USA > Nebraska > Dodge County > History of Dodge and Washington Counties, Nebraska, and their people, Volume II > Part 36
USA > Nebraska > Washington County > History of Dodge and Washington Counties, Nebraska, and their people, Volume II > Part 36
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Gustavus S. Stiver resided in Pennsylvania until after he had passed his majority, at which time he turned his face to the West and first started farming in Kansas. He remained in that state until 1889, when he came to Nebraska and secured land in section 36, Everett Township, which he developed into a highly productive property, and upon which he made many improvements. He continued to be engaged in general farming and stock raising until several years ago, when he retired from active pursuits and rented his land to his brother. He still owns the
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John W. Haun
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land and buildings, as well as valuable farming machinery. Mr. Stiver farmed his property with excellent discretion, following methods that were at once practicable and progressive, and this, combined with unfail- ing industry, won him marked success. He is a member of the Reformed Church. In politics he is independent, voting invariably for the man in his opinion best qualified for the position. While his education was lim- ited to the public schools of his native state, he has been a great reader and close observer of men and things, is well posted on current matters and is excellent company, genial and sociable. At one time he served very capably in the office of treasurer of Everett Township.
HENRY L. GAINES came to Dodge and Washington counties nearly forty years ago, but his longest experience as a Nebraska farmer and rancher was in Cheyenne County. More recently he has acquired and now lives on a fine farm in section 11 of Arlington Township.
Mr. Gaines was born near Springfield, Illinois, August 5, 1844. His father, A. C. Gaines, was a native of Kentucky and also came out to Nebraska, where he died at the age of seventy-eight. His first wife was Mary Sackert, who was the mother of eight children. For his second wife he married Miss Mills. Besides Henry L. the children of the first marriage were: Thomas R. of Kennard, Nebraska; Eliza, a widow, liv- ing at Kennard; Robert of Omaha: Mrs. Emma Byers of Boyd County, Nebraska; and William, John and Alfred, now deceased. William was a pioneer settler of Washington County. The two children of the sec- ond marriage are L. C. Gaines of Arlington and Oscar Gaines of Fremont.
Henry L. Gaines on leaving Illinois in 1881 located near Elk City in Douglas County, Nebraska, renting land there four years. In Illinois he married Miss A. Archer, and they came out to Nebraska by train. After leaving Douglas County Mr. Gaines went to Cheyenne County and bought a section and a half. of land, on which he prosecuted his diver- sified farming and ranching interests until 1910, when he sold and bought a well improved place of 240 acres in Washington County.
Mr. Gaines is the father of eight children: Hattie Blanchard of Her- man, Nebraska ; Harry C. of Dodge County; Edwin C. of Washington County ; Mrs. Emma Christensen of Washington County; Newton of Fremont ; Henry L., Jr., of Omaha ; Carl A., and Lottie, at home.
JOHN HAUN. Dodge County was just within the pale of civilization when the late John Haun cast his fortunes in the locality. Death came to him at the end of fifty years of residence, and his name is justly recorded in this history not only for length of residence but for the energy with which he provided for himself and family and the good influence he exercised as a citizen and a successful business man, and is also remembered as one of the former sheriffs of the county.
He was born in Germany in 1837, and had gained a common school education in his native land before he came to America. He was about fourteen when his parents came to this country and established their home in Michigan. From Michigan John Haun went to Wisconsin, was married in that state, and in 1868 reached Dodge County, Nebraska. As a youth he had learned the trade of carpenter, was a very skilled workman and at Fremont, his first place of residence, helped put up some of the pioneer houses. He also homesteaded, and that homestead, now owned by his son John W., is a highly valuable property, showing the results of half a century of capable management and care from the time John
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Haun secured the land from the Government. He developed one of the ·productive farms of the county before retiring, and then for several years lived at the Village of Scribner. After the death of his wife he returned to the homestead farm and lived with his son John W. until his death, which occurred July 10, 1920.
He espoused the cause of the democratic party in politics and his influence added a great deal of strength to the party in the county. He was always regarded as one of the most capable sheriffs the county ever had, and whether as a farmer, homemaker or citizen he enjoyed a secure place in popular confidence and esteem. Both he and his wife were devout Catholics.
