation became involved in the great world war he did a large amount of practical and scientific research and experimental work for the gov- ernment, as well as for his native state. Prior to his enlistment in the aviation corps of the United States navy, he had served as assistant pure-food commissioner of Maine. Harold Andrews, the younger of the two boys, took a course in engineering at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York, and became an expert on gasoline engines. In connection with the world war he entered the United States navy. in which he gained the rank of ensign. Miss Helen Andrews has been a successful and pop- ular teacher in the public schools at Auburn, Maine, and has recently taken a special course of study in the celebrated Barnard College.

David S. Andrews held unswervingly to the faith of the Republican party, and, as may well be imagined, was stalwart in his allegiance to the late James G. Blaine, the distinguished statesman from Maine, of whom he was a close personal friend. Mr. Andrews was influential

in politics in his native commonwealth and served as a member of the Maine legislature. He and his wife were earnest members of the Congregational church. It is interesting to record that Henry H. Andrews, of this review, has in his possession a letter of introduction that was given to his father by Hon. Sidney Perham, a former governor of Maine, and ad- dressed to James G. Blaine. This letter was further made, through Mr. Blaine, to serve as Mr. Andrews' introduction to the late Henry Gassaway Davis, former United States senator, and had pertinence to the early lumbering ac- tivities of Mr. Andrews along the Virginia Central Railroad, controlled by Mr. Davis and his son-in-law, the late Stephen A. Elkins.

The boyhood days of Henry Harris Andrews were passed principally upon his father's farm in Maine, and his preliminary educational dis- cipline was acquired through the medium of a private tutor. At the age of sixteen years he entered the Fredericksburg Military Academy, with the intention of preparing himself for ad- mission to the historic University of Virginia. Later, however, he continued his studies by en- tering Hallowell Classical Academy, to prepare for matriculation in Bowdoin College, and it was almost by accident that he deflected his course and became a student in the Maine State College of Agriculture & Mechanic Arts, which is now the University of Maine. In this institution he was graduated as a mem- ber of the class of 1881, and in the same class was graduated Miss Lillian Mary Ring, who later became his wife. He received the degree of Mechanical Engineer, and thereafter he completed a fourteen weeks' course in East- man's Business College at Poughkeepsie, New York, where he also served as a private tutor in drawing. During the ensuing period of about two years Mr. Andrews was associated with his father's lumbering business in Vir- ginia, and he then accepted a position as me- chanical draftsman for the Henry R. Wor- thington Pump Company, of Brooklyn, New York, where he remained about two years. The failing health of his father then caused him to go to the latter's aid in connection with business affairs. In Virginia he finally as- sumed the position of bookkeeper in the bank- ing house of Conway, Gordon & Garnett, at Fredericksburg. In this institution, which was founded prior to the Civil war, he effected a revolution in the archaic system of operations, and brought the bank up to a high state of efficiency. He severed this connection after a period of about two years, and then came to Nebraska.

Mr. Andrews arrived in Nebraska on the

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

last day of May, 1887, when he made his ap- pearance at Callaway, Custer county, and was inducted as cashier of the Bank of Callaway, the same having been founded by Silas H. Burnham, who came from the same part of Maine as did Mr. Andrews and who is now president of the First National Bank of Lin- coln, Nebraska. Mr. Andrews continued as cashier of the Bank of Callaway until its vol- untary liquidation of business, in October, 1896. The bank paid all obligations in full and was one of the very few able to do this in that period of financial panic. It has been claimed on good authority that at the time there was not another bank in Nebraska that could have thus paid in full, and the fact offers a specific tribute to the able executive man- agement of Mr. Andrews.

While still cashier of the Callaway bank Mr. Andrews became Nebraska state agent for the Oxford County Loan Association of Nor- way, Maine, which aided greatly, through its well extended financial loans, in the develop- ment and progress in several counties in Ne- braska. Mr. Andrews has thus been identified with real-estate interests for many years, and has associated himself also with virtually all important enterprises that have conserved ma- terial advancement in Callaway. Thus is may be noted that he was actively concerned in the organization of the Callaway Milling & Manu- facturing Company, of which he was the first secretary ; and the Callaway Building & Loan Association, the business of which was event- ually closed by him in a most successful way. He has continued as representative of the Ox- ford County Loan Association, and in connec- tion with his extensive operations in the extending of farm loans he has been represen- tative also of the Security Investment Com- pany, of Lincoln ; Benson, Myers & Company, and the Peters Trust Company, of Omaha, as well as the Forgan Investment Company, of that city. He now gives his attention primarily to the insurance and real-estate business, and he has large and important landed and indus- trial investments in Nebraska and other wes- tern states.

