USA > Nebraska > Dodge County > History of Dodge and Washington Counties, Nebraska, and their people, Volume II > Part 21
USA > Nebraska > Washington County > History of Dodge and Washington Counties, Nebraska, and their people, Volume II > Part 21
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After attending the country schools of his neighborhood, Don C. Van Deusen went to high school for one year at Omaha, completing his high school work at Blair, where he was graduated in 1889. For the sub- sequent four years he was a student at Doane College, and while there managed the Doane Owl, the college paper, for two years. In 1895 Mr. Van Deusen bought the Courier at Blair and edited it until 1907, when he sold it to T. T. Osterman, and then bought his present journal, The Pilot, the leading republican organ in this part of the State. Within recent years he bought the building he occupies, modernized it and now has an up-to-date newspaper and job printing plant, fully equipped to issue his newspaper and carry on his large job printing business. His paper has a paidup circulation of 2,000 and is recognized to be one of the best papers in Dodge and Washington counties.
In 1899 Mr. Van Deusen was united in marriage with Miss Min- nie Wiseman, born at Salem, Indiana, but brought to Fort Calhoun, Nebraska, many years ago by her parents. She was assistant cashier of the banking house of A. Castetter for eight years. There are no children. Both Mr. and Mrs. Van Deusen belong to the Congregational Church. He is a Mason and also connected with the Modern Woodmen and both belong to the Order of Eastern Star. One of the leading republicans of this locality, he was elected an alternate to the national convention of his party held at Chicago, Illinois, in 1912.
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Mr. Van Deusen followed in the footsteps of his father when he became a member of Company E, Third Nebraska Infantry, serving under Col. Wm. J. Bryan, and as such went to Cuba during the Spanish- American war, remaining in the service for one year. While his time is taken up with his paper, during the late war he served as chairman of the Four Minute Men and also as chairman of the fuel committee of his county. He was a member of the executive committee of the local Red Cross Chapter on the Board of Instruction for the new soldiers and was tenor for the "Liberty Quartet," which sang all over the county in the interest of various war activities. At present he is serving as a member of the executive committee of the Nebraska Press Asso- ciation, and has been on the republican state central committee at differ- ent times. A forceful man, fearless and energetic, he has always been a leader and as he knows how to handle men his work for any cause is very effective, and when the people of this region have in mind the promotion of.any public enterprise they try to get his endorsement and co-operation, for they realize the value of such a service.
FRED G. PIERCE is handling with marked circumspection and efficiency the multifarious records and other details pertaining to the office of city clerk of Fremont and is one of the popular executives of the judicial center and metropolis of Dodge County. He was born at Plymouth, Pennsylvania, May 11, 1863, and is a son of James B. and Leonora (Remmell) Pierce, the former a native of Connecticut and the latter of Pennsylvania, where their marriage occurred and where they passed the remainder of their lives, the father having first been engaged in farm- ing in the old Buckeye State, and later having become a successful con- tractor and builder. He learned the carpenter's trade in his youth and thus was well fortified when he initiated independent operations as a contractor and builder. He served two years as a member of a Penn- sylvania regiment in the Civil war, was a republican in politics, was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, and both he and his wife held membership in the Presbyterian Church. He became the owner of a considerable amount of coal land, and the exploitation of the coal deposit added materially to his financial prosperity. Of the six children only two are now living, Fred G. being the elder, and his brother Harry being a resident of Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, where he owns and operates a greenhouse and is successful in floriculture.
The present city clerk of Fremont acquired his youthful education in the schools of the old Keystone State, including a course in Wyoming Seminary, at Kingston, besides which he attended Wilkesbarre Academy two years, and then entered LaFayette College, one of the well ordered institutions of Pennsylvania, where he continued his studies four years and in the civil engineering department, of which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1885. Thereafter he was employed for a short interval in the coal fields of West Virginia, but before the close of the year 1885 he had accepted a position as a railroad conductor in that State. He continued his residence in West Virginia until 1891, when he came to Fremont, Nebraska, and entered service as a conductor on the Chi- cago & Northwestern Railroad. He continued his efficient service in this capacity until 1913, and in the meanwhile had continuously main- tained his home at Fremont. In the year mentioned he purchased the popular Brunswick Restaurant in this city and he successfully conducted the same four years, when he sold the business. For eighteen months thereafter he was employed in the local offices of the Chicago & North-
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western Railroad and for three months in the office of the state land commissioner in the city of Lincoln. He was then elected city clerk of Fremont, of which position he has since continued the incumbent. He was for two years a member of the City Council and in the election of 1919 he was the republican candidate for the office of county clerk, his defeat having been encompassed by only 137 votes. Mr. Pierce has long been deeply interested in the history and teachings of the Masonic fraternity, in which he is affiliated with both York and Scottish Rite bodies, in the former of which he is a member of the Fremont Com- mandery of Knights Templar. He still holds membership also in Brotherhood of Railway Conductors, and he figures as one of the veteran and retired railroad men of Nebraska, his service having been princi- pally on passenger trains. He and his wife are active members of the Presbyterian Church in their home city, and their circle of friends is limited only by that of their acquaintances.