John Haun married Theresa Ambruster, who was a native of Wiscon- sin, and died in 1915. The brief facts concerning their children are as follows: Joseph, a resident of the State of California; Frank, living retired at Fremont ; Amelia, wife of John Ries of Scotia, Greeley County ; Kate, wife of August Stoetzer of Scribner; Mary, wife of Henry Eidam, a Dodge County farmer ; Elizabeth, widow of Louis Steil, and now living at the home of her brother John W., who is next in order of birth; and Henry A., concerning whom special mention is made elsewhere in this volume.
JOHN W. HAUN has always regarded it as an honor to claim Dodge County as his place of birth and the scene of his activities as a success- ful farmer and stock grower. He is a son of the late John Haun, whose career as a pioneer of the county is described above.
John W. Haun was born in Cotterell Township April 6, 1880. In that township in section 2 and about ten miles from the City of North Bend, he lives today enjoying the ownership of a well improved farm of 280 acres, which includes the old homestead his father took up from the Government half a century ago.
Mr. Haun was reared on this farm of his father, and is indebted to the public schools of Dodge County for his early educational disci- pline. He has been independently engaged in farm enterprises since the age of twenty-two, and his substantial success has been the direct result of his own industry and well ordered activities. He is an inde- pendent voter in connection with local political affairs, and some of the interests that identify him with the outside community are as a stock- holder in the Farmers' Union at North Bend and at Scribner, and a stockholder in the Douglas Motor Company of Omaha. He is also well known as a musician, playing the violin and clarionet, and has been an orchestra leader for over twenty years. He also has many engagements with his clarionet as a band man. He is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus and he and his wife are active members of the Catholic Church at Ridgeley.
In 1902 he married Miss Addie Feichtinger, daughter of Charles Feichtinger of Dodge County. Mrs. Haun died six years later in 1908, and since her death Mr. Haun's widowed sister Elizabeth has had charge of the domestic economies of his present home. Mr. Haun has two children, Elwood and Carroll.
HENRY UEHLING. As one of the native-born sons of Dodge County, Henry Uehling has lived to see many wonderful changes in the develop- ment of his home community, both in numbers and class of residents and in importance as an agricultural center. He was born November 12, 1862, in Dodge County and is a son of Theodore Uehling, a pioneer who drove through to this region with a team of oxen.
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During the period of his boyhood, Henry Uehling was better acquainted with the Indians than with white people. The redskins were peaceable and friendly and frequently stopped at the Uehling home, where hospitality was extended them by Mrs. Uehling, and this familiarity did not tend to increase the youth's awe of the original settlers. Every year tribes of Indians would go west and north in the fall, on hunting expedi- tions, and in the spring would return to their camps, so that there was almost a constant procession of the tribes coming and going. There were very few settlers, the Uehling home eight miles north of Clark's Creek being the first house reached from that point. With no fences, when the early settlers desired to go anywhere they merely took the shortest route. Omaha was the closest city of any size, and it required three days to make the journey to that place, but of necessity all the grain was hauled there, as the nearest mills were at De Soto and Fort Calhoun. After the railroad was built to Fremont, that place became the destination and distributing point of the early farmers.
The education of Mr. Uehling was acquired in the public schools of Dodge County, and as a youth and young man was associated in farming with his father. When he reached the age of twenty-five years he embarked upon operations of his own, first on his father's eighty-acre farm and later on eighty acres of his own. From this modest beginning he has extended his activities to cover farming and stock raising on 600 acres of land, all located in Logan Township. He is engaged in general farming and devotes a good portion of his time to the raising of thor- oughbred live stock, including Jersey hogs and Percheron horses. His labors have been attended by satisfactory results and he is regarded as one of the most substantial and prosperous farmers of his county. While energetic and progressive, he is nevertheless careful and systematic in his methods of operation, and his farm is one of the most productive and profitable in this section. He and Mrs. Uehling are members of the Lutheran Church, and as a fraternalist he is affiliated with the Masons. While he devotes his attention unreservedly to his farm, he is not indif- ferent to the duties of citizenship, and a number of years ago served his township in the capacity of treasurer.
