USA > Nebraska > Dodge County > History of Dodge and Washington Counties, Nebraska, and their people, Volume II > Part 29
USA > Nebraska > Washington County > History of Dodge and Washington Counties, Nebraska, and their people, Volume II > Part 29
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Mr. Waterhouse was born May 2, 1858, on a farm in Berrien County, Michigan, the third in a family of four children born to John H. and Minerva (Hanna) Waterhouse. His father was born in Vermont, and his mother in Ohio. They both went to Indiana, met there, married and lived there subsequently, the father being a farmer and mill man. Later they lived in other states and the father died in Michigan and the mother in Iowa. He was a man of some prominence in his com-
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munity and was a democrat in his political views. The mother was a devoted member of the Congregational Church and impressed her children with the beauty of a Christian life.
Archibald H. Waterhouse attended the country schools near his father's Iniana farm, in boyhood, later the Rolling Prairie High School in Laporte County, from there entering the Northern Indiana College at Valparaiso. While doing some preliminary reading of law, as he had made up his mind to follow the law as a vocation, he taught a few terms of school and then took a course in law at Ann Arbor, Michigan, finding, however, by the time he was qualified for practice, that his deeper interest rested in educational work. Afterward Mr. Waterhouse taught school in great states of the Union, Indiana, Iowa and Nebraska, coming to the last named state in 1888:
By this time Mr. Waterhouse had a creditable teaching record to refer to. He took charge of a school at Weeping Water, in Cass County, remaining there for seven years and then accepted the prin- cipalship of the high school at Grand Island, and after two years was tendered the office of principal of the high school at Lincoln, two years later becoming principal at Omaha, where he remained nine years. From there he came to Fremont and for twelve years has been super- intendent of the nine public schools of this city, having seventy teachers and 2,200 pupils under his direction.
Mr. Waterhouse has been married twice, first to Henrietta Lackey, of Washington, who died in 1892, and second to Clara E. Parkins, of Weeping Water, Nebraska. Two daughters were born to his first marriage: Ula, the widow of Philip H. Echols, is a resident of Fre- mont but connected with the public library at Omaha; and Ruth, who married Edward Fredrickson and resides in Fremont. Two sons have been born to Mr. Waterhouse's second marriage, Ronald A. and Robert P., both of whom are attending school.
In recognition of his scholarship, in 1908 the University of Nebraska, under Chancellor Andrews, granted Mr. Waterhouse the honorary degree of Master of Arts.
CHRISTIAN J. CHRISTENSEN, the efficient and popular general man- ager of the business of the Farmers' Union Co-operative Association, at Fremont, was a child of three years when his parents came to Nebraska, soon after the admission of the state to the Union, and here he was reared to manhood under the condition that marked the pioneer days. He was born in Denmark, March 9, 1866, and is a son of R. and Christina (Thompson) Christensen, who immigrated to America and became pioneer settlers in Saunders County, Nebraska, in 1869. The father there took up a homestead, and in the reclaiming and improving of the farm he did well his part in furthering the civic and industrial progress of that county, while he and his family had their full share of pioneer trials and hardships. He developed one of the valuable farm properties of that county and there remained until his death, in Decem- ber, 1919, his wife having passed away in 1903. Both were earnest members of the Baptist Church and in politics Mr. Christensen was a democrat. Of their children Christian J. is the eldest; Christene is the wife of Martin Petersen, of Fremont : Sophie is the wife of Chris Nel- sen, a farmer in Custer County ; Arthur H. is a farmer and owns the old, home place in Saunders County ; and Charles J. is also a farmer in Saun- ders County.
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Christian J. Christensen was reared to the sturdy discipline of the pioneer farm and acquired his early education in the rural schools of Saunders County. He continued his active association with farm indus- try until 1911, and in the meanwhile had become the owner of one of the excellent farms of Saunders County. In the year mentioned he removed to Kansas, where he continued in the employ of a hardware com- pany until 1914, when he came to Fremont and assumed charge of the business of the Farmers' Union Co-operative Association's business, of which he has since been the efficient manager, the concern basing its operations on a capital of $50,000, and its functions including the han- dling of grain, flour, feed, farm implements, etc.
