USA > Nebraska > Dixon County > History of Dixon County, Nebraska > Part 12
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October. 1871. J. W. Porter, who held the office during 1872, '73, '74 and '75.
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
Edward Arnold, 1876 and '77.
R. H. Knapp, 1875 and '79.
W. C. Smith, 1850, '81. '82. '53, '84 and '85.
O. E. Martin, 1886. 87. 'SS and 89.
A. Reynolds, 1890. '91. '92 and '93.
A. W. Rose. 1894 and '95. and was re-elected for the term commencing January 1. '96.
SHERIFFS.
The first sheriff elected in the county was C. F. Putnam. Ife was elected in December, 1858, and held the office until October, 1559, when R. H. Wilbur was elected for two years. Mr. Wilbur only retained the office until the next spring. and Richard Higgin was appointed to fill the vacancy, and held the office in IS61. J. Clark. James Barrett and C. F. Putnam. each held the office a part of the time in 1962. Putnam held the office from October, 1862. to October. 1863. A. Kniss. from October, 1863, to October, 1864.
C. F. Putnam. from October, 1964. to October. 1565. He held the office either as principal or deputy most of the time since the county was organized.
William Bigley. from October. 1565. to October. 1567.
M. B. De Witt. from October. 1867. through '68. 69. '70. 71. '72, '73.
B. H. Beller. 1574 and 1575.
M. B. De Witt, 1576 and 1877.
E. H. Jones. 1975, 1879. 1530. 1851. 1992 and 1993.
John F. Pomeroy. 1884 and 1855.
Mark Brown. 1996. 1987. 1588 and 1999.
J. Boeckenhaner, 1590 and 1891.
P. McCabe, 1592. 1893, 1894 and 1895. until January 1.
1896. and was then followed by H. H. Hart.
SURVEYORS. S. H. Coats. 1872. 73. 74 and '75.
J. G. Miller. 1876. 77.
O. P. Sullenberger, 1875 and 79.
G. O. Lampher. ISSO. 'S1. C. T. Granger. 1582 and 'S3.
G. O. Lampher. 1884. '85. '56 and :87.
J. W. Jones. ISSS. J. Leonard. 1559.
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
M. F. Richards, 1890 and '91.
S. B. Stough, 1892, '93, '94 and to the end of '95. COUNTY ATTORNEYS.
W. F. Norris was elected for two years, commencing January 1. ISSS. He resigned at the end of a year and J. J. McAllister was appointed to fill the vacancy.
A. E. Barnes, 1889 and '90. J. J. McCarthy, 1891, '92. '93, '94, '95 and '96. CLERKS OF THE DISTRICT COURT.
James E. Moore, 1892. '93.
J. D. Harris, 1894 and '95 and was succeeded by W. W. Cooper on January 1. '96.
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
CHAPTER XIV.
MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE SENT FROM DIXON COUNTY DISTRICT JUDGES J. B. BARNES AND W. F. NORRIS SCHOOLS AND SCHOLARS THE FIRST DEED RECORDED IN THE COUNTY GRIST MILLS AND SAW MILLS AND OTHER MANUFACTORIES.
Those who were sent by Dixon county to the legislature were generally men of the requisite energy and ability to fill the important positions of law makers. Before Ne- braska became a state this county was represented in the territorial legislature by three of its citizens. viz: D. T. Bramble, in 1858: N. S. Porter, in 1864. and R. H. Wilbur. in 1865. All these gentlemen did well for their constituents. so well. indeed, that Messrs. Porter and Wilbur were sent there again after stateship was adopted. and Mr. Bramble for his efficient efforts in the organization of the county would undoubtedly have been again elected if he had re- mained here. He removed to Yankton. where he died a few years ago.
After Nebraska became a state, Mr. Porter was elected state senator in 1866 and again in 1868, and Mr. Wilbur was a representative in 1856. Oliver Baltzley was the represent- ative in 1868, and was followed by Mr. Wilbur in 1572. As to politics. Porter and Baltzley were republicans and Wilbur a democrat.
In the fall of 1876. J. P. Walters, democrat. was elected representative for two years, at the end of which time he was succeeded by W. H. Vanderbilt. republican of Silver Creek.
In ISTS O. P. Sullenberger, democrat, was elected to the senate. He then and since has resided in Ponca. Previously he lived in Ionia and in company with Messrs. Newton and Landon had a large mill there. Assenator, as well as in the office of county commissioner. Mr. Sallenberger gave good
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
satisfaction. He was one of the commissioners at the time the narrow gauge railroad was born.