In January, 1888, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Pierce to Miss Bertha Kurtz, who likewise was born and reared in Pennsylvania, and concerning their children brief record is given in conclusion of this review. Russell K., who is now associated with the business of Bader Brothers, of Fremont, was in service during eighteen months of the World war and for one year of this period was mess sergeant at Base Hospital No. 49 in France. Lenora is the wife of Joseph T. Smith of Fremont. Rebecca is the wife of Earl J. Lee, who is engaged in the practice of law in this city. Lawrence, now a traveling salesman for the Hoover Sweeper Company, was in service two years during the World war, and was mess sergeant in the military base hospital at Houston, Texas. Beth Evelyn is attending the public schools of Fremont.
JUDGE CONRAD HOLLENBECK, a resident of Dodge County almost two score years, was during a large part of that time judge of the Sixth Judicial District, and the distinctions achieved by him as an able lawyer, a profound jurist and a man of affairs made him one of the State's best known citizens. Since his death Mrs. Hollenbeck has continued to reside at Fremont, where for many years she has exercised a prominent influ- ence in the social and civic affairs of the community and State.
The late Judge Hollenbeck was born at East Hebron, Potter County, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1847. His first American ancestor, his great-grandfather, came from Holland when a young man and settled at Coxsackie, Greene County, New York, where he married. His son, Conrad Hollenbeck, lived to the unusual age of 106 years and is buried at Sweden Valley in Potter County, Pennsylvania. This Conrad Hollen- beck was married in Cortland County, New York, to Rebecca Edwards. Their son, John Hollenbeck, became a prosperous farmer in Hebron, Pennsylvania, whither he removed after his marriage with Emily Par- ker, a native of Virgil, Cortland County, New York.
A son of John and Emily (Parker) Hollenbeck, Conrad Hollenbeck, grew up in a home equally removed from poverty and from luxury, and his training was such as to bring out the sturdy and self-reliant qual- ities of his character. He attended a district school, and at the age of nine years earned his first money building fires for the school teacher. He worked on his father's farm, and in the spring of 1864 before he was seventeen years of age he enlisted as a private at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, in the 207th Pennsylvania Infantry. He was in the great Battle of the Wilderness and with the army of the Potomac until Lee's surrender. After the war he resumed his education and in June, 1869,
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graduated from the college at Mansfield, Pennsylvania. He took up the study of law in the office of Isaac Benson at Coudersport, Pennsy1- vania, was admitted to the bar in 1871 and remained there in active practice for six years. While in Pennsylvania he gained his first rec- ognition as a public leader, being elected to the Legislature in 1874 and again in 1876.
May 9, 1877, he married Janet Knox at Coudersport. Their wed- ding journey brought them out to Nebraska and they arrived in Fre- mont on the 15th of May. Judge Hollenbeck came to Dodge County with a proved record as a lawyer and was not long in securing a position of advantage and influence in the bar of this State. After some years of private practice he was elected county attorney in 1890, and held that office until 1895. In 1896 he sat as a delegate in the Chicago National Convention, where Bryan was first nominated. Two years later in 1898 he was elevated to the bench as judge of the Sixth Judicial District and discharged the duties of that position with eminent abilities for eighteen years. He was elected chief justice of Nebraska in 1914 and served until his death on January 21. 1915, in Lincoln, Nebraska, holding court only five days before he died.