Mr. Christensen is independent in politics and supports men and measures meeting the approval of his judgment. He is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
In 1895 Mr. Christensen was united in marriage to Miss Anna Bar- nett, who was born in the state of Illinois, and they have four children : Ethel is the wife of Forrest Booth, of Fremont; Elnora is the wife of Owen Pease, of this city; and Goldie and Lloyd remain at the parental home, the former having attended a business college and being a com- petent stenographer.
HON. WALDO WINTERSTEEN. The dignity of the law is ably upheld by the jurists of Nebraska, who, both individually and as a body, exem- plify the admirable results of long and careful training, wide and varied experience, contact with men and affairs, and the responsibility of grave duties. It is not an exaggeration to say that the very life of this coun- try rests upon the intelligence and incorruptibility of the bench. Like many other sections of the state, Dodge County' has been fortunate in its jurists, and one of them who is held in high esteem and is recognized as a man fully capable of sustaining this regard with dignified capability is Judge Waldo Winstersteen, county judge of Dodge County.
Judge Wintersteen was born at Harrisonville, Meigs County, Ohio, on February 1, 1864, a son of James H. and Mahala (Dunlap) Winter- steen, who, leaving Ohio in 1871, came West to Nebraska and home- steaded in Saunders County, but after about eleven years on this farm sold it and moved to Fremont, where the father followed his trade. He and his wife had ten children, but only four of them survive, namely : Elizabeth, who is Mrs. Wittman, a widow of Chicago, Illinois; Mary, who is Mrs. Lyon, a widow of Buffalo, New York ; Judge Wintersteen ; and Mrs. J. M. Shively of Fremont, her husband being the traveling representative for the Union Pacific Railroad at that city. The parents were active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. During the period antedating the war between the North and the South, the father was an abolition democrat and conducted one of the "stations" of the "Underground Railroads." For a number of years he served as post- master at Harrisonville, and his integrity and fitness for office were so universally conceded that, although of a different political faith, Presi- dent Lincoln continued him in office, and he was still its incumbent when he resigned in order to go West.
Judge Wintersteen grew up in a household governed according to high principles, and while he was attending the district schools, he was at the same time learning to be a patriotic citizen and good man. He later attended school at Wahoo, Fremont and Lincoln, in the intervals between school terms, working on Nebraska farms and breaking the
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prairie sod with a hand plow drawn by oxen. Coming to Fremont in 1882, the future distinguished jurist acquired a speaking acquaintance with the general public as a clerk in a mercantile establishment owned by Ben Davidson, and, although his ambitions soared above his occupa- tion, he gave satisfaction, for his is a nature which will not rest content with anything but the best of service. During the winter of 1882 he was employed by the Hammond Printing Company, and later he engaged in house painting, and then in the spring of 1884 he entered upon a new phase of life, for he then became a range rider in northwestern Nebraska, and remained there as such for two years, returning to Fremont in 1886, and then, after a brief period, went to Wymore, Nebraska, and spent six months at that point closing out a stock of goods. Once more he came back to Fremont, which he regarded as his home, and once more sold goods over the counter.
During all of this period he had been making friends and impressing people with his reliability, and in 1887 he was elected constable, thus beginning his connection with the enforcement of the law, and discharged the duties of that position for four years. He was also deputy sheriff under Sheriff J. P. Mallon. From early youth he had cherished an ambi- tion, but it was years before he found the time and opportunity to indulge it, but finally he was able to begin the study of law, with N. H. Bell as his preceptor, and in 1895 was admitted to the bar. However, in the meanwhile, in 1893, his fellow citizens elected him to the office of justice of the peace, and he held it until 1897, and that same year he was hon- ored by election to the office of county judge of Dodge County and served for four years. A vacancy occurring, Judge Wintersteen was appointed, in 1913, to fill the unexpired term, was again elected, and has been re-elected to succeed himself twice, without opposition, and is the present incumbent of this high office.
