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 151

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 151

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For a companion and helpinate Mr. Fleish- man chose Miss Anna Bader, who was born in Illinois, a daughter of Stephen and Monica (Sulzman) Bader, natives of Germany, who came to the United States when young people and were married in Illinois. In 1888 the parents of Mrs. Fleishman came to Custer county, Nebraska, and took a homestead north-

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

east of Anselmo. The mother died in this county, August 9. 1905. The father married again and is still living. Mrs. Fleishman was reared in Custer county, was educated in the district and Broken Bow schools and at the time of her marriage was a popular teacher in the Custer county schools. She has become the mother of three children - Monica, Theresa, and George Conrad.

Mr. and Mrs. Fleishman are members of the Catholic church and are held in the highest of esteem by all who know them.

R. B. SARGENT. - There are few names in Custer county more widely known than the one written above. The Sargents have been a prominent family of pioneers, as six of the boys settled here in early days.

R. B. Sargent was born in Illinois but moved to lowa when eleven years old. Several of his sisters live there now. When he was twenty-two years old the desire to see the great, promised west led him, with his brother John, to visit this "Great American Desert." They were so well pleased with the prospects that they filed on places and re- turned to settle up business, and bring stock for the new land. Their glowing tales pur- suaded others, and soon several of their old neighbors were new ones.

In the spring of 1882 Mr. Sargent built his sod shanty in section 6, township 19, range 18, in what is now known as Sargent valley. Later he sold this place and bought where he now lives.

In July, 1891, Mr. Sargent was married to Lizzie Chrisman, daughter of Joseph and Lucy Chrisman, also pioneers. They have four children: Glenn, Charles, Irene, and Ken- neth, and all live at home except Charles, who married Thelma Ross : they now live on their farmı.

Mr. Sargent tells of many experiences in early days, when towns were few and far away. He tells of many interesting incidents while hauling cedar posts from the "Dismal Swamps" to sell to the settlers at Westerville, the round trip requiring eight days. On one occasion he and his brother, while making the trip, were caught in a snow storm which cov- ered the ground a foot deep with snow. It took five days to reach home, and provisions were getting scarce. On another trip one of his neighbors lost one of his horses shortly after starting on the return trip but he was equal to the occasion. He threw off half his load of posts; tied the singletree of the one horse fast to the wagon and, carrying the

other end of the neckyoke, a week later he reached his shack.

Mr. Sargent and his brother worked at the blacksmith trade in spare time and made eighty or ninety primative "antelope" breaking- plows which they sold to their neighbors. With these plows was turned the soil of many of Custer county's first farms. A few of these old plows may be seen in scrapheaps yet. Mr. Sargent also made wells, and some 300 of these are scattered around the county. From 1900 to 1905 he conducted a store and was post-master at Walworth. This was the first store where Walworth now stands.

The Sargents are fine people and their neighbors pay them the homage due to hon- est, upright citizens, who have rendered their country valuable service.

GEORGE V. ORVIS. - Here is a man that belongs to the north part of the county. He was born in the north garden spot known as West Union, September 15, 1880, conse- quently the responsibilities of active life are pressing heavily upon him. Just now in the vigor of his full manhood years, he belongs to the generation that must bear the responsibili- ties and manage the affairs of the present day.

He is a son of John R. and Chaney M. (Sweet) Orvis (See sketch of Bert Orvis). As his birth occurred in Custer county, his life has been lived here. The district school of the country and the high school of Broken Bow bestowed upon him a liberal education and qualified him for all business activities of the successful farmer's career. He lived on his father's place and helped in the affairs of the farm until 1902, when he was married to Jessie C. Garrison, a daughter of George and Amanda (Maple) Garrison. The date of marriage was December 15, 1902. The bride was an accomplished young woman, coming from a well known and substantial family. Her father's people came to Custer county in the fall of 1882 and settled north of Wal- worth. Her father was a man of unusual ex- perience. He was born in 1840 in Greene county, Pennsylvania, in which her mother was born six years later. During the Civil war the father, George Garrison, was a mem- ber of the Third Virginia Infantry, and he served until he lost one eye and was dis- charged for physical disability. After the war he was a bridge contractor for a number of years ; conducting farming operations in Iowa, from which state they moved to this county in 1882, with horses and wagons. The mother died October 26, 1901, and the father May 10.

