USA > Nebraska > Dodge County > History of Dodge and Washington Counties, Nebraska, and their people, Volume II > Part 56
USA > Nebraska > Washington County > History of Dodge and Washington Counties, Nebraska, and their people, Volume II > Part 56
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Floren adder Watchman
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HENRY BOHLING, late of Logan Township, was for many years well known throughout this part of Dodge County as an industrious and prosperous farmer, a highly respected citizen, a kind neighbor and a loving husband and father, and his death, which occurred September 30, 1918, at the homestead where he had so long resided, was a cause of general regret, being mourned not only as a loss to his family but to the entire community. He was born May 5, 1862, in Germany, where he was reared and educated.
Immigrating to this country at the age of nineteen years, Mr. Bohling came directly to Dodge County, Nebraska, and after working three years for Mrs. Panning went to Washington County, where he was busily employed for two years. Starting in life on his own account then, he rented the farm in Logan Township now occupied by his widow and children, and meeting with success in its supervision subsequently bought the place. He added to the improvements previously inaugurated, erected substantial farm buildings and a good residence, and continued his operations as a farmer and stock raiser, in the prosecution of his calling meeting with highly satisfactory results, his valuable farm of 215 acres being at the time of his death one of the most desirable pieces of property in the neighborhood. His first house was a mere shack, and the one he erected was a modernly built structure, furnished with all the comforts, necessities and conveniences commonly found in the homes of the more progressive and successful agriculturists of today.
Mr. Bohling married, April 10, 1888, Caroline Seabuhr, who was born in Washington County, Nebraska, where her parents, Christopher and Mary Seabuhr, natives of Germany, located on coming to Nebraska from Wisconsin, their first home in America. Twelve children were born of their union, namely: Mrs. M. Katt, Mrs. Lizzie Prigge, and Mrs. Minnie Katt, of Washington County; and Dorothy, Henry, Louis, Adolph, Willie, Lena, Emil, Otto, and Alma, living at home. Mr. Bohling was independent in politics, voting for men and measures he deemed best, and was a faithful member of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, to which Mrs. Bohling also belongs.
MRS. FLORENCE ADDIE WINKELMAN is one of the successful business women of Dodge County, and is proving that her sex is no bar to her entering into competition with men and setting a pace for them that many find difficult to keep up. She is a worthy daughter of her father, the late Gideon West, who will long be remembered as a man of sterling character and fine business ability. At the time of his demise he was serving Fremont as city marshal, and was the owner of a large amount of realty in the city and Dodge County.
Gideon West was born in Canada while his mother was there on a visit but was taken to Vermont in infancy, where he spent his childhood days. From there he came West to Wisconsin, and thence to Nebraska, where he arrived in 1867. During the war between the North and the South he served in the Union army and held the rank of sergeant. His enlistment took place from Wisconsin and he was disabled and honorably discharged at the end of nine months. This military service resulted in subsequent ill health, and doubtless terminated his life, for he passed away in the latter '70s.
After coming to Nebraska he met and was married to Martha Jensen, born near Copenhagen, Denmark. Her parents brought her to the United States when she was six years of age, and they lived at Fre- mont, Nebraska, for a number of years, but later moved to Iowa and
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there died. Mr. and Mrs. West became the parents of two children, Florence A., whose name heads this review ; and Lila, who married Ray Pankow, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Both Mr. and Mrs. West were consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church from an early age, and brought up their daughters in the same faith. Mr. West was a Mason and one of the most prominent men in the fraternity in Dodge County. His was the first Masonic funeral ever held in the county, and one of the first held in the Methodist Episcopal Church. When he died Mr. West owned a half a square of property in Fremont and farm land in Dodge County, and acquired that property during the last few years of his life.
When Mr. and Mrs. West were young married people Mr. West had a long period of illness, and his devoted wife threw herself into the breach and did washing in order to supply the necessities of life, not only doing it cheerfully and willingly, but so acceptably that she built up a large connection and made money. After her husband's death she so managed her property that she has become very wealthy and now owns five farms. Later she was married to Charles A. Devine, and they live at North Bend, Nebraska.
Florence A. West was married to Frank Winkelman, of Fremont, a railroad conductor, who later became a merchant. He died on January 14, 1918. They became the parents of the following children: Gideon W., who is a farmer of Saunders, Nebraska : Jennie Edith, who married J. R. Carroll, of North Platte, Nebraska; Tyrone, who married George Devine, lives on a farm near North Bend, Nebraska; and Richard A., who is attending high school.