On June 3, 1893, Judge Wintersteen was married to Grace Palmer, born at Spirit Lake, Iowa, and they have one daughter, Ruth, who is a graduate of the Fremont High School, and now one of the popular public school-teachers of her native city. She prepared herself for her entry into the educational field by taking a special course at the National Kindergarten School at Chicago, Illinois, and is a very accomplished young lady. Judge and Mrs. Wintersteen and their daughter are all members of the Fremont Methodist Episcopal Church, and are recognized as valuable adjuncts to it. Judge Wintersteen is a Mason, Modern Woodman, Highlander, and a member of the order of Ben Hur. Always active in politics as a democrat, in 1912 he was one of the presidential electors to ballot in the electoral college, being the first elector of his political faith sent from Nebraska. His élection was owing to his per- sonal popularity for he ran way ahead of his ticket. Although he retains his interest in politics, he is now devoting all of his time to the duties of his office, which are very onerous owing to the fact that the business of it has doubled within the past five years.
Judge Wintersteen comes of a long-lived family as his father lived to be ninety-two years of age, dying on May 16, 1913, his mother having passed away in June, 1903, when she was a venerable lady. The funda- mental gauge by means of which men are judged and their value to their community estimated at its true figure, is after all not a spectacular one, but rather is it formulated from the effects of a man's everyday life, and the methods he employs for enriching his generation, and the part he plays in the economic and intellectual development of his community. Measured by such a gauge, Judge Wintersteen is easily one of the most
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important men of Dodge County, aside from the remarkable service which he has rendered in the several offices which he has held, and his name will always be connected with all that is progressive and sound during the period he has been placed in a position of authority.
ROLAND G. ALLEN. This representative and honored citizen of Blair, Washington County, has been distinctively the architect of his own for- tunes, has been true and loyal in all the relations of life and stands as a type of that sterling manhood which ever commands respect and honor. He is a man who would have won his way in any locality where fate might have placed him, for he has sound judgment, coupled with great energy and business tact, together with upright principles, all of which make for success wherever and whenever they are rightly and persistently applied. By reason of these principles he has won and retained a host of friends throughout the county of his residence.
R. G. Allen is a native son of Washington County and was born on December 20, 1880. He is the son of A. T. and Mary E. (Lamb) Allen, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Kentucky. They both came to Washington in early life and their marriage occurred here. A. T. Allen's residence here dates from 1868 and he followed farming here during all of his active years, being successful in his efforts, but in 1907 he sold his farm and moved to Blair, where he and his wife are now living. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and in political affairs he gives his support to the democratic party. They became the parents of four children, three sons and a daughter, as fol- lows: Charles R., who is connected with the firm of Cox, Jones and Van Alstine Company, at Omaha, Nebraska; Roland G., of this sketch, is next in order of birth; Leora died at the age of twenty-seven years; A. Clyde is a rural mail carrier and lives at Blair.
R. G. Allen received his educational training in the public schools and the Fremont Normal School. He remained on his father's farm until he was twenty-one years old, when he became connected with the grain elevator business, serving for two years as manager of an elevator at Herman, Washington County. Then for several years he was in the Plateau State Bank at Herman, and in 1913 he was appointed deputy county treasurer, serving in that position until he was elected county treasurer in 1916. He proved to be eminently qualified for that position and in 1918 he was again elected to the office and is its present incumbent. In this responsible position Mr. Allen has demonstrated business ability of the highest order and his official record has been universally commended by the voters of the county which he serves.
On November 12, 1910, Mr. Allen was married to Mabel Lowe, who was born in Tekamah, Burt County, and they are the parents of a daughter, Harriett, who is now a student in the public schools. In their religious faith Mr. and Mrs. Allen are affiliated with the Baptist Church and in politics Mr. Allen is a strong supporter of the republican party. Fraternally, he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, in which he has attained to the degrees of the Royal Arch. While living at Herman he was secretary of the Blue Lodge and also served as clerk of the village. He and his wife are members of the Order of the Eastern Star. Mr. Allen is a man of likable personality, possessing to a marked degree the characteristics which beget esteem, confidence and friendship, and because of his success in both private and public business affairs he is entitled to specific mention in a work of the character of the one in hand.