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

1908. It is remembered that the Garrison home was the first in the neighborhood that had a shingled roof. The neighbors pro- phesied at the time it was put on that the first wind would blow it off, but the calamity never happened.

George V. Orvis and his wife established their own home after their marriage and are now heads of a splendid family of good repu- tation. Of their five children four are living : Fern L., born July 2, 1906; Zoe Geraldine, May 16, 1909; Dean R. and Deo V., twins born March 15, 1912. Mr. and Mrs. Orvis are still to be counted as young people, with many years of active life before them, so far as outer appearances indicate, and the same application of thrift and judgment will com- pel the oncoming years to bring rich reward.

D. B. EVANS. - One of the familiar spirits of Sargent, long connected with local affairs, who has contributed his part in the years past to the upbuilding of the county and who has had part in early day trials and experiences, is the man whose name spells the headline.

Mr. Evans was born in Douglas county, Illinois, November 3, 1867, the son of John W. W. and Sarah (Smith) Evans. The senior Evans was a native of Wales and the mother a native of Ireland. The combination of Welsh and Irish blood flows in the veins of D. B. and imparts to him the vigorous spirit that has enabled him to survive the experiences of early day life in Custer county. The father, who was a farmer most of his life, came to this country in 1871 and settled on Indian Creek, York county, Nebraska, where he died in 1878. The mother lived until March 4, 1912. They were the parents of sixteen children : ten are living at the present time, but the subject, D. B. Evans, is the only one in this county.

D. B. came to the county in 1885, pre- empted four miles east of Sargent. then homesteaded and later sold out and since that has made his home in Sargent. For nearly twenty-five years Mr. Evans has been road overseer and though not. posing as a moral reformer has been "mending the ways" of other people. He is counted as a good road man; for ten years he has served as game warden. During his residence in Sargent he has been the proprietor of a meat market and has also conducted a real estate agency.

Concerning the experiences of the early years, he was once deputized by George Walker, constable, to go down into the Weis-

sert neighborhood and secure a horse thief that had been shot. The thief's partner had been captured and accordingly the dead and the living were brought together. The trial of the living man was before William Sher- man. The thief pleaded guilty and was taken to Brown county, where the property had been stolen and where he was afterwards taken from jail by a mob and hanged to a tele- graphı pole.

These years are gone, the experiences of the untamed years will never return, law abid- ing citizens have claimed the country. The irresponsible characters who always prey upon the unprotected settler of a frontier country have passed from the stage of action, and honor and virtue to-day reside in the citizenship, and law prevails everywhere. Any man who, like Evans, helped to bring order out of chaos has rendered a tribute to his county and service to his community.

Mr. Evans socially is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workman and the Degree of Honor. For the last few years he has affiliated with the Democratic party.

WALTER S. METCALF. - The name of Metcalf has appeared in this volume in other biographies. See sketches of Plin and Clar- ence Metcalf.

Walter S. Metcalf is a son of Augustus and Lucia Metcalf. He was born in Wyom- ing county, New York, March 24, 1860. Hc received his education in the common schools of New York and Ohio. He was married April 2, 1884, to Eva Parker, at Dennison, Iowa. Mrs. Metcalf is a daughter of James and Julia ( Smith) Parker, both of whom were natives of New York state. Her father died at the age of eight-three years, in 1905, and her mother, at the advanced age of nine-two years, is still living and makes her home with the Metcalfs.

