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 80

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 80

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September 1, 1908 Mr. Livermore was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Miller, daughter of the Hon. E. Miller, who repre- sented his district in the state legislature. Mr.

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

Miller was a pioneer farmer of Sargent and was a well known real-estate man, but he is now living a retired life at Hastings, Ne- braska. Of the seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Livermore, four are living - Leland C., nine years of age (1918) ; Clarice, six years old; Roscoe, aged four years; and Wanda, two and one-half years of age. The family belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Livermore is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he has passed the official chairs, and in poli- tics he is independent.

CLARK H. FENSTERMACHER, M. D. - Standing among the highest in his profes- sion in Custer county, and enjoying a not less exalted position in the estimation of his friends, whose name is legion, Dr. Clark H. Fenstermacher. of Sargent, is likewise de- serving of more than passing mention because of his accomplishments in the field of sur- gery. He is a native of Cass county, Mich- igan, and was born March 2, 1873, a son of C. A. and Margaret (Hill) Fenstermacher.

C. A. Fenstermacher was born in Pennsyl- vania, where he was educated and reared as a farmer, a vocation which he adopted and followed in Michigan. He was married in Cass county, that state, to which his wife had come as a young woman, from her native New Jersey, and there Mr. Fenstermacher con- tinued to be engaged in agricultural pursuits until his retirement, several years prior to his death. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which his widow, who is a resident of Michigan, also belongs. They were the parents of five children: Dr. C. C. is engaged in practicing medicine: Dr. Clark H. is the subject of this notice: Abbie is the wife of Clarence Metcalf, an implement dealer of Sargent, Nebraska ; Maggie, twin of Ab- bie, is single and is a resident of Michigan ; and Verna is a teacher in the public schools of that state.

Dr. Clark H. Fenstermacher received his early education in the public schools of Mich- igan and spent his boyhood on the home farm. An agricultural life, however, did not appeal to him and after some preparation he entered the University of Louisville, Kentucky, front which he was duly graduated in 1900, in which year he began practice at Sargent. He has continued here with constantly increasing success, and now has a large and lucrative practice of a general character, although he specializes to some extent in surgery, a branch in which he has met with particularly grati- fying success. He has given much study and

thought to this department of his profession, has kept fully abreast of the great advance- ments being constantly made, and perhaps no practitioner in Custer county has had more experience in this direction. For a number of years he has been local surgeon for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad at Sargent. He holds membership in the various medical organizations, and is affiliated with the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His political beliefs cause him to maintain an independent stand in regard to public matters. Gifted with a love for his chosen profession, quick of intuition, and gen- erous and sympathetic in his work, he has won the respect and esteem of the citizens of Sargent, and by his courteous manner and genial nature, as well as acknowledged abil- ity, has won an enviable practice and sur- rounded himself with a circle of warm friends.

Dr. Fenstermacher was united in marriage in November, 1913, at Sargent, to Miss Olive Griffith, who was born in Custer county, a daughter of George Griffith, who is engaged in farming near Callaway, this county. Dr. and Mrs. Fenstermacher are the parents of one child, Inez.

ALLIE L. MORGAN .- Down on the South Loup, on the same quarter-section upon which is located the Cumro store and post- office, in a region noted for its pioneers, lives one of the staunch, reliable characters who helped to make the history of the early day. This was none other than Allie Levi Mor- gan, who was born in Aurora, Illinois, in 1858. He is a son of Levi and Sarah ( Satter- field) Morgan. Levi Morgan served as a member of an Illinois regiment during the Civil war, and, like many another gallant soldier of the Union, he came home but to die - a martyr to a noble cause.

Allie L. Morgan came to Nebraska in 1879, from Aurora, Illinois. He landed at Lexing- ton and made his way into Custer county in 1880. Here, one year later; he homesteaded on the South Loup - the place he now owns and upon which he maintains his splendid farm home, which is known throughout the south part of the county as the "Pioneer's Rest." During those early days, he worked first on one ranch and then on another, some- times for L. D. George and sometimes for John George, sometimes for Andy Pancake. But no matter where his operations were ex- erted, he made good and managed to culti- vate his own land, put on substantial im- provements, cultivate a tree claim and keep

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

things going ; and all this without much to start on. When he filed on his tree claim, it took every cent he had in the world.