Mr. Uehling was married in 1886 to Miss Marguerite Snyder, daughter of John and Barbara (Krueger) Snyder, settlers of 1874 in Burt County, Nebraska, who are now living in retirement at Scott's Bluff. There were seven children in the Snyder family: one who died in infancy, Peter, Adam, Marguerite, Andrew, Conrad and Mary, deceased. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Uehling: Arthur, who is engaged in farming in Dodge County; and Ira, Marie and Ernest, at home.
LOUIS F. HOLLOWAY. The gentleman whose life history is herewith outlined is a man who has lived to good purpose and achieved a gratify- ing degree of success, solely by his individual efforts. By a straightfor- ward and commendable course Mr. Holloway has made his way to an influential position in the commercial life of Fremont, winning the hearty admiration of the people of his community and earning a repu- tation as an enterprising, progressive man of affairs which the public has not been slow to recognize and appreciate. Those who know him best will readily acquiesce in the statement that he is eminently deserving of the material success which has crowned his efforts and of the high esteem in which he is held throughout the community.
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Louis F. Holloway was born in Lawrence, Kansas, December 22, 1862, and is the son of James C. and Mary A. (Roy) Holloway. The father was a native of the State of Ohio and the mother was born in Troy, New York, their marriage occurring after their removal to Kan- sas, in which state James C. Holloway had been sent by the Government, for whom he was engaged in the forestry service. On the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted in defense of the Union and served faithfully for five years, holding an officer's commission. Subsequently he took up railroad construction work and had a part in the building of the Atchi- son, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. He and his wife are both deceased, his death occurring at Neodesha and his wife dying in Atchison, Kansas. In religious faith, he was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and Mrs. Holloway was an Episcopalian. In politics he gave his support to the republican party. They were the parents of two children, Louis F., of this sketch, and Frederick C., who is engaged in farming at Basalt, Colorado.
Louis F. Holloway received a good practical education in the public schools and then for four years he was engaged in teaching school in Iowa and Nebraska. He came to the latter state in 1884 and his,identi- fication with Dodge County dates from 1901, when he bought a small hardware store in Fremont. Soon afterwards he had a partner, the firni being known as Holloway & Felt, later Holloway & Fowler, but in March, 1919, Mr. Holloway bought his partner's interest in the business, which is now conducted as the L. F. Holloway Hardware Company. The business has enjoyed a steady and healthy growth from the beginning and is now numbered among the leading stores of the kind in Fremont. Mr. Holloway has applied himself indefatigably to his business and has shown an ability and soundness of judgment that has stamped him as a business man of substantial and permanent qualities. He carries a large, well-selected and complete line of all kinds of hardware and his patrons come from a wide radius of surrounding country.
In 1888 Mr. Holloway was married to Carrie E. Lewis, a native of New York, and the daughter of James H. Lewis, who came to Nebraska in 1882, settling at Friend, where he engaged in the grain business. To Mr. and Mrs. Holloway have been born two children, Pearl and Ruth. The latter became the wife of John Bader of Scribner, Dodge County, but her death occurred on December 17, 1918. She was the mother of two children, Margaret and Gladys, who now make their home with the grandparents.
Politically Mr. Holloway is independent and he and his wife are members of the Congregational Church. Fraternally he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Modern Woodmen of America. In the first named order he has passed through all the chairs in both branches. He takes a deep interest in all local public and commercial affairs, giving his sup- port to every movement for the upbuilding of the community. He has been a director in the Fremont Commercial Club, president for several terms of the Retailers' Association, a director in the Nebraska State Hardware Association, and he has also taken an active and effective part in the interests of the Young Men's Christian Association. In every phase of community life he has endeavored to be a booster and as a result of his generous spirit and his excellent personal qualities he enjoys the confidence and good will of all who know him.
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PETER F. CARY is one of the leading merchants of the thriving little City of North Bend, Dodge County, where he conducts a well equipped furniture store, and his is the distinction of being a representative of a family whose name has been identified with the annals of Nebraska since 1869. He was born at Dunkirk, New York, December 31, 1857, and is a son of Patrick and Bridget (Hayes) Cary, both natives of the Emerald Isle. The devoted mother who would have celebrated in 1920 the eighty- sixth anniversary of her birth, died December 25, 1919, her husband having died in 1912, at the venerable age of eighty-five years.