In January, 1919, Mr. Andrews was elected president of the Nebraska State Irrigation Company, and he is largely concerned with de- velopment interests in Scotts Bluff county, as well as in other counties of the state. He is the owner of valuable farm land in Custer county, as well as valuable realty at Callaway.

Unfaltering in his allegiance to the Republi- can party and influential in its local councils, Mr. Andrews has never consented to become a candidate for political office of any kind. He

and his wife are communicants of the Protes- tant Episcopal church and are leading mem- bers of the parish of Holy Trinity church at Callaway, of which he was one of the organ- izers and of which he has served almost con- tinuously as a member of the vestry. He is now treasurer of the parish and here he served twenty-four years as superintendent of the Sunday school. Mr. Andrews has received the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of the Masonic fraternity, and of his other Masonic affiliations brief record may here be entered : Parian Lodge, No. 207, An- cient Free and Accepted Masons, in which he has passed all the official chairs and of which he was secretary for fifteen years; Hastings Consistory, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite ; Clara Chapter, No. 222, Order of the Eastern Star: and Tehama Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is serving in 1919 as grand senti- nel of the Nebraska grand chapter of the East- ern Star, and as worthy patron of the local chapter. of which Mrs. Andrews is sec- retary at the present time. He is affiliated also with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Royal Highlanders, and the Modern Woodmen of America. He served two consec- utive terms as president of the Old Settlers' Association of Custer county. In connection with war activities Mr. Andrews is prominently identified with the American Protective League, of which he is chief for Custer county, and he has been a prominent force and execu- tive in connection with the Custer county war work of the Red Cross, Young Men's Chris- tian Association, Home Guards, etc. He has been for the past two years the chairman of the Callaway Chapter of the Red Cross. Mrs. Andrews is the present regent of David Conk- lin Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, at Callaway, this being the only chapter in the county, and she has been a leader in the Red Cross activities in the county during the war period.

In October. 1890, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Andrews to Miss Lillian Mary Ring, who was horn and reared at Orono. Maine, and who is a daughter of Edwin T. and Zebiah ( Harvey) Ring, both of whom died in that state. Mr. and Mrs. Andrews have but one child, Louise Elizabeth, who is the wife of Lieutenant Wilber K. Mylar. M. D .. a graduate of the Cotner University and of the medical school at Lincoln, he having en- listed for professional service in the United States army and having been assigned to the English service at Thetford Military Hospital, Thetford, Norfolk, England.

In conclusion, as showing the ramifications

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of the theory of coincidences, it may be stated that when Mr. Andrews was a boy he accom- panied his father to the city of Boston, where they visited the tannery of Sawyer, Hollis & Sawyer, which firm, in connection with its tan- ning business, had control of large tracts of land in Custer county in later years, hides from cattle raised on these Nebraska tracts having been sent to the Boston tanneries of the firm. One of the tracts thus controlled is that on which the thriving little city of Calla- way, the home of Mr. Andrews, now stands, and a member of the holding firm in earlier years was a kinsman of his father. In con- nection with this New England exploitation in Custer county there have been retained in the county many New England names for ranches.

JOHN H. HARGAN, who in every respect is an admirable specimen of the self-made men of whom Custer county is so proud, owes his success to his own grit, energy, and integrity. He entered upon his career with only ordinary advantages, made his own opportunities, and labored industriously, with the result that to- day he is one of the substantial citizens of the Sargent community, where he owns a valuable farm in section 25, township 19. Mr. Har- gan was born on a farm near Malvern, Mills county, Iowa, October 24, 1870, and is a son of Daniel and Levina ( Shepard) Hargan.