In 1882 Mr. Morgan was united in mar- riage to Miss Cora George. a member of the widely known George family, and she did well her part in making the home and ac- cumulating their possessions. A lady of refine- ment and a splendid mother. she bequeathed her characteristics to her children and leaves in her home the monument of her life. She died in August, 1918, at the age of fifty-eight years. During her life time she and her hus - band maintained an open, hospitable home, characteristic of the South Loup country. Their union was blessed by the birth of three sons: Byron is married and lives on the home place; Ne G. operates the Cumro store and is the community postmaster : Fletcher is married and also lives on the home place. During his life time Mr. Morgan has been connoisseur of Indian relics, and he has on hand to-day a larger and perhaps more valu- able collection than any other collector of rel- ics in the county. Many of the arrowheads, spearheads, stone knives, battle-axes, stone hammers, etc., described and illustrated in the historical pages of this volume. belong to him. These he has preserved at great pains and much expense, and some day his collection will be a great asset to some museum or his- torical society. Historians of the state are indebted to Mr. Morgan for much valuable information gleaned from the relics he has collected.

The Morgans are highly esteemed in the community, are promoters of all progressive movements and. withal. are influential citizens. During her lifetime, Mrs. Morgan was a mem- ber of the Baptist church.

Anent the experiences through which Mr. and Mrs. Morgan passed, we submit the fol- lowing lines, written by Mr. Morgan himself. and addressed to his wife. These lines describe the passing of the old sod house in which their children were born and where so many experiences incidental to pioneer times took place.

Well, Cora, I've torn down the old sod house, and as I pause a moment to rest.

My thoughts go wandering backward to the early days in the west.

Full twenty years and five have passed away since I felled the giant tree

That helped to build the cabin and make a home for you and me.

Don't you remember, we were sweethearts then? Our paths were still untrod.

But many and many are the happy years we spent in that house of sod.

Together we rocked the cradle upon its earthen floor,

Together we fought the famine, when the wolf was at the door,

And our children grew to manhood beneath the fam- ily tree

And through many a storm and blizzard it sheltered you and me.

But the wheels of time turn onward and its walls were in the way;

To make room for better improvements, I tore them clown to-day.

Now our acres are numbered by the hundreds, our cattle by the score,

Our granaries are bursting with a thousand bushels or more.

But better than all the riches which we toiled for years to get,

And the sweetest of all God's blessings, is this, we are sweethearts yer.

ROBERT A. HUNTER. - Industry in labor, and faith in his community have been contributing factors in the success of Robert A. Hunter, who, after years of participation in farming, stock-raising, and ranching in Cus- ter county, is now residing in comparative re- tirement at Broken Bow. Mr. Hunter was born February 25, 1855, at St. Louis, Mis- souri, a son of Robert and Elizabeth ( Ander- son) Hunter, natives of Scotland.

Robert Hunter came to the United States when thirty years of age, and shortly after his arrival he married Miss Elizabeth Ander- son, whose mother was a member of the fa- mous Scotch publishing-house family of Mc- Millan. She was eighteen years old when she came to this country, and after their marriage she and Mr. Hunter located near Litchfield. Illinois, where they engaged in farming and stock-raising, accumulating large holdings in land and stock. They were faithful members of the Persbyterian church, in the faith of which Mr. Hunter died in 1890, at Walsh- ville, Illinois. Mrs. Hunter survived until 1903 and passed away at the home of her son Robert A., at Broken Bow. They are survived by four children: Mary J. is the wife of Peter W. Davenport, a veteran of the Civil war, a Republican, and a member of the Christian church and the Woodmen's lodge; Robert A. is the subject of this sketch : James .A., a retired ranchman of Alliance, Nebraska. is a Woodman and a Republican ; and Martha is the wife of A. L. McPhail. a farmer near litchfield. Illinois.