A. S. Palmer, republican, was elected to the house in 1880 and re-elected in 1882. He was, and is a farmer re- siding a few miles from New Castle. well educated. able and popular. and frequently served the county in various responsible offices.
W. F. Norris, republican, became senator in 1882. He had been educated at West Point Military Academy and afterwards served in the army several years and until he resigned and came to Ponca to engage in the practice of law.
In 1884. G. W. Waitt, republican, was elected representa- tive. Mr. Waitt was a prominent business man of Wake- field.
He was suceeded in 1886. by P. G. Wright, democrat. a resident of Galena township. Mr. Wright had formerly been a member of the legislature of Iowa, and his experience there as well as his sound judgment and earnest efforts enabled him to pass through the legislative ordeal with credit. Mr. Wright was several times an efficient county commissioner and supervisor. He died at his home near Martinsburg. June 30, 1591. He had been a resident of Dixon county about fourteen years. He was a just and honorable man and had many friends.
In 1888. A. D. Whitford of Springbank, republican, was the representative. Mr. Whitford was a prosperous farmer of Springbank where he had lived since 1871. He was followed by P. F. Rohan, elected in 1890. Mr. Rohan was a member of the party now known as the "populist." He was a farmer living a few miles from New Castle and has resided there many years.
In 1890, H. P. Shumway. republican, one of the most prominent and popular members of that party in the dis- trict, was elected to the senate. Mr. Shumway resides in Wakefield where he is conspicuous by his energy and snc- cess in business and by his popularity in social life.
In 1892. E. E. Ellis, republican, of Springbank township. was elected representative. He settledin Springbank in 1869 and now has a fine farm of 280 acres three miles from Allen. He was an efficient member of the house.
HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
In 1894. George Matteson, a prominent republican citizen of Ponca township, became representative. Mr. Matteson is a farmer and is an active and successful business man. As a legislator he gave entire satisfaction.
The office of district judge has been successively filled by two citizens of Dixon county:
John B. Barnes, a native of Ohio and a soldier in an Ohio regiment during the war, located in Ponca and was admitted to the bar in 1873. In 1875, he was elected district attorney and served as such until the spring of 1879, when he was appointed district judge by Gov. Nance to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Judge Valentine, and in the fall of that year he was elected to that office by a large ma- jority. Judge Barnes now resides at Norfolk. He was an able judge and is a successful lawyer having a large practice.
W. F. Norris, who, as previously mentioned, was a state senator for this county one term and afterwards county at- torney, was in 1887 elected district judge and in 1891 was re- elected to the same office. his second term expiring January 1. 1896. Judge Norris during his eight years on the bench gained the respect and esteem of the district and earned the reputation of being an honorable and upright judge.
Both Judge Barnes and Judge Norris are republicans and were elected by that party. Politics, however, so far as judges are concerned. is beginning to be regarded by the people of advanced thought as of little importance. If a man has the requisite ability and honesty and is clear headed and impartial. the question whether he believes in a high tariff or low, or is a silver 16 to 1 advocate or a gold bug. cuts no figure, nor does it matter whether he is labelled as democrat, republican or populist.
After having thus briefly alluded to those who have been furnished by Dixon county to fill legislative and judicial offices, the next important matter to notice are the schools. without due instruction in which, legislative and judicial honors would be few indeed.
As to the schools in Dixon county in an early day. there is on that subject as on many others pertaining to county affairs, a most discouraging lack of information. That there were schools during the first few years of the county. there
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
can be no doubt, and good ones too, judging from the intel- ligence of those whose youth was spent here.
In 1869 there were ten school districts and two hundred and twenty-nine children of school age in the county. In 1870 there were twelve school districts and three hundred and thirty-four scholars: in 1871. seventeen districts and five hundred and sixty-five scholars, and in 1872. twenty-one districts and seven hundred and six scholars. This rapid increase it is needless to follow. Suffice it to say that schools and scholars were growing in unmbers in proportion to the growth of everything else in the county. As a mat- ter of course, at such a rate of speed. such numbers have now swelled into quite gigantic proportions.
At this time. (fall of 1895), instead of ten school districts and two hundred and twenty-nine scholars as in 1869, Dixon county has seventy-eight school districts. ninety-three schools, about one hundred teachers and three thousand, four hundred and sixty-four scholars.