Mrs. Hollenbeck was born at Lisle in Broome County, New York, April 21, 1856, and represents several family lines of great distinction in America. Her parents were Franklin William and Catherine (John- son) Knox. Her father was a prominent Pennsylvania lawyer and a railroad president, practiced at Coudersport, Pennsylvania, for forty- seven years, and died at his winter home at Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1891. Catherine Johnson, mother of Mrs. Hollenbeck, was born at Lisle, New York, graduated from the Homer Academy at Cortland and died in 1869. Her grandfather, John Johnson, was born in Connecticut and was a soldier in the Revolutionary war for seven years, holding the rank of lieutenant and captain. He was at Valley Forge with Washington, and after the war drew a pension for his service. Captain John Johnson married Clarissa Rock. Cyrus Johnson, grandfather of Mrs. Hollenbeck, was a captain in the War of 1812, served as a member of the New York State Legislature and was a successful merchant of Lisle, New York. He married Abigail Wheeler, granddaughter of a French phy- sician named Quigley, who came with General Lafayette to America at the time of the Revolution. An uncle of Mrs. Hollenbeck was a captain of the Civil war, so that there were three generations of her family that gave captains to the military service of this country.
Through the paternal line she is a member of the distinguished Knox family of America. Her great-grandfather, William Knox, married Margaret Colton. He moved from Connecticut to Pennsylvania and built a block house on the site of what is now Knoxville, Tioga County, Pennsylvania. His son, James Knox. was the first white child born in that county. James Knox married Anna Faulkner, who was born in Otsego County, New York, in 1798. In this block house was born Franklin W. Knox, father of Mrs. Hollenbeck, and he lived there until one year of age. The land on which the block house was built is still owned by members of the Knox family. Seven generations of the Knox family have been born in America since the first ancestor came from Scotland.
Mrs. Hollenbeck was educated in a private school, in the Pennsyl- vania Female College at Philadelphia, and the interests and activities of her life have been those of a cultured and patriotic woman. She served as a member of the Woman's Board of Management of the Trans-
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Mississippi and International Exposition at Omaha in 1898, representing the Third Congressional District of Nebraska. She is a member of the Charity Club, has been president of the Woman's Club, and has long been prominent officially in the Daughters of the American Revolution, having organized the Lewis and Clark Chapter at Fremont.
Judge and Mrs. Hollenbeck had two children: Franklin Knox, born June 18, 1878; and Oscar Lowry, born September 13, 1884, and died in 1885.
The only son now living graduated from the Fremont High School and the University of Nebraska in the Law Department, and was mar- ried November 15, 1905, to Mae B. Alexander, daughter of a prominent Montana rancher and business man of Forsyth, Montana, where Frank- lin K. Hollenbeck now lives. They have five children: Thomas Alex- ander, Janet K .. Gretchen L., Prudence J. and John Conrad. At the time of his marriage Franklin K. Hollenbeck was city treasurer of Fre- mont. He also conducted a bank at Harrisburg and is now postmaster of Forsyth, Montana.
JOSEPH VINCENT HINCHMAN, M. D. A well known physician of Blair, Joseph Vincent Hinchman, M. D., is devoted to his practice, which is a large and lucrative one, and well deserves the reputation which he enjoys of being one of the most able and faithful physicians of the city. A son of John Hinchman, he was born January 14, 1846, in Rush County, Indiana, coming, on both sides of the house, of pioneer stock.
John Hinchman was born and bred in Virginia, and as a youth came with his parents as far west as Rush County, Indiana, where his father, Joseph Hinchman, redeemed a homestead from the wilderness. He assisted in the pioneer task, and subsequently bought land, and continued in agricultural pursuits throughout his active life. He married Char- lotte Blacklidge, a native of Rush County, she having been a daughter of John Blacklidge, who migrated from Kentucky to Indiana when the vast forest was the happy hunting ground of the Indians, and who, by true pioneer labor, hewed from the dense woods the farm on which he and his faithful wife spent their remaining years. Of the five chil- dren born of their union, four are living, as follows: Joseph Vincent ; Mrs. Nan Adams, a widow, resides in Greenfield, Indiana; J. M., also of Greenfield, is a farmer and implement dealer ; and Mrs. R. A. Gold- smith, a widow, living in Kinsley, Kansas. The father, a republican in politics, served as county commissioner, and was a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows. He was not identified with any relig- ious organization, but his wife was a member of the Methodist Epis- copal Church.
