USA > Nebraska > Dodge County > History of Dodge and Washington Counties, Nebraska, and their people, Volume II > Part 52
USA > Nebraska > Washington County > History of Dodge and Washington Counties, Nebraska, and their people, Volume II > Part 52
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DAN SWANSON. One of the most prominent men of Dodge County is Dan Swanson, member of the Lower House of the State Assembly, and commissioner of public lands and buildings, with headquarters at Fremont. He is one of the best-known men in this part of the state, and has not only acquired distinction as a public official of unquestioned probity, but also as a business man of recognized acumen, much of his efforts as such being directed along the line of extensive realty operations.
Mr. Swanson was born in Sweden on May 1, 1857, a son of Swan Pierson and Maria (Anderson) Swanson, both of whom were born and reared in Sweden, where they rounded out their useful lives, he being an extensive landowner and farmer and a man of prominence locally. He and his wife had eight children, of whom three are now living,
Nawe Swaux
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namely: Matilda, who is unmarried, lives in Sweden; Amelia, who is also unmarried and a resident of Sweden; and Dan, whose name heads this review. The parents belonged to the Lutheran Church. At one time the father was very wealthy, but lost some of his means as he grew older.
Growing up in his native land Dan Swanson acquired an excellent educational training in the public schools and Lund University at Lund, Sweden, and after completing his studies became a clerk in a general store. In 1877 he came to the United States, and for a time after land- ing worked in a tobacco store in Connecticut. However, one of his sisters had located in Nebraska, and Mr. Swanson joined her and lived at Wahoo, although he had the misfortune to lose his sister within two weeks after they were reunited. During the time he was at that point he was engaged in clerking, but in 1892 came to Dodge County and obtained employment in the store owned by Mr. Bloomenthal at Fre- mont, where he remained for six or seven years, and was promoted to be manager of this large department store. His attention was then turned toward real estate, and he gained a working knowledge of the business with Richard Keen & Company, and he maintained his connections with this concern until he was elected to the Legislature in 1900 and served in it for one term. He was then appointed postmaster of Fremont in January, 1903, and served in that office for eight years and three months. Mr. Swanson then went into the real estate business and carried it on very profitably as secretary and treasurer of the Fremont Real Estate Company, and was discharging the duties of these positions when, in 1918, he was elected commissioner of public lands and buildings. In 1920 he ran for re-election as commissioner of public lands and buildings without opposition with reference to his nomination on the republican ticket. In this election he received the largest vote for re-election of any candidate in the state, his majority being 110,744 votes.
In March, 1884, Mr. Swanson was united in marriage with Matilda Streed, born in Sweden, who came to the United States with her parents when she was only six years old. They settled at Wahoo. Mrs. Swanson is a daughter of John Streed, who was a merchant tailor of Wahoo for many years. Following the death of his wife, Mr. Streed returned to Sweden and died there. Mr. and Mrs. Swanson became the parents of three sons, namely: Fred W., who is bookkeeper and assistant manager of the Fremont Beverage Company of Fremont; Carl, who is employed in the state engineering department at Lincoln, Nebraska; and Ray, who was employed in the Ashland Bank for a number of years, is now engaged in conducting large realty operations. The family are Luth- erans. Mr. Swanson has always been active in state and local politics in the republican party, and has served as chairman of the County Cen- tral Committee of this party. Since his election as commissioner he has devoted his care and attention to the duties appertaining to it and is ren- dering a very satisfactory service. One of the acts of Mr. Swanson was to raise the school tax assessments from $624,312 to $2,380,522, making an annual increase for the state of nearly $105,374. He is a man of broad vision and one who cannot be swerved from a position when he is con- vinced that his stand is the right one, and he believes that the respon- sibility rests upon him to see to it that the interests of the general public be protected and he is utterly fearless in living up to his own conception of his duty. Such men as he are very valuable adjuncts to the state, and Mr. Swanson's record proves that he is worthy of all the confidence reposed in him by his fellow citizens.
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PERRY SELDEN. The record of pioneer activities and personalities in Washington County must always give an important place to the late Perry Selden. He was an early freighter over the great plains, located in Washington County soon after the close of the Civil war, and his name is especially associated with the community of Blair where Mrs. Selden is still living and Blair is also the home of his daughter, Mrs. L. A. Williams.