Such are the figures furnished by Miss Schroer the accomplished superintendent of public instruction.
Every summer since 1878 a teachers' institute has been held. during which the services of some of the best and most advanced instructors in the state are obtained, and those designing to teach in the county are required by the superintendent to attend. At the institute held this year (1895) one hundred and nine teachers were in attendance.
With such earnest efforts to have competent teachers. it is needless to say that Dixon county has good schools and as a consequence good scholars.
What a wonderful contrast there is between the schools of the present west and their improved methods of instruc- tion, and the old fashioned "deestrict" schools of New York and New England, thirty-five years ago.
A few "odds and ends" entirely disconnected and not ap- propriately fitting into any other chapter we will insert here. as some or all of them may be of interest.
The first deed made and recorded in Dixon county after its organization in 1858. was from Wm. Bigley to Murtha Gorman. The deed was dated December 21. 1859, (a short time after the first election of county officers) and was re-
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
corded February 22, 1859. The amount of land conveyed was 120 acres.
Dixon county's large tracts of timber along the Missouri and the generally great and certain crops of wheat and corn, brought about the establishing, from first to last, of numer- ous grist and saw mills.
Whitcomb's saw mill on the river bottom near Ponca was the pioneer and was followed by the grist mill of Stough Brothers at Ponca and the mill of L. T. Hill at lonia, all of which have been previously described.
Among the saw mills in the timber along the Missouri was that of Joseph Stobaugh near Ionia in '68, and that of Elias Warner in '69 which latter has continued to this time. A saw mill on the Aoway. about two miles below Ponca. was built by Jonathan Martin in 1870.
George Matteson. from 1874 to a few years ago, was en- gaged extensively in that business. His mill was in the tim- ber near the river, and between Ponca and Ionia.
All the above mills were run by steam power excepting Stough Brothers' mill at Ponca and Martin's mill two miles below. The mill at Ponea, when the country became older and the increase of business demanded it, developed into the extensive roller mills built by Stough and Mikesell and afterwards owned by the Ponca Mill Company. Steam and water were both used as motive powers. The mill was burned in the winter of 1893 and has not been rebuilt.
Afterwards a large steam Hlouring mill was built in Ponca by the Messrs. Crew which in January, 1895, burned.
At Wakefield is the well known Hlouring mill of J. O. Milligan. It does an immense business and is under excel- lent management. There is also a large mill at Emerson and another at Dixon. The mill at Martinsburg and the new mill at New Castle are first-class in machinery and have a large patronage.
In connection with mills for making lumber and flour other manufacturing establishments may be here appropri- ately mentioned.
In lonia. T. J. Ryan has a steam syrup factory fitted up with the best machinery and latest improvements. in which he made about five thousand gallons of sorghum syrup in '94 and and the same in '95.
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
At Dixon a very large creamery has been in successful operation for a year past, and at Waterbury another was completed in the summer of '95. There are also several smaller establishments of the same kind in various parts of the county and doing good business. All such institutions are generally made profitable to the owners and they are certainly a help to the county at large.
The immense water powers along South Creek, Aoway and Logan, are capable of turning many more wheels than they now do, and it is to be hoped the time is not distant when the water of those rapid streams, now in a great measure going to waste, will be utilized.
In addition to excellent schools the county has many churches and benevolent societies. The rude school and church buildings of the pioneers, as good as they could have at that time, have given place to structures wherein refine- ment and good taste are conspicuous. All the various edu- rational. moral and intellectual efforts in the county have been added to and improved from year to year, and now it is hardly possible to find a better condition of society than Dixon county is favored with.
As the pioneers and old settlers look back to the hard- ships they passed through in early days, they see the marked contrast between what life was then and what it is now. And while amid their former hard but adventurous frontier life they probably enjoyed as much real happiness as at the present time, they realize that in material comforts and ed- ucational and social advantages the present is superior to the past.
This county, since its organization, suffered from a grasshopper raid in 1874 and a severe drouth in 1864, and another and milder drouth in 1894. thirty years after. This is a good showing: three bad years out of the thirty-nine years of the county. Such drawbacks occurring only at long intervals, are no excuse for despair. There is no country which has less failures of crops and the great majority have more.
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
CHAPTER XV.
PONCA CITY ITS PAST AND PRESENT.