Robert A. Hunter attended the public schools and Lebanon ( Illinois) College, and he remained on the home farm until his mar- riage, March 14, 1877, at Walshville. Illinois, to Martha A. Beck. a daughter of Moses and

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

Emily C. (Barlow) Beck. Mr. Beck, who was a pioneer farmer of Illinois, was an elder in the Presbyterian church, belonged to the Odd Fellows, and was a Republican. Not long after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Hunt- er came to Custer county and located six miles north of Broken Bow, on an unde- veloped ranch, which Mr. Hunter named Sunny Dell. They lived in a little sod house and their early struggles for a start were ones that taxed their energies to the full, but both possessed determination and persistence and in the end they triumphed over all ob- stacles. Mr. Hunter had the utmost faith in the community which he had selected as his home, and during the drouth years of 1890 and 1894, when other settlers were discour- aged and were leaving for their former homes in the east, he bought all the land adjoining his own. When his small capital was ex- hausted he borrowed money, often paying as high as three per cent. a month interest, but his faith was vindicated, and he has lived to reap the reward of his confidence. He still owns his original homestead in Custer county, besides other property, and while he is now partly retired and living in his comfortable home at Broken Bow he still supervises the operations on much of this land.

For many years Mrs. Hunter has been one of the most prominent women in Custer county. During the early days, when her husband was struggling hard to make ends meet, she secured a position teaching school, and for five years, during nine months out of the year, drove daily from five to seven miles to take care of her classes, taking with her her two daughters. In addition to this ser- vice she did all of her own housework at the ranch, and did not think it any hardship. Even when prosperity came, and the family moved to Broken Bow, she continued for a time to teach in the public schools here. For many years she taught a young men's Bible class in the Sunday school of the Presbyterian church, and she has always been active in the work of religion and temperance. She was the first president of the Custer county Wom- en's Christian Temperance Union, has given numerous lectures at public meetings in behalf of temperance, and was a charter member of Chapter S. P. E. (., subsequently serving as vice-president of the Nebraska grand chapter of the P. E. O. She was a member also of the women's board at the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, held at Omaha in 1898. In 1915 she published the "Story of the Four Gos- pels," for boys and girls, and a temperance drama entitled "Weighed in the Balance," both of which met with immediate favor. She

has contributed numerous short stories and other articles to different periodicals. A woman of splendid talents and utmost sin- cerity. it is her wish to serve her day and gen- eration and to merit her Master's : "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

JAMES N. PEALE. - Of the men who have lent dignity of character, excellence of labor and largeness of general co-operation to affairs in Custer county for a considerable period, none is held in greater esteem than is James N. Peale, the proprietor of a grocery, fruit, and feed business and a creamery sta- tion at Broken Bow.

Mr. Peale was born November 4, 1863, at Harrisonburg, Rockingham county, Virginia, a son of Anderson N. and Martha ( Bushnell ) Peale. Anderson N. Peale was born at Cross Roads, Rockingham county. Virginia, a son of Jonathan Peale, the original ancestors having come from England, and for many years An- derson N. Peale was a school teacher in the Old Dominion state. In 1883 he came to Custer county, Nebraska, where he located near New Helena and began to teach school, but after a few years he located at Wester- ville and established himself in the hotel and meat-market business. His death occurred at Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 1896, he hav- ing removed to that city several years prior to his demise. He was a Presbyterian and in politics was a Democrat. Mrs. Peale was born at Reidsville, North Carolina, a daughter of Henry Bushnell, a leading civil engineer and during his day considered one of the best mathematicians of the south. He was a Democrat and a member of the Baptist church.

The mother of James N. Peale died when he was fourteen years of age, near Harrison- burg, Virginia, and following that he had no real home. He managed to earn small amounts of money by collecting bones, which were ground into fertilizer, and by selling such old iron as he could find, but he did not make much progress until the spring of 1880, when he came to the west, in company with E. N. Bishop, their destination being Grundy county, Iowa, a community which they event- ually reached. One month later, with a pair of plug horses and an emigrant wagon, they came to Gates, Custer county, Nebraska, tak- ing sixteen days to make the journey, and young Peale hired out to James L. Oxford, who was proprietor of the Oxford ranch, on Lillian creek. He worked there about four years, attending the district schools in the win- ter months, and subsequently he went to Wes-