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IRA M. WILLIAMS. Having accomplished a satisfactory work as an agriculturist, and acquired a competency to live on, Ira M. Williams, of Fremont, is taking life easy at the pleasant home which he erected, in 1917, at 247 East Military Avenue, where he is enjoying to the utmost. the well-merited reward of his long continued, unremitting, but remunerative toil. A son of the late Milton Williams, he was born in Woodford County, Illinois, in 1862. His grandfather, Benjamin Wil- liams, migrated from Ohio to Illinois in pioneer days, and having taken up government land, cleared and improved a homestead.
Milton Williams was a life-long resident of Illinois, always claiming the Prairie State as his home. Joining the gold seekers in 1849, he went to California, and as a miner in the gold fields made money and spent it. When returning to Illinois, he walked across the Isthmus of Panama and subsequently made the trip home by way of Cape Horn. Resuming his former employment, he was engaged in tilling the soil until his death, in 1873, at a comparatively early age. He married Cor- delia De Long, who was born in Illinois, and is now residing in Fremont, Nebraska. He was a democrat in politics, and his wife belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church. Of the three children born of their mar- riage, Ira M. is the only one now living.
Acquiring his elementary education in the country schcools of Illi- nois, Ira M. Williams, who was left fatherless at a tender age, came to Nebraska in 1876, and. spent a few months in Dodge County before going back to Illinois. In 1880, responding to the lure of the West, he returned to Dodge County, and having bought a tract of wild land, began its improvement. Successful in his operations, he bought, as he had means and opportunity, until now he has large and valuable landed inter- ests in and around Dodge County, being one of the wealthy and promi- nent agriculturists of the county. He rents his land, receiving a good annual income, and makes his home in Fremont.
Mr. Williams married, in 1890, Phoebe Scholtz, who was born in Saunders County, Nebraska, where her father, John Scholtz, home- steaded, and on the farm, which he improved, resided until his death. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have one child, Andrew Williams, who assists his father in caring for his different farms. He is married, and has one son, Howard Williams, who is a great favorite of his grandparents. Mr. Williams is a democrat in politics and a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons.
JOHN HENRY MONKE was a pioneer in Washington County, possess- ing the stalwart enterprise and robust energy necessary to successful achievement in a section which half a century ago gave its rewards only after strenuous toil and exertion. Those who enjoy the prosperity of the twentieth century are under a constant debt of gratitude to such men as John Henry Monke.
He was born in Westphalia, Germany, March 21, 1830, and lived in the fatherland until well on towards middle age. He married Freder- icka Tappe in 1855 and their five children were born in the fatherland. However earnest he was about his business, Mr. Monke could see only meager prospects for himself and the children growing up about him, and therefore about the year 1869 he and his wife, accompanied by their children, started for America, landing in New Orleans. A boat carried them up the Mississippi to St. Louis, and after about a month's visit with relatives in that city they went on up the Missouri River to Omaha. Leaving the river, they settled in the community of Fontanelle
MR. AND MRS. JOHN HENRY MONKE
MR. AND MRS. HENRY S. MONKE
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in Washington County, and during the first year John Henry Monke rented land from Miss Mary Kimberlain. He next strained his resources to purchase eighty acres of land at ten dollars an acre and that was the beginning and nucleus of the generous accumulations of land and other property which he built up during his lifetime. He lived on the farm until 1902 and saw his acreage and his herds of livestock increase and prosper until at one time he owned 1400 acres. When he left the farm he retired to Fontanelle and, honored and respected by all who knew him, he passed away December 12, 1916, at the venerable age of eighty-six. His wife had died January 29, 1905, aged seventy-seven.
Both were very devout Lutherans, attending church at Fontanelle. After acquiring American citizenship, Mr. Monke voted as a republican. He lived in Washington County over forty-five years and well repaid his debt to America's opportunities by his constructive labors in devel- oping farms from waste land, and by discharging his varied responsibil- ities to home and community. He and his wife were the parents of five children : Anna, who died in 1877, wife of Rev. Henry Sohl; Chris- tian, who died in infancy; Hannah, who died January 21, 1883, wife of John Sohl, now a California fruit farmer at Napa; Sadie is the widow of Carl Mengedoht of Washington County ; and the youngest and only living son is Henry S. Monke, a sketch of whose career follows:
HENRY S. MONKE. Farming and stock raising, real estate and other interests have given Henry S. Monke a broad field of action and of service during his many years of residence in Washington and Dodge counties. He was brought to the Fontanelle community as an infant and has witnessed practically all the changes in this community for half a century.
