USA > Nebraska > Dodge County > History of Dodge and Washington Counties, Nebraska, and their people, Volume II > Part 28
USA > Nebraska > Washington County > History of Dodge and Washington Counties, Nebraska, and their people, Volume II > Part 28
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On the 27th of August, 1889, was solemnized the marriage of Doctor Devries to Miss Miriam Woodman, who was born in the City of Chicago. The marriage service occurred in Trinity Cathedral of the Episcopal diocese, in the City of Omaha. To Doctor and Mrs. Devries have been born five children: James Arthur, who is now living at Fort Worth, Texas, was in the government service during the nation's participation in the World war and was for two years an instructor in the aviation service : Perry O. is engaged in the drug business at Fremont ; Miriam G. is the wife of Carl Byorth, assistant postmaster at Fremont ; Herbert J. is studying law in the University of Colorado, at Boulder, and was for some time employed in the office of the district attorney at Sante Fe, New Mexico; and Donald E. is a student in the Fremont High School.
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WILLIAM M. ZELLERS. Hooper is so located as to afford excellent transportation facilities, and attract to it men of brains who are handling grain and other farm products, offering a market for the agricul- turalists of the surrounding country, and shipping a substantial amount to the trade centers for further distribution. One of these men is William M. Zellers, manager of the Farmers Union Elevator Company, and a sound citizen of Dodge County.
William M. Zellers was born in Pennsylvania in 1880, a son of Dr. M. T. Zellers, one of the best known men and eminent physicians and surgeons of Dodge County, an extended sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work. Brought to Dodge County by his parents, William M. Zellers attended the Hooper High School, Midland College at Atchison, Kansas, and the Creighton College of Pharmacy at Omaha, Nebraska. During his early years at Hooper, Doctor Zellers was interested in conducting a drug store, and it was in it that the son gained his practical experience in the drug business, remaining with it for twelve or thirteen years. He then went into the grain trade, and for three years was associated with the Farmers Grain & Stock Com- pany, leaving it to form connection with the Farmers Union Co-operative Association, and in behalf of this concern went to Uehling, Nebraska, but returned in 1917 to become manager of the Farmers Union Elevator of Hooper. He devotes all of his time and attention to handling grain, lumber, coal and livestock and feed. John Havepost is president of the company, and George Meier is secretary, and it is admitted to be one of the sound institutions of the county.
In 1903 Mr. Zellers was united in marriage with Nora A. Bayer, born in Dodge County, a daughter of Henry Bayer, an early settler of the county. Mr. and Mrs. Zellers have two children, namely : Erdine, who is attending school; and Clinton, who is at home. Fraternally Mr. Zellers is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Masonic Order. Mrs. Zellers belongs to Grace Lutheran Church of Hooper, but Mr. Zellers is not a member of any religious organization, although he gives his support to the one his wife attends. A man of strong con- victions Mr. Zellers prefers to select his own candidate so votes inde- pendently. 'Mr. Zellers is noted for the vigorous and efficient manner in which he carries on his business and the resourcefulness he displays in solving the various problems presented to him, and he has fairly earned the confidence felt in him and his abilities by the people of his county, and this portion of the state generally.
JOSEPH E. NEWSOM has been a resident of Dodge County for more than forty years and is thus entitled to a due measure of pioneer dis- tinction, besides which he has had marked influence in connection with the civic and industrial development and progress of the county. He was appointed postmaster at North Bend on the 26th of April, 1914, and has continued the efficient and honored incumbent of this position to the present time. Previously to assuming this position he had served as township assessor, as judge of the police court of North Bend, as city marshal and as justice of the peace-preferments which denote his strong hold upon popular confidence and good will in the county that has long represented his home and in which he was originally engaged in farm enterprise. Judge Newsom is a loyal and vigorous advocate of the principles of the democratic party, and is affiliated with the local organizations of the Masonic fraternity, the Independent
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Order of Odd Fellows, and the Modern Woodmen of America, while both he and his wife hold membership in the Christian Church at North Bend.