Walter S. Metcalf came to Custer county in March, 1883, and commenced farming in the region of New Helena. A little later he homesteaded 160 acres in section 18, town- ship 19, range 19, which is still his home and has been such ever since, excepting the three years when his daughter attended school in Broken Bow, when they moved to that place in order to give her school advantages. After

that they returned to the farm. They now own 400 acres in one body, which is well im- proved and stocked with the best breeds of cattle and hogs. Considerable attention is paid to dairying on the Metcalf ranch and this is found to be very profitable. The general appearances on the farm speak well

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GEORGE GROSS

MRS. GEORGE GROSS

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

for the management and care that the farm has received during the years that it has been in Mr. Metcalf's possession. In local affairs the Metcalfs are counted prominent people and he has held most of the local and precinct offices. He has been a member of the school board in district No. 13 for a number of years. In connection with this school dis- trict, Mr. Metcalf contributes a bit of valu- able history. May 15, 1898, while school was in session, a cyclone swept over the building, tearing it to pieces, killing one child instantly and wounding several others. The child killed was Anna Fowler. Johnnie Olson had his jaw broken in two places, his collar bone broken in two places and several ribs frac- tured. Mr. and Mrs. Metcalf cared for him in their own home for a period of six weeks. Their own daughter also was badly hurt.

The Metcalf home has been blessed with one child. Mabel who is now the wife of Floyd Pumphery, making her home in Ohiowa, Nebraska. The Metcalfs are splen- did neighbors, representative people. well posted in present day affairs and have been always helpful and influential promoters of everything that in any way was calculated to benefit the community. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and re- sponsible for much of the good accomplished by the Walworth Sunday-school organized in an early day.

GEORGE GROSS. - The career of George Gross, of Ansley, has been one in which perse- verance has triumphed over adversity, char- acter has overcome the disadvantages of lack of early opportunities, and industry has been rewarded in bounteous measure. Few if any of the residents of Custer county have been in greater degree the architects of their own for- tunes than has this former farmer and stock- man, who now, partly retired from active pur- suits, is engaged in selling insurance, his attractive home being on the outskirts of Ansley.

Mr. Gross was born in Pennsylvania, Au- gust 22, 1862, and is a son of Josiah and Anna ( Dunar) Gross, the former a native of Penn- sylvania, and the latter of Ireland, their marriage having been solemnized at Brooklyn, New York. The parents continued their resi- dence in Pennsylvania, until the close of their lives. the father having there followed farming and raising cattle, and there both died when their son George was young. The father was a Republican and a member of the Baptist church, while Mrs. Gross was a Catholic. There was one other child in the family:

Jennie, who married F. S. Yaple, a farmer of Pennsylvania.

Thrown on his own resources at the age of thirteen years, it was but natural that the early advantages of George Gross were not numer- ous. His education was confined to irregular attendance at the district schools, and he early began to work out among the neighboring farmers, in order to obtain his board and clothes. After three years thus spent he began to receive wages, seven dollars a month being his stipend the first year, out of which he saved the sum of forty dollars. During the year that followed he received nine dollars a month as remuneration for his labor, and out of this managed to put by sixty dollars, with which he came to Saunders county, Nebraska. Wages were better in his new community, for he was given seventeen dollars a month the first year and twenty dollars the second year, and when he came to Custer county, in 1884, he had $285, all saved by the hardest kind of work. When he lost this money, and was com- pelled to make a new start, it was a blow that would have discouraged most men, but he courageously settled down to work once more and located on a homestead. In order to hold his new home, and at the same time to make a living for himself, he was forced to seek all manner of employment, but he was willing, ambitious, and capable, and finally managed to get started on his upward climb. He con- tinued to reside on his farm, engaged in gen- eral farming and stock-raising, until 1915, by which time he had increased his property to 200 acres, which he still owns. Since the date mentioned, he has lived in partial retirement, at the edge of Ansley, where he has a com- fortable home and twelve acres of land, and where he engages in selling insurance for a number of well known companies. During the time that he resided on the farm he erected substantial, modern, and attractive buildings and put in other improvements, and in various other ways contributed to the upbuilding of his community. He is a stockholder in the Se- curity State Bank at Ansley and a director of the State Farmers Insurance Company of Omaha, Nebraska. In writing policies he makes a specialty of fire and automobile in- surance. Mr. Gross is a Republican in politics.