The parents of Mr. Hargan were born re- spectively in Indiana and Kentucky, but when young moved with their parents to Iowa, where they met and were married and where they resided on a farm until 1884. In that year they came to Custer county and located on a homestead five miles north of Walworth, which continued to be their home until the fall of 1888. With the exception of one year, 1892, when he resided at Broken Bow, Daniel Hargan was engaged in farming and stock- raising on this property until 1900, when he retired from active pursuits. He still resides at Sargent, alert in mind and active in body. although he has reached the advanced age of eighty-five years. Mr. Hargan during his active years was a man of industry - one who possessed good judgment and sound business ability and was able to accumulate, in an hon- orable manner, a goodly share of this world's goods for his comfort in his declining years. Mrs. Hargan died in 1913, having been the mother of seven children, of whom five are living: Rachel, of Council Bluffs. Iowa, the widow of the late Lewis Stewart; Mattie, the wife of James Pointer, a photographer at Mal-

vern, lowa; Lelia, the wife of Elisha Carson, a farmer of Hunter, Missouri; John H., of this notice; and Frank, who married Lelia Storey and resides at Sargent.

John H. Hargan received his education in the public schools of Iowa and Nebraska, and was fourteen years of age when brought by his parents to Custer county. Since that time he has resided here, his mature years having been passed in the pursuits of the soil and his voca- tion having brought him personal contentment and material rewards. His farm is a produc- tive one, made so by his intelligent treatment of the soil and his use of the most highly ap- proved modern methods. Inspection will show that his buildings are substantial and in good repair and that his equipment is of the latest manufacture. He raises a good grade of live stock and grows the standard crops, and in both departments, he is a thorough master of his vocation.

Mr. Hargan was married, near Sargent, January 16, 1891, to Miss Nellie Shettron, a daughter of William and Sarah (Smith) Shet- tron, who came to Custer county in 1885. Mrs. Shettron is now deceased, but the father survives and makes his home with Mr. and Mrs. Hargan. Mr. and Mrs. Hargan have one child, Addie V., who is the wife of Guy Fuller, a farmer near Sargent. Mr. Hargan is not interested in politics as an office-seeker, but is a good citizen and a supporter of public- spirited movements.

JOHN OLSEN. - In the matter of its con- tribution to America, Sweden has John Olsen to its credit. He is a young and prosperous farmer living in the vicinity of Arnold, in the full-fledged operations of farming as might be expected in the prime years of his manhood. Mr. Olsen is a native of Sweden, where he was born in 1882, and he is the third son of Larsen and Betty Olsen, both of whom were of the sturdy Scandinavian stock. Coming to the United States in 1899, the father died at the age of sixty-four. The mother is still liv- ing and is now in Sweden. In this family of which the subject of this sketch is the third born are the following children, Gust, forty years of age, is a coal miner in Colorado. Betty, thirty-eight years of age, lives on a farm in Sweden. John's story is related in this sketch: Augusta, aged twenty-six years. and Marget, aged twenty years, remain in Sweden.

Young John Olsen came to America when fifteen years of age and in coming to Nebras- ka he made Gothenburg, his destination. Since

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that time his attention has been given to agri- culture and stock-raising, in both of which he has been eminently successful. He now owns 605 acres of land, has 140 in cultivation, and raises red hogs and a good grade of cattle. His live-stock possessions comprise fifty head of well bred stock hogs, forty-seven high grade cattle, and twelve head of horses, which furn- ish the horse power for his farming activities. His improvements are good and he has the necessary machinery for all the needs of the farm. July 28, 1915, Mr. Olsen married Em- ma Olofson, an excellent young lady who was born in the United States and who is a daughter of Erik Olofson. Since the estab- lishment of the home of Mr. and Mrs. Olsen two children have been born into the family circle - Edna, aged three years, and Verna, aged one year (1919). John Olsen and his wife are hard-working, industrious people and are splendid neighbors. In politics Mr. O]- sen claims to be independent and declares that his vote goes to the man who he believes to be best qualified for the office.

MILLARD HILL. - The subject of this record is one of the early settlers of Custer county and through his own efforts, marked by diligence and good management, he has achieved success.

Mr. Hill was born in St. Clair county, Illi- nois, August 21, 1860, and is a son of Thomas and Rebecca (Barton) Hill, the former a na- tive of Tennessee, while the birthplace of the latter was in Illinois. The mother passed away in Illinois, more than fifty years ago. The father came to Custer county in 1887 and spent his last days at the home of his son, where he passed away November 4, 1915, when eighty-three years of age.