Judge Newsom was born at Worthington, Indiana, May 17, 1844, and is a representative of a sterling pioneer family of the Hoosier State. He is a son of Jacob and Delitha ( Miller) Newsom, both of whom were born in North Carolina. Jacob Newsom was a lad of eight years at the time when his parents removed to Indiana, where the father became a pioneer farmer and where both parents passed the remainder of their lives. Jacob Newsom became one of the substantial farmers of Greene County, Indiana, and for many years he also owned and operated a grist mill. He died in 1868, at the age of forty-six years, and his widow passed away in 1882, at the age of sixty years. He was independent in politics and was long affiliated with the Masonic fraternity. Of the ten children Joseph E. is the eldest of the four now living; Henry J. is a prosperous farmer in Indiana ; Celia A., the widow of Joseph Wingler, still resides in Greene County, Indiana ; and Nancy Jane, widow of John H. Thompson, resides at Hooper, Dodge County, Nebraska.
The present postmaster of North Bend, Nebraska, was reared and educated in his native state and there continued his active association with agricultural industry until 1878, when he became a pioneer settler in the State of Kansas. There he raised one crop and then sold and came to North Bend, Dodge County, Nebraska, in July, 1878, with his family where he acquired a tract of land and engaged in general farming, in which due success attended his energetic labors. He remained on the farm until 1886, when he removed to the City of North Bend, where he has since maintained his residence and where, as previously noted, he has held various positions of public trust. As postmaster he has given a signally efficient administration, and he takes much interest in all things pertaining to the prosperity and progress of his home com- munity and county.
In 1869 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Newsom to Miss Sarah J. Sargent, who likewise was born and reared in Indiana, and of this union have been born ten children: Olive B. holds a position in the postoffice at Wahoo, Saunders County; Jacob A. died when about thirty-two years of age; Joseph C., publisher of the North Bend Eagle, is individually mentioned on other pages of this volume; James A. died at ten years of age; Jessie A. is the wife of Arthur B. Skinner, of Fremont ; Bessie P. died at the age of eighteen years and Ethel L. at the age of thirty-one years; Minnie H. is a clerical assistant in the North Bend postoffice: Marie is the wife of Ernest O. Sweeney, of Alma, Nebraska; and Henry J. is assistant postmaster at North Bend.
JOHN MCKAY. In the list of business citizens of Blair who have started as poor boys and through individual effort have advanced them- selves to positions of commercial independence, is John Mckay, the proprietor of a flourishing feed business. Mr. Mckay has been a resi- dent of this city for a quarter of a century, during which time he has made use of his opportunities to impress himself upon his community as a sound and reliable business man and a public-spirited and con- structive citizen.
Born September 16, 1869, on Prince Edward Island, Canada, he is a son of James and Sarah (McQuarrie) Mckay, natives of the same place. The family is of Scotch descent and is identified with the Scotch Presbyterian Church. The parents 'of Mr. Mckay passed their entire
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lives on Prince Edward Island and in their community were known as honest, industrious and God-fearing people. They were the parents of four children; John; Rebecca, who is the wife of Robert Miltigan, of Prince Edward Island; Alexander, a farmer there; and Dolland, of Sussex, New Brunswick.
The public schools of his native community furnished John McKay with his educational training, and when he was nineteen years of age he came to Blair and secured a position with his uncle, John McQuarrie, by whom he was employed for a period of eight years. He then embarked in the feed and milling business on his own account, and from a modest start has built up a thriving enterprise of important proportions, one which has its recognized place in the business life of Blair. He is energetic, thoroughly reliable and markedly progressive and has the full confidence of his associates. While his business interests have claimed his chief attention, he has also taken a helpful part in civic affairs and has served as a member of the city council. In politics he is a republican, while as a fraternalist he holds membership in the Masons and Odd Fellows, in the latter of which he has passed through the chairs.
In 1895 Mr. Mckay was united in marriage with Miss Luttie Irmi Newell, and to this union there have been born two children: John Willard, a farmer in the Blair community; and Madeline, who is a student at Ames (Iowa) College.