Perry Selden was born at Hornellsville, New York, May 2, 1842. When he was twelve years of age his parents came West and settled at Omaha, then a river town and an outfitting post for the caravans of commerce and travel that started for the West and Northwest. Perry Selden received his early education in Michigan, but could not long be kept out of the current of western life which surged through Omaha. At the age of eighteen he began driving freighting wagons to the Far West, and he also carried mail over the plains. He was engaged in this adventurous occupation until 1867, when he returned to Omaha. He completed his education with one year in Grinnell College.
In 1869 Perry Selden came to Washington County and homesteaded and in a few years had achieved a place of leadership in county affairs. Besides farming he engaged in the newspaper business and was editor and proprietor of the Blair Pilot for a number of years. A stanch republican, he was elected to the Legislature in 1876 and he also held the office of county judge of Washington County. Judge Selden is remem- bered as a man absolutely fearless, honest, straightforward, possessing sound judgment in business and his record is one that can be recalled with distinct pride. He was superintendent of the Yankton Indian Agency Government School at Yankton, South Dakota, and Mrs. Selden was matron from 1884 to 1888. Judge Selden's death occurred Septem- ber 16, 1896. He was affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
On April 9, 1869, Judge Selden married Eliza Newell, member of an even earlier family of settlers in Washington County. She was born at Amherst, Massachusetts, October 12, 1843, a daughter of Samuel and Rebecca (Hall) Newell. Her parents settled in Washington County, Nebraska, in 1865, when she was twenty-two years of age, and her father homesteaded and became one of the very substantial farmers in the Blair community, where he lived out his life.
Mr. and Mrs. Selden became the parents of four children, only two of whom are now living, Mrs. L. A. Williams of Blair and J. W. Selden, a lawyer at Tacoma, Washington.
Minnie A. Selden was born April 28, 1870, on the homestead of her Grandfather Selden, who settled there in 1854 and which has since been incorporated in the City of Omaha. Miss Selden was reared and edu- cated at Blair and on August 16, 1893, became the wife of Lyman A. Williams.
Mr. Williams was born at Middleton, Wisconsin, November 24, 1869, and came to Blair in 1891. He was well educated and for several years was a successful teacher in the schools of Scribner and Blair, and Mrs. Williams also did work as a teacher in the schools of these communities. Mr. Williams had completed his education in the Plattville State Normal of Wisconsin. After the death of Judge Selden he was editor of the Blair Pilot for a number of years, also served as mayor of the town, and for a number of years has enjoyed a distinctive success in the insurance field. He was formerly general superintendent of agencies for the Guar- antee Fund Life Insurance Company and for the past seven or eight
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years has maintained his business headquarters at Omaha, and directs the agency work of his company in the states of Iowa and Nebraska. Mr. Williams also owns two farms in Western Nebraska and another farm in California.
The two children of Mr. and Mrs. Williams are Bert Selden Williams, born June 17, 1900, and Letha A., born March 8, 1911. The daughter is still in school. The son Bert, now attending the State University of Nebraska at Lincoln, is also working with his father in the insurance business. Bert Williams was in training for a time at Fort Sheridan and also as a member of the Student Army Training Corps at Lincoln. On August 31, 1918, he married and has a son, George Bert.
Mr. Williams is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner and has been deeply interested in the success of the republican party and has participated in several local campaigns. Mrs. Williams is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. She and her mother have long been prominent in fraternal and social and educational affairs at Blair. Mrs. Williams is a member of the Eastern Star and a past matron of the Chapter, present secretary, also served as Grand Martha for one year. She and her mother are members of the Daughters of the Ameri- can Revolution and both are active in the work of the Woman's Relief Corps, one of the strong organizations in Blair. Mrs. Williams has been president of the local corps about seven years. Both are members of the Rebekahs and have filled the various chairs in that order. Mrs. Wil- liams took a prominent part in the organization of the Woman's Auxil- iary to the American Legion and served as county chairman of the Red Cross after the close of the great war.
REV. A. M. ANDERSEN, of Blair, is one of the oldest and most promi- ment ministers of the Danish Lutheran Church in the West. More than forty years ago he did his first missionary work among the scattered communities of western Nebraska. He first came to Blair in the early '80s, and while his duties have called him away from Washington County at different times, his chief interests and work have centered at Blair. Rev: Mr. Andersen was the founder of Dana College at Blair, and for a number of years has been editor of the Danskeren, published at Blair by the Danish Lutheran Publishing House, a journal of wide circulation throughout the West.