Patrick Cary was reared and educated in his native land and came from Ireland to America in 1850. He lived for a short period in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, later became a resident of Dunkirk, New York, and from the old Empire State he removed to Ohio, where the family home was maintained until 1869, when he came with his family to Nebraska, which had gained the dignity of statehood only two years previously. After remaining for a time in the City of Omaha Patrick Cary took up a homestead claim in Platte County, where he reclaimed and improved a pioneer farm and continued for many years as a respected and influential citizen. After retiring from the farm, in 1900, he established his home at Platte Center, where he passed the remainder of his life and whence his widow later came to the home of their only child, Peter F., of this review, at North Bend, where she received the deepest filial solicitude on the part of her son. She was a devout communicant of the Catholic Church, as was also her husband, and the latter was a democrat in his political proclivities.
Peter F. Cary received a common school education and after the removal of his family to Nebraska he contributed his share to the work and development of his father's old homestead farm, in Platte County. In that county he finally purchased a furniture store at Platte Center, and after conducting the enterprise ten years he removed to Schuyler, Colfax County, where he was similarly engaged for the ensu- ing two years. He then sold his furniture store at that place and, in 1911, came to North Bend, where he purchased the furniture business of Edward Davis. His store is modern in appointments, range of stock and in service, and he controls a substantial and profitable business. Mr. Cary is independent in politics, and has served as a member of the City Council of North Bend, besides which he held the office of coroner while a resident of Colfax County. He is a communicant of the Catholic Church and is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus.
ROBERT A. LUEHRS, to a brief review of whose life and character the reader's attention is herewith directed, is among the favorably known and representative citizens of Dodge County. Mr. Luehrs has by his indomitable enterprise and progressive methods contributed in a material way to the advancement of his community, and he has ascended through his individual efforts from the bottom of the ladder to a place of impor- tance in business circles in this locality, having ever been known as a man of sound judgment, indefatigable industry and integrity of character.
Robert A. Luehrs was born in Kankakee, Illinois, on September 5, 1882, and is the son of Henry and Margaret (Hess) Luehrs, the former a native of Germany and the latter born in Kentucky. Their marriage occurred in Kankakee, Illinois, and there they have lived continuously since. For a number of years Henry Luehrs was foreman of a brick and tile works, but has long been engaged in the coal business. He and his wife are members of the Baptist Church and in politics he gives his
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support to the republican party. To these worthy parents were born five children, namely : Harry, who is assistant treasurer of the State of Illinois; Robert A .; Laura, the wife of George Sedorf, a farmer in Kankakee County, Illinois; George, engaged in the banking business in Kankakee; Edna, who is engaged in teaching school at Bisbee, Arizona.
Robert A. Luehrs attended the schools of his native community and at the age of sixteen years he began to learn the carpenter trade, at which he was employed until he came to Fremont in 1907. He here was employed for a few years by his uncle, W. G. Luehrs, and then he entered upon the business of contracting on his own account. He has been eminently successful in this line of endeavor and for a number of years has been numbered among the leading contractors of this locality, having erected some of the finest residences and most substantial busi- ness structures in Fremont. Mr. Luehrs has contributed in a very definite way to the welfare and upbuilding of the community in which he lives through his policy of building residences for sale, thus inducing many people to secure homes of their own who otherwise would never do so. In this way he has disposed of about thirty attractive and well arranged homes which he has built in Fremont. He also erected a splen- did home for himself at 921 North Clarkson Street, into which he moved in October, 1919.
In 1907 Mr. Luehrs was married to Bessie Faquet, who was born and reared in Saunders County, Nebraska, the daughter of Manassas Faquet, who was one of the earliest pioneer settlers in Saunders County. His death occurred in Fremont, where his widow now survives. To Mr. and Mrs. Luehrs have been born four children, namely: Glen, Wil- bur, Arthur and Bessie. Mrs. Luehrs died on December 27, 1919. She was a member of the Baptist Church and a woman of most excellent qualities of character, extremely popular in all the circles in which she moved. Mr. Luehrs also is affiliated with the Baptist Church, while in politics he is a republican. Through his own efforts he has been a success in business and is now the owner of two excellent farms, one located in Dodge County and one in Merrick County, both of which he rents. He carries to successful completion whatever he undertakes and his business methods have ever been in strict conformity with the best business ethics, so that he has ever enjoyed the confidence and esteem of all who know him.