John Willard Newell, the father of Mrs. John McKay, was born July 5, 1837, at Pelham, Massachusetts, a son of S. A. and Rebecca (Hall) Newell, the former a native of Massachusetts and the latter of Connecticut. The parents were married in Massachusetts, and in 1865 came to Nebraska and settled on a homestead, on which they lived until reaching their declining years. The mother died in Kansas at the home of a daughter, while the father, after his retirement, moved to Blair and died at the home of his son. Of their ten children, six are living : J. A., who is engaged in farming in Washington County, Nebraska ; John Willard; Mrs. Selden, a widow of Blair; Elizabeth, the wife of J. L. Skinner, of Coffeyville, Kansas, who formerly had a large draying outfit but is now living retired; Martha, the widow of Mr. Davis, of Omaha; and Myron D., proprietor of a meat market at Arlington, Nebraska. The parents were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and in politics the father was a republican.
John Willard Newell received his education in the public schools of Massachusetts, and on completing his training began to assist his father, who was in modest financial circumstances. Times were hard in Massa- chusetts at that time, however, and the youth, finding that he was making no progress, decided to try his fortunes in the West. To do this he had to rely upon his own resources, for his capital was decidedly small, but he possessed the optimism of his years and his self-reliance was great. After getting as far as Quincy, Illinois, he took a boat for St. Louis, and with but $30 in his pocket embarked for Leavenworth. The times were troublous, as passions were inflamed due to the controversy arising from the unsettled conditions that were to eventuate in the Civil war. When he arrived at Leavenworth he found the town crowded, and his first night's bed was the floor of a bar room. His money now being spent he went to a Kansas farm where he worked for two weeks and secured $10, then returning to Leavenworth he took a boat up the river. Omaha was the destination of Mr. Newell and a young com- panion, but after sleeping on the floor of a heavily-overladen and unsafe
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vessel, the partners agreed that traveling by land was more desirable, and accordingly, after giving the porter 50 cents to unload their trunks at Omaha, they left the vessel at Brownsville and made their way by foot from that point to Omaha, where they arrived weary and footsore three days later. Mr. Newell, upon his arrival at that city, was possessed of just ten cents, but soon found employment digging a ditch, and after two days' work received $2. For two or three days thereafter he worked in a brick yard, but while thus engaged was unfortunate enough to contract mumps and measles and had to give up his position. Next he hired out on a farm, on which he worked during the summer and followed the trade of shoemaker in the winter. In 1858 he and his partner rented a farm and raised a crop of corn that brought them $400 in gold, and in 1859, during the gold excitement, went to Pike's Peak, Colorado, making the journey by wagon. Camping at Clear Creek, the youthful associates traded with the people that were going and coming from the gold diggings and remained there until 1861, when they sold out and returned to Omaha. There they divided, Mr. Newell settling at Omaha and his former partner going to Kansas. They had the distinction of being the first settlers in Polk County, Colorado.
After his return to Omaha, Mr. Newell built a barn, but sold out and purchased a bakery, in connection with which he had the first cracker machine in Omaha. During 1862 he ran this establishment both night and day in order to supply the demand, but in 1863 disposed of his interests. Mr. Newell had some experience in freighting to Denver, Colorado, and Nebraska City, Nebraska, and during this period had many adventures, both exciting and interesting, the Indians being numerous, and on occasions, very troublesome. Leaving Omaha May 10, 1863, with a party of fourteen or fifteen, in ox-teams, he arrived at Bannock City, Montana, in September, and then went to Virginia City and engaged in getting out drift timber and in freighting from Virginia City to Salt Lake City, Utah, making three trips in one year. While on this journey to Montana, his party was attacked by a large band of hostile Indians, who were driven off only after they had killed three of Mr. Newell's freighting companions.
Mr. Newell returned to Omaha in 1864, and in 1865 made a trip to Denver with a load of whiskey. His last freighting trip was made to California in 1866. In February, 1868, he came to Washington County and for two years had a store at Cummings City, following which he resided on a farm near Herman for nine years. He then moved to a farm in the vicinity of Blair, on which he made his home and centered his activities for fifteen years, after which he engaged in the flour and feed business at Blair and was the proprietor of this establishment until he sold out to his son-in-law, since which time he has lived in comfortable retirement.