Mrs. Winkelman is a very shrewd business woman and knows how to make her effort pay her a good return. She owns and operates a high- class, modern rooming house at 140 East Second Street, and has other city and farm realty. Being an excellent judge of real estate, she does considerable in this line, and during the summer of 1919 handled two and one-half sections of farm land in Kimball County, Nebraska, in such a way as to treble her money and awaken the admiration of some of the most astute realty operators of the state.
She and her family belong to the Episcopal Church. For a nuniber of years she has been very active in the local chapter of the Eastern Star, and holds the degree of honor in the Ancient Order of United Work- men and is a past grand of this order for the State of Nebraska.
It is such capable women as Mrs. Winkelman who are proving to their communities that they are fully competent to handle any problems. While she has been so successful in business life, Mrs. Winkelman has not neglected any of her home responsibilities but has reared a family of fine children.
LARS PETERSON. Having accomplished a satisfactory work in his free and independent occupation and acquired a competency to live on in his declining years, Lars Peterson, a retired farmer of Uehling, is now enjoying a well-earned leisure. Born in Sweden in 1841, he remained there twenty-two years.
After a long and tedious ocean voyage he landed in New York on July 14, 1863. Proceeding westward, he arrived in Chicago with $5.00 in gold in his pocket, which he soon changed into scrip, receiving $7.50 in that currency. Here he worked at his trade as a carpenter until 1864. In that year he was one of three Swedes selected to find a favorable location for a colony of their countrymen. Going to Omaha, he was
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there told that the only land available for that purpose lay west of Columbus, but as the Indians in that locality were very hostile the com- mittee decided to form a settlement in Logan Valley instead. The ven- ture proved successful, and Mr. Peterson is now the only survivor of the founders of that settlement.
His father, who followed him to this country in 1864, came to Nebraska, where he took up a homestead claim and carried on general farming with good results, residing on his ranch until his death, at the age of seventy-eight years. His wife, Justine Peterson, survived him, living to be eighty-two years old.
Taking up a homestead claim in Dodge County, Lars Peterson went from Chicago by rail to St. Joseph, Missouri, and thence by boat to Omaha, Nebraska, and before leaving for the farm homestead at Logan Valley, Nebraska, he spent his last $10.00 for flour, purchasing 200 pounds, an amount that by strict economy lasted him and his bride, whom he married in Omaha, a long time. He cleared and improved his home- stead of 160 acres, and lived upon it until he had accumulated a suffi- cient sum to warrant him in giving up active labor, and since 1898 has lived retired, having a most desirable home in Uehling, Nebraska.
Mr. Peterson married October 10, 1864, in Omaha, Hanna Anderson, and to them several children have been born, namely: Peter, who died at the age of fourteen years, having accidentally shot himself; Carrie Mattson, wife of a Dodge County farmer ; Anna Bennett, living in Cali- fornia ; Mary Peterson, of Los Angeles, California ; Clara Taylor, also living in Los Angeles; Turah, who died at the age of twenty years; Elmer, living on the parental homestead ; Lillie, wife of Dr. Chris John- son, a veterinary surgeon living near Uehling; and Roy, a resident of California. Mr. Peterson has traveled in the west, after retiring from the farm, having spent five years in. Denver before settling permanently in Uehling. He is a never changing republican in politics and a member of the Lutheran Church.
FRANK B. KNAPP, president of the Fidelity Trust Company of Fre- mont, was born at Sloan, Iowa. He was engaged in the banking business at Cedar Bluffs, Nebraska for several years. He came to Fremont in 1910 as cashier of the First National Bank, later became president of the Fidelity Trust Company, and is an officer or director in a number of Nebraska banks and financial institutions. Mr. Knapp was married to Lula A. Meeker, of Wahoo, Nebraska. Of this union one child, a daughter, Marjorie, was born, and is living with her parents.