In the preceding pages, the gradual growth of Ponca from a houseless town site to a brisk business town is seen. As previously stated, the location is most favorable for a large place, being at the junction of the valleys of South Creek and Aoway, and surrounded by a rich agricultural country.
The proprietors of Ponca were not only wise in making its location near the timber and at the confluence to two such fertile valleys as Aoway and South Creek, thereby to a great extent commanding the trade of both and of their tributaries, but they showed good judgment in the selection of a place where is a water power which surpasses any on this side of the Missouri within a hundred miles. With these natural advantages, a prosperous future was reasonably expected.
Its growth was slow for many years. Its plat of 320 acres looked forlorn in its solitude, and though big in its frame- work was most lean and lank in its filling. It did indeed move ahead slow. So slow that for several years it required a marvellous imagination to see that it moved at all. . In 1873. seventeen years after it first saw light. Ponca had a population of possibly 200. At that length of time ago, a Sabbath day quiet brooded over the town, which was then a mere hamlet compared with what it now is. Then. what little there was of it, was quickly seen. As you crossed the bridge. coming from Sioux City, you saw Mr. Bigley's hotel. (the Valley House.) and Stough & Brothers' grist mill, and as you passed on you came successively to F. Gould's grocery. the county clerk's office, the stores of S. Gamble and Stough & Mikesell, the which, together with two or three shops, comprised the business part of the place. Itsdwelling houses were few. and all its business establishments from its stores down to its blacksmith shop could be counted on the fingers of the two hands.
HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
From 1873 to 1876 the town improved a little faster than before. Another blacksmith shop was started. Somebody also built a barn. A lean-to was added to the town grocery. One man built a new fence and painted his house. Another proposed, in the bright near future, to build a hog house. Thus enjoying present prosperity and anticipations of the future, Ponca drifted along the stream of time.
When the narrow gauge railroad arrived, the town moved a little faster than before, though not as rapidly as it would with a more desirable road. When that road. after a few years, fell into the hands of a rich and energetic company and was built over and given standard gange, new iron and better cars. Ponca really had for the first time, the prosperity which a good road brings. Its growth, hitherto slow. rapidly increas- ed, and new enterprises and new arrivals of people became frequent.
From year to year its energy and good fortune continued. Old business houses and residences surrendered their loca- tions to those which were more commodious and elegant. The spacious brick store which Stough & Mikesell built in 1877. established the popularity of brick for buildings and such within a few years took the place of many of the hum- ble business structures of earlier days.
Now, the four corners at the intersection of East and Third streets, are adorned by large blocks, fully equal to what are usual in very much larger towns. From that inter- section west along Third street, and south on East street. business buildings thus elegantly constructed, are with few exceptions general.
The first brick store built by Stough & Mikesell, has doubled its former size. From there along the north side of Third street. is almost a continuous line of elegant busi- ness houses to Ionia street where S. P. Mikesell's palatial establishment is located. The same splendid array of buildings is seen on much of the opposite side of Third street and on East street. This part of town where the Stoughs. Mikesell, Davey and Gamble do business, is nearly every day a crowded scene of activity.
At the foot of East street stood the great mill built by Stough and Mikesell, and which was burned nearly three years ago. It was an imposing structure, and added greatly
HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
to the business and business look of the place. With so fine a waterpower it is likely that another mill will, ere long, be built there.
Outside the business part of town many fine residences claim attention. Good taste has generally prevailed in build- ing them and in the arrangements around them. Twenty- five years ago the entire town could not boast of more than a score of trees; now it has at least ten thousand. They fill most of the lots which are occupied and beautify the sides of nearly every street. These, with the shrubbery, vines, gar- dens and flower beds, and the neatness displayed in all. have made Ponca homelike and enjoyable. Pictures of a few of such fine residences are seen in this book and each tells a story of refinement.
The same good taste is displayed in the building and adornment of the churches, in the school housesand grounds around them, in the grading of the streets, in the building and repair of sidewalks and crossings, and in the clean and orderly methods by which the whole are supervised. All this has been the gradual outcome of a slow growth of twenty- five years. The other fine towns of the county will in a. short time enjoy the same attractive adornments, indeed. with the energy and ambition of the residents. the question of trees, vines. Howers and shrubbery is only one of the time required for their growth.
Let us briefly glance over the business men in Ponca. It will be seen that they cannot be counted on the fingers as in 1873.
The general stores are those of Stough Bros., S. P. Mike- sell, J. M. Davey. M. F. Gamble and Drager Bros.