Mr. Newell was married in the fall of 1865 to Miss Mary E. Wait, who was born in Rhode Island, and to this union there were born two children : Mrs. John McKay; and John Willard, Jr., proprietor of an electrical supplies store at Blair. Mr. Newell has the distinction of being the only charter member of Omaha Lodge of the Odd Fellows fraternity now living and is one of the few living charter members of Blair Lodge of that order, having been an Odd Fellow for fifty-eight years, in 1920. In the year mentioned he was given a piece of jewelry by his lodge emblematic of long service and containing twenty-three jewels. In politics a republican, Mr. Newell has taken an interest in
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local affairs and for three or four years occupied the position of town- ship treasurer. During his long, honorable and successful career, he has attached to himself many friends, and his life is one in which the value of the homely virtues of honesty, perseverance and fidelity has again been demonstrated.
JOE STECHER is one of Nebraska's famous sons, and as a farm boy near Dodge he developed that prodigious strength and skill which enabled him still to retain the championship of the world as a wrestler.
He was born a few miles from Dodge in Cuming County, Nebraska, April 5, 1893. His parents, Frank and Anna Stecher, are still living, being retired residents of Dodge. Frank Stecher was born in Bohemia and came to the United States in 1876 at the age of twelve years. He developed a farm from the prairie of Cuming County a mile and a half north of Dodge, and followed agriculture until he retired.
Joe Stecher is the youngest of three sons, and received his education in the common schools near his father's farm. He has done a great deal of practical farm work, not only while he lived at home with his father, but even now is the owner of a well improved farm in Cuming County. As a youth he easily surpassed all the neighbor boys in the wrestling game, and for two years did a great deal of training before he became a professional wrestler. He has been a contender for cham- pionship honors since 1914, and has participated in about three hundred wrestling matches. He first achieved championship honors June 4, 1915, and by a well merited victory in New York over Ed Strangler Lewis April 16, 1920, retained his honors. Mr. Stecher's business manager is his brother, Antone Stecher.
December 6, 1916, Joe Stecher married Frances Ehlers, a daughter of Claus Ehlers, a well known stock buyer and farmer at Scribner. Mr. Stecher built his fine bungalow home in Dodge in 1917. He is an independent voter, was reared a Catholic and is a member of the order of Elks, while his wife belongs to the Congregational Church.
R. P. TURNER. The record of R. P. Turner is that of a man who by his own unaided efforts has worked his way from a modest beginning to a position of comfort and influence in his community. His life has been one of unceasing industry and perseverance and the systematic and honorable methods he has followed have won for him the unbounded confidence of his fellow citizens of Dodge County whose interests he has at heart and which he seeks to promote in every practical way.
R. P. Turner was born in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, on June 2, 1874, and is the son of R. C. and Isabelle A. (Foster) Turner. Both of these parents were natives of New York State, but were taken to Wisconsin in an early day by their respective parents, and in the latter state their marriage occurred. They are both now deceased. They were members of the Presbyterian Church and in his political views the father was a republican. Of the nine children born to them, eight are living, namely: W. R., a farmer at Holton, Kansas; Edith, the wife of Alex Will, a farmer at Dennison, Kansas; L. H., a farmer at Glen- wood, Minnesota; L. B., a farmer at Sovereign, Canada; Mrs. John Knowles, whose husband is engaged in the shoe business at Fremont; Mary D., the wife of E. D. Smart, an automobile dealer at Eagle, Wis- consin ; R. P., of this sketch ; Etta M., the wife of Rev. T. H. Melville, of Pawnee City, Nebraska.
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R. P. Turner received his elementary education in the district schools of his native community, supplementing this by attendance at Carroll College, at Waukesha, Wisconsin. His first employment was as a clerk in a shoe store at Grand Island, Nebraska, but his vocation was inter- rupted by the outbreak of the Spanish-American war. He enlisted in Company L, Firty-first Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and was sent to the Philippines. After about a year's service, Mr. Turner received an honorable discharge and again returned to the pursuits of civil life, going on the road as a traveling salesman for a shoe house. After following this line for eight years, he came to Fremont in 1893 and bought a shoe store, which he has owned and managed continuously since. He has always carried a large and well selected stock of shoes of all lines and has enjoyed a large and representative patronage, being numbered among the leading merchants in his line in this locality. Dur- ing the World war, Mr. Turner rendered effective service with the Young Men's Christian Association, being in France about a year with the American Expeditionary Forces.