Rev. Mr. Andersen was born in Denmark March 8, 1847, son of Anders Jorgensen and Maren (Andersen) Andersen. His parents, who spent all their lives on a farm in Denmark, were devout Lutherans, and had seven children, five sons and two daughters. Three are still living. Therkel was for many years a teacher in a private school in Denmark and is now retired. The second is Rev. A. M. Andersen, and the third is Jens, a retired wheelwright still living in Denmark.
A. M. Andersen acquired a public school education in Denmark, attending a high school at Ryslinge Fuen. He was a young man of twenty-five when he came to the United States in 1872. His first destina- tion was Madison, Wisconsin, but during the summer he worked on a farm in Orfordville, in Rock County, and in the fall of 1872 he removed to Minneapolis and there took up active study in preparation for the ministry of the Danish Lutheran Church. He spent two terms in a seminary, and in 1874 took examination and was ordained to the min- istry October 11, 1874. While preaching during the summer he taught a term of school at Elmdale, Minnesota, and when ordained the church gave him a missionary assignment in Nebraska. For a year and a half
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he was located at Dannebrog in Howard County, Nebraska, having charge of the local church and being missionary pastor for five other churches at a distance of from 10 to 120 miles from Dannebrog. It was a new country and Mr. Andersen's duties involved strenuous labor and all the difficulties of pioneer travel. He frequently rode great distances on horseback, and also had a buggy to which he hitched a mule. On leaving Nebraska he was pastor of a church at Racine, Wisconsin, two and a half years, but in the fall of 1879 returned to Nebraska and located in Burk County. In 1882 he began his work at Blair, and the following year moved his family to that city, built a home, and also erected the first church of his denomination. Soon afterward he entered the work of organizing an institution of higher learning. He secured a donation from local citizens to the amount of $3,000, while the church board fur- nished about $4,000. This was the fund with which Trinity Seminary and Preparatory School was established, though the first real work of instruction was done in Mr. Andersen's own home in 1884. He contin- ued as president of the college from its beginning until 1889. On retiring from that post he took charge of a church at Hampton, in Hamilton County, Nebraska, where he remained five years. On returning to Blair he became a member of the theological faculty of the college, and con- tinued in that work until the school was taken over by another branch of the church and given its present name of Dana College. For a time Mr. Andersen was pastor of a church at Viborg, South Dakota, and on his return to Blair he became editor of the Danskeren.
The Danskeren was established in 1892 and is one of the oldest pub- lications of the Danish Lutheran Church in the western states. It was for a time published twice a week and has a circulation between 3,000 and 4,000 copies. Mr. Andersen for a number of years has devoted his time and energies to this publication, though he has also performed inci- dental work of importance in connection with other departments of his church. In politics he is a republican.
March 5, 1875, Mr. Andersen married Laurina Marie Larsen, a native of Denmark. They are the parents of seven children : Agnes Christina, wife of George W. Larsen, a farmer at Beresford, South Dakota ; Andrew M., a farmer at Wakonda, South Dakota; Silas C., studying medicine at the University of Minnesota ; Miss Emma A., at home ; Anton M., pro- prietor of a men's furnishings store at Ringsted, Iowa: Ruthven C., a teacher in the schools of Washington County; and Allen Emil, a student in the Nebraska State University at Lincoln.
HARRY HIGLEY was one of the very successful business men and lead- ing citizens of Blair for a number of years. Besides the importance attaching to his individual career, his name is interesting since it recalls one of the very first pioneer families of Washington County. The Hig- leys have been well known in this section of the state for sixty years.
Harry Higley was born at Waukesha, Wisconsin. September 12, 1861, son of Thomas and Sarah E. (Welch) Higley. His parents were natives of Wisconsin, and about 1862 they came west and settled in Washington County, Nebraska. Thomas Higley was postmaster of a town in Washington County during the Civil war. For many years he was a successful merchant, and he died at Kearney, while his wife passed away at Blair. She was an active member of the Congregational Church. They were the parents of four sons, the only one now living being Vernon, a resident of Davenport, Iowa, who for twenty-four years has been employed in the United States Arsenal at Rock Island.