Brought up and educated in his native state, Joseph Vincent Hinch- man offered his services to his country during the Civil war, enlisting in Company B, Ninth Indiana Cavalry, and serving for eighteen months and eighteen days. Captured by General Forrest, at Sulphur Trussell, Alabama, he was confined as a prisoner at Cahaba, Alabama, until the close of the conflict. Taking up the study of medicine a few years later, he was graduated from the Indiana Medical College with the class of 1885, and during the next year was engaged in the practice of his pro- fession at Mound City, Missouri. Coming to Nebraska in the autumn of 1886, Doctor Hinchman continued his practice at Fall City for six years. Locating in Hebron, Thayer County, in 1892, he remained there eleven years, after which he established himself in Blair, where he has since built up a very satisfactory practice, and gained to an eminent degree the confidence and respect of his fellow-men.
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Doctor Hinchman has been three times married. He married first, in 1867, Irene Crane, who was born in Greenfield, Indiana, and died at Falls City, Nebraska, leaving one daughter, Mrs. Alice Headley, of Edinburg, Texas. He married for his second wife Candace Firkins, who bore him one child, Mrs. Helen Anderson, of McCook, Nebraska. The doctor subsequently married Hannah Moynihan, a woman of cul- ture and refinement.
Doctor Hinchman is an active member of the Nebraska State Med- ical Society and of the Washington County Medical Society, of which he was president two years. He was physician for seven months for the Soldier's Home at Burkett, Nebraska, and is a valued member of the Grand Army of the Republic, being past commander of the posts at Hebron and at Blair. For full thirty-three years the Doctor has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he has passed all the chairs.
WILLIAM H. J. MEYER. While it is truly claimed that by using present opportunities a man may be sure that he can and will use greater opportunities, and that in the development of his skill, judgment, ini- tiative and determination, he is taking advantage of the openings offered by his everyday life, but if he does not possess sterling characteristics, this is not possible. Therefore, if man is not honest, capable and men- tally alert, there is but little use to expect him to develop into a citizen of probity, ample means and intellectual attainments. From the above it is certain that no man is found in high position, especially in those connected with the banking business, unless he has these qualities and has made proper use of both small and great opportunities. Such a man without doubt is William H. J. Meyer, vice president of the Dodge County State Bank of Hooper, and secretary of the Fremont Joint Stock Land Bank.
The birth of William H. J. Meyer occurred in Germany in 1878, and he is a son of Claus and Anna (Kruse) Meyer, who came to the United States from Germany in 1881, and located in Dodge County, where they bought land and were engaged in carrying on general farming and stockraising until they retired and moved to Fort Collins, Colorado, and there they are still living in comfort after their years of toil. In politics the father is a democrat, and both he and his wife are members of the Lutheran Church in their religious affiliations. Their children are as follows: Mary, who was the eldest born; William H. J., whose name heads this review; Lena, who is with her parents; Emma, who married E. R. Brown, a Dodge County farmer; Herman, who is living in retirement at Fort Collins, Colorado; Maggie, who is a trained nurse, lives at Denver, Colorado; Edith, who is in the employ of a bank at Fort Collins, Colorado; Edward, who is now at Fort Collins, Colorado, was in the United States service during the World war; Louise, who is a stenographer at the Agricultural College at Fort Collins, Colorado ; Alvina, who is with her parents; and Bertha, who is a public school teacher, lives with her parents.
Until he was twenty-three years old William H. J. Meyer lived with the family on the farm, and attended the Fremont College for two years, following which he took a commercial course, and after he had com- pleted it, he became bookkeeper for the Farmers Grain and Stock Com- pany of Hooper and held the position for three years, when he entered upon what was to be his life work as bookkeeper of the Dodge County Bank at Hooper in 1905, rising to be assistant cashier, and in 1910 to
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the position of cashier. In 1918 he was elected vice-president of the bank, and is now devoting all of his time to the banking business, serv- ing the Fremont Joint Stock Land Bank as secretary, as well as dis- charging the duties pertaining to the vice presidency of the Dodge County Bank. The latter is in very sound financial condition, having a capital of $25,000, a surplus of $40,000, and deposits of $646,000.