In 1888 Miss Gross married Anna Draper, and they became the parents of two children, of whom only one, Roy, is living. Roy Gross. who is the owner of a farm six miles south of Ansley. is one of the progressive young agri- culturists of his locality. In 1892 Mr. Gross married Bertha Whitney, who was born at Waterford, Pennsylvania, and they have two

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY. NEBRASKA

children: Whitney, who is engaged in culti- vating his father's farm of 200 acres, and is an enterprising young agriculturist ; and Earl, who is connected with the National Refining Company, at Wahoo, Nebraska, as a ware- house man. By a former marriage, Mrs. Gross had three daughters: Mrs. Pearl Law- son and Mrs. Fern Chandler, residents of Wahoo; and Mrs. C. N. Harris, of Ansley. Mr. and Mrs. Gross and their children are members of the Christian church.

OLIVER L. SWICK. - Among the sub- stantial farmers located in the fertile region of the Middle Loup there is none more widely · known than the man whose name appears above. Mr. Swick is a native of Ohio He was born June 9, 1863. He is the son of Jesse and Eunice ( McQuisten) Swick. The parents were both natives of Beaver county, Pennsylvania, in which place they were mar- ried but later moved to Ohio, where they made their home until about the year IS87. Mrs. Swick died about this time and he remarried, and after his second marriage he came to Cus- ter county and located a homestead near Merna, on which he lived many years, his death occurring at the home of his son Oscar, when he was eighty-seven years of age.

In the family of the elder Swick were nine children, but the subject of this sketch and his brother Oscar are the only ones living in this county. The parents were members of the Christian church and in partisan affairs Mr. Swick was always counted a staunch Republi- can.

The early days of young Oliver were spent in Ohio and it was here that he received a common school education. In April of 1886 Mr. Swick came to Custer county and since that time has been one of the dependable citi- zens of the county. May 5, 1891, he lead to the marriage altar Miss Hope Gates, a daugh- ter of Stillman and Mary E. (McNeil) Gates, whose record appears elsewhere in this vol- ume.

Since their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Swick have maintained a hospitable home, in which have been ensconced the necessities and most of the comforts of life. It is understood, however, that together they faced the difficul- ties, trials and hardships of the early days and together have accomplished the success with which they are now credited. Of their nine children eight are living: Alta, is deceased ; Harry, who married Ethel Barnes. is at the present time a successful farmer ; Hazel is the wife of William Books and lives near Mil- burn : Arva is the wife of Earl Hatcher, liv-

ing at Lillian ; Mary, Esther, and Ruth are all at home; Lois Olive and Louis Oliver are twins.

In the early days Mr. Swick bought a re- linquishment, upon which he filed and later commuted. This became the initial holding and early home, where he lived until thirteen years ago, when he sold and came to his pres- ent domain, where he owns 1,040 acres of good land. The family are members of the Christian church and he is a member of the Masonic order, independent in politics and withal a worthy citizen held in high repute by his neighbors. Mrs. Swick recalls the scenes of early years when many difficulties presented themselves. Freight was hauled from Grand Island or Loup City. On one occasion they were out of flour for days A neighbor, George Steele, had gone to Grand Island for a fresh supply. One of the old-time blizzards pounced upon them, and next morning the windows were so full of snow that they could not tell whether it was daylight or not. Dur- ing this time they ground wheat in the coffee mill and subsisted on whole-wheat bread. Game was rather plentiful and oftentimes wild plums in the canyons made up the entire fruit supply with which the menu of that day was supplied.

GEORGE DREESSEN was born January 21, 1886, in Germany, and is a son of George C. and Matilda ( Frins) Dreesen. The par- ents were both natives of Germany. The father came to the United States when six- teen years of age. Later he returned, mar- ried the wife named above, and again, in 1886, with his family, when George was but a babe, came to this country to make their future home. They settled on a home- stead in Cherry county, where also they en- tered a tree claim and pre-emption. Later they sold this land and bought near West Union, where they lived until about twelve years ago, when they moved to Grand Island, where both parents died. In their family circle were ten children, eight of them living at the present time. The father was always a Republican in politics, and the family was connected with the English Lutheran church.