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Harry Higley grew up in Washington County when it was a pioneer region, acquired a common school education in the schools of that time. and his mature years were a progressive record of sound business achievement. For a number of years before his death he was proprietor of a high-class confectionery and wholesale ice cream business at Blair.
Mr. Higley's death on March 3, 1919, was a severe blow to the com- munity in which he had lived for many years. He was one of the promi- nent Masons in Washington County, had filled all the chairs in the Blue Lodge, was an eminent commander of Knights Templar Commandery, also a Shriner, and was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias. Mrs. Higley is an active member of the Eastern Star and is one of the officials of her Chapter. Both Mr. and Mrs. Higley were identified with the Episcopal Church.
Some years before his death Mr. Higley built a large home on South Street and Mrs. Higley still occupies that residence in Blair.
Mr. Higley was twice married, his wives being sisters. His first wife was Mary E. Cain, and after her death he married Miss Sadie Cain, on June 8, 1904. By the first union he had five children, and the two now living are Mrs. Eva Cook, a clerk in the Blair postoffice ; and Myron E., a salesman living at Ogden, Utah. Mrs. Sadie Higley was born at O'Neill, Nebraska, and has the distinction of having been the first girl born in that town. She is a daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Miller) Cain, who still live at O'Neill. Her father is a retired farmer and has been identified with agricultural affairs in Nebraska for a long period of years. He was born in Ireland and his wife in England. Mrs. Higley is the second of three living children. Her older sister is Mrs. John Ratter- man, of Columbus, Nebraska, and her younger sister, Elizabeth, 'is a stenographer at Los Angeles, California. Mrs. Higley's parents are active members of the Catholic Church, and her father is a republican.
MRS. MARY M. SIEKKOTTER, a resident of Blair, is a daughter of the late Soren Jensen, long prominently identified with the agricultural com- munity of Washington County. Mrs. Siekkotter's first husband was John Reeh, whose citizenship in Washington County also deserves some refer- ence on these pages.
John Reeh was born in Germany in 1870, and the following year his parents brought him to the United States. The family were early set- tlers in Washington County, and his father was an honored resident of Blair at the time of his death. John Reeh took up the vocation of farm- ing and acquired and managed some important interests in Washington County. He was a man of good judgment, successful and a highly esteemed friend and neighbor. He died in 1903. He was a member of the German Lutheran Church and the Modern Woodmen of America.
Mrs. Siekkotter by her marriage to John Reeh had three children : Lyle, employed in the State Bank of Blair ; Blanche, a successful teacher in the schools of Tekamah, Nebraska, and Odella, who graduated from the Blair High School in 1920.
In 1905 Mrs. John Reeh was married to Mr. Charles Siekkotter of Blair. Mr. Siekkotter was the owner of some extensive and valuable farming lands in Sarpey County, Nebraska, and managed that property until his death, which occurred in 1908. Mr. and Mrs. Siekkotter had one daughter, Gladys, now attending school. Mr. Siekkotter was a mem- ber of the Lutheran Church, and his widow and children are members of the Baptist faith. In politics he was a republican.
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The parents of Mrs. Siekkotter, Soren and Anna Sina (Jensen) Jensen, were both natives of Denmark. They came to the United States when young people, settled at Omaha, and when most of eastern Nebraska was still a wilderness they located on a homestead in Wash- ington County. Her father became one of the well-to-do farmers of the region and spent his last years in comfort and the enjoyment of the fruits of his early trials and labors. He died in 1917, and his widow is still living at Blair. They had thirteen children, all of whom are still living, and including them and their children and grandchildren there are now a hundred descendants of this worthy couple of Danish pioneers in Washington County. Soren Jensen was a member of the Danish Lutheran Church and a democrat in politics.
FRANK JAHNEL. Formerly engaged in agricultural jursuits in Washington County for many years, and now well known in insurance circles of Blair and the surrounding country, Frank Jahnel is accounted as one of the successful retired farmers and leading representatives of fire risk companies in his locality. His career has been one in which hard work, enlightened views and sound integrity have all played a prominent part, and the not inconsiderable success that has come to him has been well and fairly earned.