In 1902 Mr. Meyer was united in marriage with Miss Luruqua Bradbury, a native of Pennsylvania, daughter of James and Mary (Sweinhart) Bradbury, of whom mention is found on other pages of this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Meyer have one child, Darelle L., who is attending the Hooper High School. Fraternally Mr. Meyer belongs to the Elks of Fremont and the Modern Woodmen of America of Hooper. In his politics he is a democrat, but aside from exercising his right of suffrage he has not taken an active part in public life. Both he and Mrs. Meyer are consistent members of Grace Lutheran Church of Hooper. A sound, dependable man, Mr. Meyer gives solidity to the banks with which he is connected. His efforts have always been directed toward constructive citizenship, and he has contributed liberally of his means and time to bring about developments which he has felt would be advisable and practical, and his ideas upon public matters are gen- erally sought and followed for his good judgment and knowledge of human nature are recognized and admired.
CHARLES H. HOOPER. An old and substantial family of Dodge County bears the name of Hooper, the prosperous Village of Hooper perpetuating the memory of the father of Charles H. Hooper, of Fremont, Richard Hooper, for whom it was named. He came to Dodge County in 1859 and did much to aid in the material development of this section.
Charles H. Hooper was born in Racine County, Wisconsin, Febru- ary 7, 1859, and was an infant and the oldest of ten children, when his parents, Richard and Elizabeth (Goodman) Hooper settled in Dodge County. The father was born in County Cornwall, England, and the mother in Derbyshire, and both came to America and settled in Wis- consin when young and married there. Richard Hooper worked for J. I. Case as a carpenter in early days, but later became a farmer, in which latter business he took so much interest that it determined him to migrate to Nebraska where a poor man could secure land on reasonable terms. The family, father, mother and infant son, set out in a covered wagon, taking with them as many household goods as possible, and in June, 1859, reached Fremont. The mother of Charles H. Hooper cooked her first family meal in Nebraska where the Congregational Church now stands.
Richard Hooper homesteaded south of Scribner and after proving up on his tract, bought a farm north of Fremont, where he engaged in farming and hog and cattle raising. During those early days he also did freighting to Denver. He acquired property through his industry, reared a large family comfortably, took an interest in public matters, was a republican because of his hatred of slavery, and was one of the liberal supporters of the Congregational Church to which both he and his wife belonged. They had five sons and five daughters, as follows: Charles H .; Elizabeth, who is the wife of L. H. Hole, railroad man at Lincoln; Mrs. Mary Zorn, who died in the summer of 1919; William, who is a lawyer at Leavenworth, Kansas; Henry, who is a farmer near Cedar Rapids, Boone County, Nebraska ; Mrs. Belle Sandusky,
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who lives at Denver: John, who is a farmer northwest of Fremont ; Lennie, who is the wife of James Kervin; Lula, who is the wife of Ora Thompson, a farmer near Ames, Nebraska; and Richard, who is a farmer near Cedar Rapids.
Charles H. Hooper attended school at Fremont, Nebraska, remaining with his father on the farm until he reached his majority, when he went into the ice business with E. N. Morse. He continued to deal in ice for some time, then became associated with H. Furhman in the wholesale dry goods line, remaining about seven years. Mr. Hooper is now practically retired from business but owns some very valuable Dodge County land, and for that northwest of Fremont has been offered $300 an acre. He has been quite active in democratic politics and served as deputy sheriff for five years.
On February 20, 1888, Mr. Hooper was united in marriage to Miss Mary Savage, who was born in Nebraska, a daughter of Anton Savage and his wife, natives of Germany. They came to Butler County, Nebraska, in 1867, where the mother of Mrs. Hooper died, when the father came to his daughter's home in Fremont and later died here. Mr. and Mrs. Hooper have four children, namely: Thomas H., who is in the automobile business at Fremont; Einma, who is the wife of Earl Ropp, a mail clerk at Fremont; Irene, who is the wife of E. C. Olson; and Charles H., who is a farmer in South Dakota. The family belongs to the Congregational Church. Mr. Hooper belongs to the Odd Fellows and the Eagles and has held offices in the former organization. In 1898 with a party of eleven others, Mr. Hooper took charge of fifty-two cars of cattle across the Atlantic Ocean to Liver- pool, and after the delivery was made the visitors enjoyed a trip of sixty-four days during which they visited Ireland, England and Ger- many. For four years Mr. Hooper conducted the first Business Men's Club at Fremont.
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