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

terville, where for three or four years he clerked in mercantile establishments. During President Cleveland's first administration he was appointed postmaster at Westerville, and he also conducted a mercantile business at that point. From that time to the present there has not been a period of more than several months' duration that he has not been actively engaged in mercantile pursuits. His talents seem to be naturally adapted to barter and trade, and at the present time he is the pro- prietor of a splendidly successful enterprise on the north side of the Public Square at Broken Bow, handling staple and fancy gro- ceries, fresh fruit, feed, etc., and conducting a creamery station, under the style of J. N. Peale & Company. Mr. Peale has an excel- lent reputation in business circles - a man of industry and energy, enterprise and spirit, and he is noted for his strict integrity and the manner in which he lives up to his business obligations.

Mr. Peale was married July 4, 1888, at Broken Bow, to Miss Mattie S. Bond, daugh- ter of Benjamin Bond, a farmer of this com- munity, and of the children born to this union, two are living. - Sherman C., who is the proprietor of a feed and fuel business at Los Angeles, California ; and Walter N., who is telephone-order clerk for the great whole- sale grocery house of H. Jevne Company. at Los Angeles. Mr. Peale is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and is a staunch Democrat in politics. He is fraternally af- filiated with the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias.

WILLIAM BOEKING. - Numbered among the homesteaders of 1882 in Custer county who are still the owners of their orig- inal properties, although now retired from active labor, is found William Boeking. Mr. Boeking was for years a successful farmer and stock-raiser of Custer county, but in the spring of 1916 he took up his residence at Litchfield, where he is the proprietor of an implement business.

Mr. Boeking was born in Westphalia, Ger- many, January 15, 1860, and is a son of Henry and Kathryn ( Krum) Boeking, the former born in Germany in 1837, and the latter on January 16th of that year. They were mar- ried in their native land and resided in West- phalia until coming to the United States, in 1868. in which year they settled in Livington county, Illinois. During the next eleven years they were engaged in farming in that county, and then, in 1879, they started out in a wagon for Nebraska. After a long and

tedious journey they arrived at their destina- tion, in Sherman county. where the father filed on a homestead. Through his industry and good management he became well-to-do, and when he died, on his homestead, in 1885, he was one of the substantial and highly re- spected men of his community. He was a Re- publican in politics, and he and his wife were faithful members of the Evangelical church. They were the parents of five children : Will- iam of this sketch ; Henry, who died at Grand Junction, Colorado ; Albert, of Strathcona, Al- berta, Canada: Mary, the widow of William Ruland, and a resident of Litchfield; and John, on the old home farm in Sherman county.

William Boeking was given his education in the public schools of Illinois, to which state he had been taken as a lad of eight years, and he accompanied his parents to Sherman county, Nebraska, in 1879. He resided there three years, and then, with his possessions. which consisted of a team of horses, a wagon, and two dollars in cash, he came to Custer county and settled on a homestead. When others, less determined and sturdy, gave up their land under discouraging conditions, he held grimly on to his property, and in the end his perseverance was rewarded, for his prop- erty developed productiveness and value and its ownership eventually made him a wealthy man. He carried on general farming, in ad- dition to doing considerable stock-raising, and from time to time he added to his holdings, until he had 560 acres. In the spring of 1916 he turned over the strenuous labor of the farm to younger hands, although retaining its ownership, and removed to Litchfield, where he engaged in the hardware and implement business. In 1918 he traded the hardware store for a farm in Sherman county, but he still owns the implement business. Mr. Boek- ing has made a decided success of his career, during which his transactions have always been honorable, fair, square, and above-board. He has served as assessor of his county three years and has always discharged the duties of citizenship in a conscientious and creditable manner. His political support is given to the Democratic party, and his religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal church. to which the members of his family also belong.

In 1883, the year following his arrival in Custer county, Mr. Boeking was united in marriage with Miss Emma Fienhold, who was born at Peru, Illinois, and they became the parents of twelve children, of whom nine sur- vive : Albert, who carries on operations on his father's farm in Sherman county, Ne- braska: Mary, who married Harry Douglass,

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

of Custer county: Kate, the wife of Ned Perry, a farmer of Buffalo county, Nebraska ; Ed, who entered the United States army in 1917, and later entered active service in France ; Bertha, who married George Pater- son, a farmer of Custer county ; Harve, a student of the State University, at Lincoln, where at the time of this writing he is taking a course in radio work, having enlisted in the United States service ; and George, Mildred, and Grace, who remain with their parents.