In 1904 Mr. Turner was married to Bessie W. Doyle, a native of Kentucky, and they are the parents of two children, George M. and Kathleen, both of whom are in school. Mr. and Mrs. Turner are men- bers of the Presbyterian Church. Politically, Mr. Truner is a republi- can and he is a member of the Spanish-American War Veterans. Earnest effort, unabating perseverance, a laudable ambition and good manage- ment are the elements which have contributed to the splendid success which is now his, and because of these qualities he has won and retains to a marked degree the confidence and good will of his fellow citizens.
GEORGE J. HASLAM, M. D., B. Sc., F. A. C. S., M. R. C. S., London. Unfaltering in his devotion to the work and service of his exacting profession and keeping in close touch with the advances made in medical and surgical science, Doctor Haslam has been engaged in practice in the City of Fremont, Dodge County, since 1889, the while he has gained specially high repute in the surgical department of his professional service. It may consistently be said that few physicians in Nebraska have been fortified by as fine preliminary training and education of technical order as has Doctor Haslam, for his professional education was obtained under most authoritative auspices in England, Ireland, and the continent of Europe, and reinforced by effective clinical experience in leading hospitals.
Doctor Haslam was born near Manchester, England, on the 18th of May, 1858. He acquired his preliminary education in the Manchester Grammar School and completed a higher academic course in the Owens College. After graduating from the University in Ireland and from the College of Surgeons of London, he served a period of nine years in various internships both in England and on the continent of Europe.
In 1889 Doctor Haslam came to the United States, and within the same year he established his residence at Fremont, Nebraska, which has since continued the central stage of his very successful professional activities. He had come to America primarily to accept a position as a member of the faculty of Shattuck Military Academy, at Faribault, Minnesota, but upon his arrival he found that this post had been filled. Under these conditions he returned to New York City, where he found his available capital reduced to the lowest point, but he proved efficient in devising ways and means and soon made his way to Nebraska, his exchequer having shown a balance of only $53 when he arrived in
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Fremont. His ability and personality forthwith gained him recognition, and his professional success has been cumulative from that time, the result being that he has accumulated a competency, as well as high reputation as a physician and surgeon. Prior to coming to America he had written and published an authoritative work on the Anatomy of the Frog, his student work having involved a specializing in physiology. He had lectured on physiology in Owens College at Manchester, England, and later was scientific investigator in the University at Zurich, Switzer- land, and he had done an appreciable amount of fine surgical work prior to coming to the United States. At the present time he specializes in surgery, and his services in this field of practice are by no means con- fined to Dodge County. He is identified with the Nebraska State Medical Society, the American Medical Association, is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and a member of other representative professional organizations, and his active affiliation with these associa- tions is made to subserve his keeping fully in advance of modern medical and surgical methods and service.
Doctor Haslam has completed the circle of York Rite Masonry, in which his maximum affiliation is with the Fremont Commandery of Knights Templars, and in the Scottish Rite he has received the thirty- second degree, besides being affiliated also with Mystic Shrine, the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Royal Highlanders. As a citizen he is liberal and progressive and in politics he maintains an independent attitude.
In 1893 was solemnized the marriage of Doctor Haslam to Miss Mary Dern, who was born and reared at Fremont and who is a daughter of John Dern. Mr. Dern was an early settler of Fremont and served at one time as County Treasurer of Dodge County. He is now one of the most prominent and influential citizens of Salt Lake City, Utah. Doctor and Mrs. Haslam have three children: Gretchen is now teaching in the University of Nebraska; George Alfred Haslam is at the present time, 1920, a student in the medical department of the University of Nebraska ; and Gertrude is attending the public schools of Fremont.
ARCHIBALD H. WATERHOUSE. To be given the opportunity of educat- ing the youth of the land is the aim and the compensation of the true teacher. To him it is a worth-while achievement to lead into fields of knowledge, to develop talents that might otherwise remain dormant, and by inspiring to onward and higher effort, bring deeper meaning and value to life. Aside from all choice of congenial vocation and its many pleasant aspects, the man or woman who devotes a lifetime to this responsible work, has this idea of beneficence as a basic motive. The world today needs true education more than ever before. There are some sections of the country that have seemingly recognized this fact and have called to their help teachers tried and true, and have benefited accordingly. In this connection mention may be made of the able superintendent of the city schools of Fremont, Nebraska, Archibald H. Waterhouse, a veteran in the educational field.
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