Mr. Jahnel was born in Barlt, Holstein, Germany, December 8, 1851, a son of Frank and Margaret (Kruetzfield) Jahnel, both of whom passed their entire lives in Germany and died in the faith of the Lutheran Church. The father, a man of excellent education, was a school teacher throughout his life. Mr. Jahnel has one brother, August, who when last heard from was still a resident of Germany. Frank Jahnel, of this review, secured his education in the public schools of Germany, and had passed his majority, in 1873, when he came to the United States. At first he made settlement in Missouri, where he remained about two months, then came to Nebraska and located at Grand Island, working there two years, when he went to Omaha and clerked a couple of years. He then located on tax title land in Washington County, from which he secured two crops while breaking it. Later Mr. Jahnel secured other land, adding to his holdings from time to time as his resources increased, and at present is the owner of 600 acres of well-cultivated property lying in Washington County. In 1907, after his long and successful career as an agriculturist, he retired from. operations as a tiller of the soil and took up his home at Blair, where he occupies a modern and comfortable residence. At the time of his arrival he began selling fire insurance, and at the present time is the accredited representative of the Columbia Underwriters Farm Insurance Company of Omaha. and the German Mutual Fire Insurance Company. He has built up an excellent farm insurance business, which not only adds to his income, but occupies his energetic mind. All that Mr. Jahnel owns in the world he has made himself, for he has never relied upon others, preferring to depend upon his own ability, the strength of his mind and the skill of his hands. He is a faithful member of the Lutheran Church. In politics a republican, he has been a prominent and leading factor in his party in the com- munity for many years, and for twenty-five years was school treasurer. For six years he was a member of the Board of County Commissioners, during which time the new courthouse was erected, and in 1903 and 1905 he was sent as the representative of his district to the Nebraska General Assembly, in which body his work was constructive and bene- ficial. He is a member of the Masons.
Rainsford G. Brownell
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Mr. Jahnel was married in 1876, at Omaha, to Miss Bertha M. Mun- ster, who was born in Holstein, Germany, and to this union there were born eight children : Fritz, who is carrying on operations on his father's farm; Frank, who owns a farm in Washington County; Willie, who is farming on his father's property; Lena, who married O. E. Anderson, a farmer of Wisconsin; Dora, who married Charles Cravens, a farmer of Pierce County, Nebraska; Rosie, who married Ed Mathiesen, in the clothing business at Blair; Elsie, the wife of Elmer Miller, a farmer of Washington County ; and Christ, farming on his father's property. The mother of these children died July 16, 1907, and October 8, 1908, Mr. Jahnel married Mrs. Sophia (Benck) Alberts, a widow, at Sterling, Illinois. Mrs. Alberts was born in Marne, Holstein, Germany, November 1, 1851, and came to the United States in 1873, first settled at Sterling, Illinois, but later, in 1908, came to Nebraska. By her former marriage she has two sons: John, auditor for a wholesale house at Chicago; and Albertus, a fruit rancher of Santa Ana, California.
RAINSFORD C. BROWNELL was a lad of twelve years at the time his parents came to Nebraska and established the family home in Saunders County, where he was reared to adult age, was afforded the advantages of the public schools of the period and where he eventually became a suc- cessful exponent of farm industry, besides which he became a leader in the breeding and raising of fine standard-bred horses in Nebraska. After retiring from his farm he established his residence at North Bend, Dodge County, where he has since remained and where he is a popular and influential citizen.
Mr. Brownell was born in the Province of New Brunswick, Canada, on January 12, 1860, and is a son of John H. and Mary (Taylor) Brownell, who were born and reared in the province and who were honored pioneer citizens of Saunders County, Nebraska, at the time of their deaths, the father having passed away in 1886, at the age of seventy-four years, and the mother having been eighty-six years of age at the time of her death, in 1904. In New Brunswick John H. Brownell had not only followed farm enterprise but had also operated a sawmill and was a successful representative of the lumber business in his com- munity. In 1872 he came with his family to Nebraska and purchased a tract of land in Saunders County, where he devoted the remainder of his active life to agricultural pursuits and the raising of live stock. He was a republican in his political allegiance, was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and both he and his wife held membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church. While a resident of his native province he served for some time as justice of the peace. His son, William J. Brownell, was a sea captain for many years and was a resident of New Brunswick at the time of his death. He was the father of ten sons and one daughter, and of the number four are living, Rainsford C., whose name introduces this sketch; H. C., engaged in the real estate business in the City of Denver, Colorado: A. R., living retired at Aurora, Hamilton County, Nebraska ; and T. C., a resident of Hay Springs, Sheridan County, where he is living retired.
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