JAMES C. BADGER, the popular and efficient postmaster at Arlington, Washington County, was about ten years of age at the time of the family removal from Michigan to this progressive Nebraska county, his birth having occurred near Niles, the Metropolis of Berrien County, Michigan, on January 12, 1870. His father, William D. Badger, was likewise a native of that county, where he was reared and educated and where was solemnized his marriage to Miss Margaret Mead. She was born in the State of New York and was young at the time of her parents' removal to Michigan. In his native county William D. Badger continued his active association with farm enterprise until 1880, when he- came with his family to Nebraska and established a home in Washington County, he having been a resident of Arlington since the autumn of that year. Here he was for ten years successfully engaged in the buying and ship- ping of grain and live stock as junior member of the firm of Shepard &
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Badger, and he then became one of the organizers of the Belle Creek Valley Bank at Arlington. He continued as one of the executive officials of the institution until it was reorganized as the First National Bank. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party, and he is affil- iated with the Masonic fraternity. Of their two children the subject of this review is the elder, and the younger is O. D. Badger, who is employed in a general merchandise establishment at Arnold, Custer County. In his youth the father received not only the advantages of the public schools of Michigan, but also those of the great University of Michigan, of the Eastman Business College in the City of Poughkeepsie, New York. He has been influential in politics in Washington County and has been known for his civic loyalty and public spirit.
James C. Badger acquired his rudimentary education in the public schools of Michigan, and after the family removed to Nebraska he con- tinued his studies in the schools at Arlington, his higher academic train- ing having been received in the celebrated Notre Dame University at South Bend, Indiana. As a youth he became associated with his father's banking business, and thereafter he was for one year employed in the Government military postoffice service in the State of Utah. After his return to Arlington he held a position in what is now the First National Bank for a period of about ten years, and for one year thereafter he was in the Pullman car service of the Union Pacific and Chicago & North- western Railroad. In 1915 he was appointed postmaster at Arlington, of which position he has since continued the incumbent and in which he has given a most effective and popular administration.
Mr. Badger has been active and influential in the councils and cam- paign activities of the democratic party in Washington County, and he is actively affiliated with the Masonic fraternity.
In 1892 was recorded the marriage of Mr. Badger to Miss Honora Fink, daughter of John Fink, a well-known citizen of Washington County. Mr. and Mrs. Badger have two children, Ralph and Loren, both of whom are still attending school at the time of this writing in 1920.
LAURENCE M. PETERSON. While the art of preserving and repairing the teeth was known in a crude form by the very ancient peoples, it has been only within recent years that dental surgery has received the con- sideration it has always merited on account of its importance, and conse- quently men of much greater intellectual attainments have been attracted to the profession, which now includes some of the ablest men of the country. One of the skilled and dependable operating dentists of Dodge and Washington counties, who draws his patients from both localities, is Dr. Laurence M. Peterson of Arlington.
Doctor Peterson was born at Arlington in 1894, a son of J. A. and Emma J. (Gustafson) Peterson, natives of Sweden and Iowa, respec- tively. J. A. Peterson came to the United States in 1868, locating in Iowa, where he remained for four years, and then came west to Nebraska and settled permanently at Arlington, which still continues to be his home. He is now in the employ of a hardware and general store at Arlington. The children born to him and his wife were as follows: Bernita, who is now engaged in teaching at Scottsbluff, Nebraska ; L. M., who was the second in order of birth; Erma M., who is in her brother's office ; and Theodore R. and J. Rodney, both of whom are attending the Arlington schools. The parents of these children are members of the Congregational Church, and the father is a republican in politics and a member of the Modern Woodmen in his fraternal affiliations. .
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After completing his high school course at Arlington, Doctor Peterson entered the dental department of the Nebraska State University and was graduated therefrom in 1917, with the degree of Doctor of Dental Sur- gery and as a member of the Greek letter fraternity, Beta Theta Pi. Immediately following his graduation Doctor Peterson located at Arling- ton, where he has built up a valuable practice and has firmly established himself in the confidence of the public. He is a Blue Lodge Mason. Like his father he is a republican, and also like the elder man he has not aspired to public honors, all of his energy being conserved for the prac- tice of his profession. However, like all intelligent men, he realizes the need for a constructive interest in civic affairs by the best element of any locality, and so stands ready to do his part in keeping Arlington in the front rank among similar municipalities along all lines.
WILLIAM SCHAFERSMAN. The claim of William Schafersman upon the good will and consideration of his fellow townsmen at Blair is based upon many years of effective work as an agriculturist, upon his merito- rious record as a citizen and upon his activity in promoting education and kindred accompaniments of advanced education. While he is now employed in the produce business, Mr. Schafersman is still the owner of a splendid farm in the vicinity of Herman, and the business with which he is identified keeps alive his interest in things agricultural.