George Dreessen received a common-school education in the West Union and Grand Is- land schools, and has been a farmer all of his life. He was married December 29, 1909, his wife, Agnes, having been born in 1878, at Grand Island. Mr. and Mrs. Dreessen are the proud parents of three very promising chil- dren and one child is deceased: Thelma M., born November 22, 1910; Albert R., born

Jours Truly & P. NY Carothers M.Q

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September 28, 1912, died October 21, 1912; Dorien M., born March 6, 1916, and Carl L., born February 1 ,1918.

Mr. Dreessen is independent in politics, and is a member of the English Lutheran church. Mrs. Dreessen is a member of the Presbyter- ian church. They are very excellent people and religious discord does not mar the tran- quility of their home.

In the possession of Margaret, sister of George Dreessen, is a family record that traces the members of her mother's family back for 450 years. This is, perhaps, the longest gen- ealogy possessed by any inhabitant of Custer county.

PAUL H. J. CAROTHERS, M. D. - Eight years of careful and skilled attention to the health and sanitation of Mason City and its people have enlarged the work of Dr. Paul H. J. Carothers and developed it to a point where it is deservedly accounted a necessary community asset. Since beginning his prae- tice here, in 1910, he has steadily advanced in his calling, and at the same time has contribu- ted to the city a modern hospital and three years of service in the capacity of city phy- sician.

Dr. Carothers was born at Wichita, Iowa, October 23, 1881, and is a son of John H. Carothers, in whose sketch, elsewhere in this work, will be found adequate data pertaining to the family history. The early education of Paul H. J. Carothers was obtained in the pub- lic schools of Ansley, Custer county, and in 1900 he was graduated in the high school there. During his youth he had developed remarkable skill as a baseball player, and this was further developed while he was a member of the high-school team. After his graduation he saw a means of livelihood in this direction, and accordingly took up the national pastime as a profession, following it for six years. While he belonged to no regularly organized body, he became widely known as a member of independent teams, and was a general favorite with the "fans" in the various com- munities in which he played. During this period of his pastiming, he carefully saved his earnings, which were not inconsiderable, for he had no idea of making baseball his life's business. He had studied privately, and in 1906 was able to enter the medical depart- ment of Cotner University, Lincoln, Nebraska, where he took a complete course and was graduated in 1910. At that time Dr. Caroth- ers came to Mason City. All young physi- cians are required to pass through a certain

probationary period before they acquire a prac- tice, but in the case of Dr. Carothers it was necessary that this period be short, as his monetary assets at the time of his arrival totaled forty dollars. He therefore applied himself industriously to his calling, and his- energy, together with a pleasing personality and a readily discernible talent for his pro- fession, soon attracted to him a professional business that has continued to grow in size and importance to the present time.

Dr. Carothers makes a specialty of surgery, a field in which he has attained something more than local distinction and reputation. He performs all manner of major and minor operations, some of his cases having been of a most complicated and highly difficult char- acter. In addition to doing post-graduate work at the Chicago Polyclinic, he has had the bene- fit of study and instruction under the precep- torship of the eminent and distinguished Mayo brothers of Rochester, Minnesota. In 1915 he built a new private hospital at Mason City, a three-story structure with basement, and here he has twenty-one rooms and all equipment of the latest type. Comfort, convenience, and the most skilled attendance are afforded the patients, and the institution is one that would be a credit to a much larger community than Mason City. Dr. Carothers keeps fully abreast of the advancements made in both medicine and surgery, and belongs to various organiza- tions of his profession. He is serving as city physician, an office which he has held for three years, and in which he has been able to give the city the benefit of his trained skill and experience and to advocate a number of bene- ficial movements. Politically he is a Democrat, and his fraternal connection is with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows.

Dr. Carothers was married January 26, 1913, to Miss Maybelle Chase, who was born at Mason City. She is a daughter of Hiram Chase, a pioneer of this community, where he conducted a drug store for many years - until his death, in July, 1913. Mr. and Mrs. Carothers are the parents of two children: Nadine and Maurine.

JOHN LENSTROM. - From the early days Custer county has been indebted to Sweden for some of the most thrifty blood that flows in the veins of the early pioneers. John Lenstrom is one of the Scandinavian contingent to whom the county is indebted. He was born in Sweden February 12, 1858, of Swedish parents in whose veins flowed the countless generations in that northern land.

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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 151

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