Millard Hill spent his boyhood days in his native county and acquired his youthful edu- cation in the public schools. In 1885 he heed- ed the advice once given by Horace Greeley and decided to "go west." In that year he arrived in Custer county, Nebraska, and se- cured a pre-emption claim on West Table. He experienced the usual hardships which fell to the lot of the pioneers of this region, but he also had the foresight and determination which were possessed in no small degree by the men who laid the foundations for the prosperity and high state of development which exist to- clay. Ilis first home was in keeping with the times, a sod house, twelve by sixteen feet in dimensions and with no floor. In this primi- tive dwelling the family lived for three years. Mr. Hill, like his neighbors, for several years

hauled water for stock and household use, until a well could be provided. He made his home for twelve years on this place, and he then sold it and bought a farm in Ortello valley. On this land he made extensive improvements, until it became one of the best improved prop- erties in the neighborhod, and here he success- fully carried on general agricultural pursuits until February 20. 1917, when he became manager for the Farmers Elevator Company of Anselmo, a position which he has capably filled to the present time. He still retains ownership of his fine farm of 240 acres, and while living on the farm he was postmaster of Ortello postoffice, which was maintained at his home.

In Custer county Mr. Hill married Miss Alice Orton, a native of St. Clair county, Illi- nois, and they became the parents of nine children: Nellie is the wife of C. J. Sitler, of Colorado: Clara died in infancy; Albert, who married Miss Jennie Waddington, conducts farming operations in Custer county ; Alura is the wife of William Carpenter, who is operat- ing Mr. Hill's farm; Edna is the wife of Dan Parker and they reside in Custer county ; M. F., still a bachelor, is assisting in operating the home farm, and Flossie, Wilhelmina, and Garland are still under the parental roof.

Mr. Hill can truly be called a self-made man - one who has made good use of his oppor- tunities and who is to-day one of the substan- tial men and public-spirited citizens of Custer county.

OTTO FACKNITZ, a substantial and re- liable citizen of Broken Bow, is one of the followers of a useful trade who has estab- lished a record for good workmanship and fidelity to engagements, and thus he has es- tablished himself in a recognized position among the helpful men of his community. He was born March 7, 1880, near Hastings, Ne- braska, a son of Fred and Catherine (Kader) Facknitz, the former a native of Germany and the latter of Canada.

Otto Facknitz received his early education in the public schools and was reared on the farm, his first money being earned in plowing corn for a neighboring farmer, who paid him at the rate of fifty cents a day. In support of his statement that he was an industrious and capable lad, he offers in evidence the fact that his work was so greatly appreciated that he was always given the largest piece of pie at mieal times. He was married at the age of nineteen years, at which time he left the pa- rental roof and began to work at his trade of

HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

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MR. AND MRS. MILLARD HILL,

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

carpenter, which he had mastered while help- ing his father in the work of the home farm. He also worked on a farm for two years after his marriage, and then went to Clay Center, Nebraska, where he secured employment in the Old Trusty incubator factory, and when he left the latter plant, six years later, he was given a splendid letter of recommendation by his employer, testifying in high terms to his honesty and mechanical ability. From Clay Center Mr. Facknitz went to Dunning, Ne- braska, where he leased land and for ten years conducted a stock farm, besides which, at irregular intervals he worked at his trade. as a carpenter. Recently he has moved to Bro- ken Row, where he has a good business and where he has maintained his reputation as a skilled workman - industrious, painstaking, and possessed of much ability. In connection with the world war Mr. Facknitz enrolled in the United States shipyards volunteers of pub- lic service, and he was expecting to be called at any time, but the close of the war rendered it unnecessary for him to serve.

In 1899 Mr. Facknitz married Miss Nellie Keller, daughter of William Keller, a soklier of the Civil war. Mr. Keller was born Octo- ber 5, 1839, and enlisted in 1861 in Company F. Twelfth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He served to the close of the war, and was advanced to the rank of sergeant. He re- turned to his Pennsylvania home and there married Frances HI. Creager. daughter of John W. Creager. They became the parents of four children: Nellie. Cornelia, Edwin, and Frank. Mr. Keller and his family came to Nebraska within the '80s, and Mr. Keller passed his last years at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Fack- nitz, where he died, and where his widow is still making her home.

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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 146

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