SYLVESTER McWORTHY was born in Carroll county, Illinois, July 21, 1854. His father, Peter McWorthy, was born in one of the eastern states, of Irish descent, though for many years the family had been residents of the United States. When a young man Peter McWorthy settled near Quincy, Illi- nois, where he became a farmer and where his marriage occurred, the maiden name of his wife having been Hicks, and she having been born near Quincy, Illinois. From that locality they moved to Carroll county, Illi- nois, becoming early settlers there, and in that county they spent the remainder of their days.

Sylvester McWorthy, the subject of this record, was reared on a farm in Illinois and in 1883 he came to Custer county, Nebraska, where his boyhood friends, the Thomas boys, had settled but a short time before. Mr. Nic- Worthy secured a homestead of 160 acres - the southwest quarter of section 19, township 18, range 21. He had the usual experiences of the early settlers of Custer county, and a sod house was his home until six years ago, when he erected the present frame structure. This farm has always been his home since he came here, thirty-six years ago, and for many years he carried on general farming, though he now rents his land and practically lives re- tired. Mr. McWorthy has a host of friends in the community, though he has not a rela- tive in the state, and he has chosen to live in single blessedness, as one of the popular bachelors of the county in which he has long lived and labored and of which he is a sterling pioneer citizen.

HENRY T. BARRETT. - Among the early settlers of Custer county who have helped to bring about present-day conditions, mention should be made of Mr. and Mrs. Henry T. Barrett.

Henry T. Barrett was born in Jackson county, Iowa, October 20, 1860. His parents, Hercules and Susan ( Hawke) Barrett, were natives of Cornwall, England, where they

were born within six miles of Land's End. While still young people they came to Amer- ica, and they lived in turn in Wisconsin, in Illinois, and in Jackson county, Jowa, their last days having been spent in Cass county, that state, where both passed away, he at the age of seventy and she at the age of seventy- six years.

Henry T. Barrett was reared in his native state and when a young man came to Custer county and took a somestead of 160 acres, in section 22, townssip 17, range 22. He built a sod house, proved up on the claim, and re- cently he deeded the farm to one of his sons.

In 1885, in Custer county, was solemnized the marriage of Henry T. Barrett to Sarah E. M. Cass, who was born in Jackson county, lowa, and who is a daughter of John and Orpha ( Hill) Cass, natives of New York state and early pioneers of Jackson county, Iowa, where they passed away.

In 1884 Mrs. Barrett, before her marriage, came to Custer county and secured a home- stead in section 22, township 18, range 22. Here she was married and since that event she and her husband have made this their home. They occupy a nice frame house, and the improvements are in keeping with present- day development.

Mr. and Mrs. Barrett have two sons : Alonzo, who was graduated in the Merna high school, as a member of the class of 1912, is at home and is assisting in the operation of the farm. He recently married Miss Min- nine Foerst. Grant, who was graduated in the Merna high school, class of 1915, was a mem- ber of the United States Army in France at the time when the great war came to a close.

Mr. and Mrs. Barrett are among the pio- neer settlers of Custer county, have contrib- uted their full share to the progress and de- velopment of the community in which they live, and are people of genuine worth.

AMOS O. ALEXANDER was born Feb- ruary 27, 1871, in Nebraska City, and he is a son of James O. and Sarah E. (Standley) Alexander, who were honored pioneers of Nebraska, and from whom Amos O. inherited the characteristic traits that have made his life career very successful. There were these children in the family of James O. and Sarah E. Alexander - Phineas W., Sarah J., Fin- lev. James M., Luella A. Spegal ( deceased ), Addie E. Flower ( deceased ), Amos ()., (the farmer and business man of whom this sketch is written), and Lillian M. Andry. Through the mother, this family was connected with the Methodist church. The father was a stock

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY, NEBRASKA

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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 80

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