Of these. the Stough Bros .. Mikesell and Davey have been in business many years. Stough and Mikesell commenced as partners in 1869 in the store on Third street now occupied by Eames & Searing. and removed in 1877 to their brick store then recently finished. They dissolved in 1886, Mr. Stough retaining the location and soon after Mr. Mikesell built the fine place he has since occupied. Mr. Davey has been in the mercantile business twenty years, and has a large establish- ment on East street. Mr. Gamble came here in 1872 and was clerk for S. Gamble and Stough & Mikesell until January. 1881. and has since been in business for himself. He has a
LUTHERAN CHURCH. PONCA.
DR. S. B. STOUGH'S RESIDENCE.
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
commodious store on East street. Drager Bros. occupy the store on the southwest corner of East and Third streets.
Eames & Searing, R. P. Armstrong, A. O. Bladen, I. Con- ner and A. W. Beeson have well stocked stores for groceries. notions. etc. Eames & Searing commenced in 1890, and now do a large business. Mr. Bladen opened his store in April. 1895, and Mr. Beeson in February, 1894. Mr. Armstrong came to Dixon county in the fall of 1870 and located on a homestead in Clark township, and several years later remov- ed to Ponca, and in September, 1883, opened his present store. Charles Schroer commenced with a bakery in 1585, and in connection has now a restaurant and a good business and location.
Ponca's has three good hotels. viz: The Valley House, the "Hotel Rakow" and the Merchants. The Valley House is the oldest hotel in town. It was bought of Leander Davis many years ago by Wm. Bigley and kept until his death in 1878, and since by his widow Mrs. Bigley. Mr. and Mrs. Bigley were among the early settlers and their hotel was a prominent and popular stopping place. The "Hotel Rakow" is a large and elegant brick building on Third street, bought by A. F. Rakow in April, 1895, of J. F. Smith. The Mer- chants Hotel was built nineteen years ago and is now owned by Geo. Bolton, formerly of Daily Branch. There was a fourth hotel, the Central House, a commodious and popular establishment, built by S. Gamble in 1877. It was burned in Jannary. 1895. and Mr. Rakow, the proprietor. afterwards purchased the "Hotel Rakow" as above stated.
Among its prosperous institutions. Ponca has three drug stores, two millinery establishments, two hardware stores, a furniture store, a harness shop, two markets, etc.
The oldest drug store in town is that of T. R. Orr. It was started in 1876 by L. Kryger and afterwards sold to M. O. Ay- ers, and by him in 1878, disposed to Mr. Orr who came from Chicago a short time before. With the exception of about two years, he has continued the business ever since. His partner is F. G. Hebron who came here in 1884. Another drug store is that of J. D. Forbes who bought it in the spring of 1893 and has since continued it. Another popular drug- gist is W. M. Mahoney who purchased in October, 1893. the
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HISTORY OF DIXON COUNTY, NEBRASKA.
drug store of N. Hamm. These three establishments are large and well managed.
The oldest millinery store is that of Mrs. M. B. Higgins who commenced about nineteen years ago, and another store of the kind has been kept by Miss Rogers several years.
As to the hardware stores, that of Wm. Auge is the oldest in town. Mr. Ange came to Dixon county in November, 1867, and located on a farm in Silver Creek. From there he moved to Ponca eighteen years ago, and engaged in the hard- ware business with James Hobbs. Seven years afterwards Mr. Hobbs retired. and Mr. Ange. (with an in- terval of one year.) continued the business from that time to this with great success. Mr. Auge is president of the Security Bank of Ponca and is a prosperons and reliable citizen. Mr. Hobbs came to Ponca about twen- ty-four years ago and was in the hardware business most of the time until he sold out to Mr. Auge. He went to Gilroy. Cal .. since then. and is engaged in fruit raising. The other hardware store in Ponca, is that of L. Baltzly who has had it several years.
The furniture store is that of J. A. Mohr who commenced that business in the spring of 1886 with James Hobbs, and since 1887 has continued it alone and with a prosperous trade.
Ponca's harness establishment is owned by E. J. Berry. who, with his father, came here from Illinois in March. 1873, and commenced that business in 1882. For that pur- pose he had a fine building on East street, which in January, '95 was burned with most of its contents. He has since ro- built. Mr. Berry was mayor in 1838 and has served as councilman several terms. He is now the supervisor of the first district of the county.
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