NELS M. JOHNSON. Many of the more enterprising and successful business men of Nebraska are of foreign birth and breeding, and have brought to their adopted country the habits of industry and thrift that have gained them positions of influence, prominent among the number being Nels M. Johnson, of Fremont, head of the prosperous firm of Johnson & Cheney, dealers in coal and lumber. A native of Sweden, he was born March 9, 1873, a son of Carl and Rocina Johnson, who reared a family of six children, four of whom are now living, as follows: Marie, Carl and Anna, living in Sweden, and Nels M., the only member of the family to come to America.
Carl Johnson was born in a little shack on his father's farm and was reared in humble circumstances. Energetic and ambitious, he toiled assiduously during his earlier years at anything he could find to do, and began life on his own account as a hack driver. Prudently saving as much of his earnings as he could, he was subsequently actively identi- fied with various industries, having operated a tannery, a brewery, a creamery, and finally embarking in mercantile pursuits. Possessing
IL. Mathews
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good business ability and judgment, he met with signal success in his undertakings, becoming a fine representative of the self-made men of his country. Both he and his wife united with the Lutheran Church in childhood.
Brought up and educated in Sweden, Nels M. Johnson determined as a young man to begin life for himself in a newer country, and in 1891 bade his family and friends adieu and came to the United States in search of fortune. Locating in Osceola, Nebraska, he clerked in a mercantile establishment long enough to become somewhat familiar with the busi- ness methods of this country, and then purchased a store in Madison, Nebraska, where he remained for two years. Coming from there to Fremont in 1905, Mr. Johnson, in partnership with D. W. Hotchkiss, embarked in the lumber business, and soon established a large trade. In 1914 George E. Cheney purchased Mr. Hotchkiss' interest in the business, which has since been carried on under the name of Johnson & Cheney. This firm deals extensively in lumber and coal, handling the different grades of coal and making a specialty of building materials of all kinds.
Mr. Johnson married, in 1898, Luetta Hotchkiss, a daughter of D. W. Hotchkiss, who is living in Fremont, retired from active pur- suits, as a dealer in coal and lumber having accumulated a competency. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have four children, namely: Martha, living at home; Edith and Stanley, attending school; and Raymond, a bright little fellow of two years. Fraternally Mr. Johnson is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica and the Turners. He also belongs to the Fremont Commercial Club. Religiously Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
TREVANYON L. MATHEWS, while not in the pioneer class, has become a prominent and influential personality in connection with the financial, political and other public affairs of Nebraska, and is one of the leading citizens of Fremont.
Mr. Mathews was born at Florence, Pennsylvania, March 1, 1849, and moved to Illinois in 1865. His early education was acquired in the public schools. As a youth he served an apprenticeship in a carriage manufactory, and with this line of industrial enterprise he continued six years, after which he was for one year a clerk in a dry-goods store. Illinois was the stage of his early activities where he made an admirable record of achievement prior to coming to Nebraska. In 1873 he was appointed deputy sheriff and collector of taxes for Cass County, Illinois, and in 1882 he was elected a member of the Illinois Legislature, his dis- trict constituting a part of the territory at one time represented by Abraham Lincoln. He was importuned to become a candidate for a sec- ond term, but declined this honor on account of having been elected cashier of the Cass County Bank, at Beardstown, Illinois, in 1884. In 1885 he effected a reorganization of this institution, under the corporate title of the First State Bank of Beardstown, and it is worthy of record that this was the first 'bank organized under the new state banking law of Illinois. Today the bank is one of the strong financial institutions of the central part of that commonwealth. Mr. Mathews was elected secre- tary of the Beardstown Building and Loan Association about the same time he became cashier of the Cass County Bank, and he was a potent force in furthering the success of both institutions. In 1884 he was
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