Mr. Monke was born in Westphalia, Germany, April 1, 1869, and was only six months old when he came to America with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Henry Monke. The pioneer story of his honored father is told on preceding pages. Henry S. Monke acquired his educa- tion in the local district schools of Washington County and also took the commercial and normal course in Fremont College. He laid the foundation of his success as a farmer and stock raiser, an occupation continued until 1906, when he entered the real estate business at Fon- tanelle. He has all the qualifications to make an expert judge of real estate values, and has made this knowledge of direct advantage to a large clientage. Besides his beautiful modern home in Fontanelle he and Mrs. Monke own about twelve hundred acres of valuable farm land in Washington and Dodge counties. This land is operated by ten- ants and renters, and without deviation from strict commercial princi- ples he has managed his property interests in a way to benefit the entire community.
Mr. Monke is a very popular citizen, active in Masonry, having attained the thirty-second degree in Scottish Rite and is a member of the Council Degrees of York Rite. Politically, he is a republican and is a member of the Central Committee at Fontanelle. He and all the members of his family are active members of the Lutheran Church. Mr. Monke has had a very happy home life. March 10, 1896, he mar- ried Miss Lena Ruwe of Fremont. They have two children : Anna May, born May 8, 1900, now a student in Midland College at Fremont ; and Luther, born December 1, 1902, also attending Midland College.
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CHRISTIAN CHRISTENSEN. A prominent, honored and highly esteemed resident of Fremont, Christian Christensen, now retired from business pursuits, has had a varied experience in life and can tell many a thrilling tale of pioneer and frontier hardships, perils, and of labors crowned with success. He was born, February 23, 1847, in Denmark, where his par- ents, Christen and Sophia Rasmessen, spent their entire lives.
Prior to his marriage, Christen Rasmessen was a sailor, and in that capacity visited nearly every country on the globe. After marrying, he was engaged in farming and gardening to a considerable extent, and likewise carried on a good business as a fisherman. To him and his wife four children were born, as follows: Rasmus, who immigrated to Nebraska in 1879, took up a homestead claim in Saunders County, and was there engaged in farming until his death, December 11, 1919; Julius, located in Saunders County, this state, in 1880, is there employed in tilling the soil; Christian, of this sketch ; and a son that died in Denmark. Both parents were members of the Lutheran Church.
Acquiring his education in his native land, Christian Christensen was graduated from the church, or parochial, school, under the supervision of the minister. At the age of eighteen years (1865), impressed by the stories regarding the vast wealth and magnificent resources of the United States, he immigrated to Brown County, Wisconsin, where he worked as a farm laborer for six months. Going in the fall of that year to Chicago, he found employment at the carpenter's and cabinet maker's trade, and in that capacity not only laid one of the first planks in the Stockyards, but assisted in the construction of the water works.
Coming to Nebraska in 1867, Mr. Christensen continued at the car- penter's trade, although he had learned that of a miller in his native country, and as an employe of the Union Pacific Railroad Company worked for some time on the bridges between Grand Island and North Platte. Later, working for the Government, he helped build the bar- racks at Omaha. During the Indian massacre he was working on the railroad at Lexington, where all the trainmen were killed excepting the conductor and an Englishman, who was left on the field for dead but who recovered from his wounds. Mr. Christensen went to the railway terminus, Cheyenne, where he assisted in the building of a windmill, being all of the time harassed by the Indians, who were on the war-path.
Locating in Fremont, Dodge County, in 1874, Mr. Christensen fol- lowed his trade a short time, and in 1879 erected his beautiful home at 306 East Fifth Street. The ensuing year, in 1880, he put up a large store building on Main Street, and having laid in a complete stock of choice groceries, was there actively and prosperously engaged in mer- cantile pursuits for thirty-four consecutive years. Retiring from active business in 1911, he has since kept busily employed in looking after his personal affairs, as he has large property interests in Fremont, and is a director and one of the organizers and the first vice president of the Commercial National Bank, which office he still holds, and also one of the organizers of the Home Savings Bank and a director in same.
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