Born at Quincy, Illinois, June 23, 1868, Mr. Schafersman is a son of Gottlieb and Hannah (Westerbech) Schafersman, natives of Germany. His father left his native land at the age of twenty-one years, in order to escape the hated compulsory military service, and on arriving in the United States became employed as a laboring man, accepting such honor- able work as fell to his hands. He was living in Illinois when the Civil war came on, and while he had left the home of his birth because he did not want to be forced into the army, in the land where his inclinations were given consideration he voluntarily offered his services to the country of his adoption and was accepted as a member of Company H, Sixteenth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, a regiment with which he served four years. He took part in many of the hardest-fought engagements of the great struggle, and was slightly wounded at Gettysburg and Bull Run. After receiving his honorable discharge he returned to his home in Illinois, but in 1868 turned his face to the West and settled at Blair, in which community he bought 200 acres of school land at $7.00 an acre. Mr. Schafersman lived to see this land increase many times in value, and under his good management and industry it flourished and became splendidly productive. He was a man of integrity and fidelity to trust and had the esteem and respect of all with whom he came in contact. His religious faith was that of the German Lutheran Church, and his political belief that of the democratic party. He and his worthy wife were the parents of six children, William being the second in order of birth, and two others live in Washington County, Edward, proprietor of a general store at Telbasta, Nebraska, and Minnie, the wife of August Carlston, a farmer near the Village of Dale.
William Schafersman received his education in the country school of his locality, to reach which he was compelled to walk three miles, and as a youth adopted farming as his life work. He was engaged in farming successfully until his fortieth year, and is still the owner of a large and highly productive property near Herman, for which he paid at the rate of $35 an acre, while this land is now worth $300 an acre. When he gave up active participation in farming work he identified himself with
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the produce business at Herman, and continued therein for eleven years, coming to Blair in July, 1918, and associating himself as clerk with the produce business of Mr. Wright. In 1920 he took the management of the Valley Poultry Company of Blair, Nebraska. He is regarded as one of the substantial men of his community and as a citizen who backs worthy measures with his means, abilities and time. Mr. Schafersman is a member of the Lutheran Church, as is his wife, who belongs to the Rebekahs and the Knights and Ladies of Security, of which her husband is also a member. He is also an Odd Fellow. In civic life he has taken an active and prominent part. As a democrat he was elected to the office of road overseer for nine years, subsequently serving four years as mayor of Herman. He has been successful in his affairs and has varied interests, among them a directorship in the Farmers State Bank.
In the spring of 1896 Mr. Schafersman was united in marriage with Miss Reka Richter, who was born in Washington County, Nebraska, a daughter of Herman Richter, one of the early farmers of the county. To this union there has come one daughter, Opal, who is attending the public school.
E. S. BEATY. It is nearly forty years since E. S. Beaty came to the Blair community, arriving here with practically no assets except his skill and experience in his trade. He has been building bridges and doing other contracting and construction work ever since, is active head of the Beaty Contracting Company, and is widely known as a most substantial business man and one whose success is the product of his own energies and initiative.
Mr. Beaty was born in Massachusetts December 10, 1855, a son of J. J. and Mary F. (Snowden) Beaty. His mother was a native of Boston and his father of Nova Scotia, and they were married in Medford, Massachusetts. After a number of years in Massachusetts the family emigrated to the Northwest in 1857, settling in Minnesota Territory. J. J. Beaty developed a pioneer homestead in that territory, though in the east he had been a carpenter and contractor. When the Civil war came on he enlisted in Company E of the Eleventh Minnesota Infantry, and served as second lieutenant during the last ten months of the war. He was also a county surveyor in Minnesota and held other minor offices, was a stanch republican in politics, a Mason and a member of the Episcopal Church. Of a family of twelve children eight are still living, E. S. being the sixth in age.
E. S. Beaty was an infant when the family moved to Minnesota, and his first recollections were of that pioneer country. He acquired a dis- trict school education, grew up on a farm, but also learned the carpenter's trade, and early in life began taking independent contracts.
On moving to Blair in 1883 Mr. Beaty was for eleven years foreman of railroad bridge construction. He then set up in business as an inde- pendent contractor, building bridges for railroads and the county, and finally incorporated the Beaty Contracting Company, with a capital of $25,000. This is a family corporation and Mr. Beaty is now to a large extent retired, having turned the active management of the business over to his son.
He married in 1884, in Iowa, Miss Lucretia Maun. She is a native of Nebraska and her father, John Maun, was a Nebraskan of prominence, a thoroughly well educated man who was in the newspaper business, an Indian agent, a druggist, and spent his last years on a farm. He had been educated for the Catholic priesthood. Mr. and Mrs. Beaty have
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Ougene WBurdis
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two children. The son Mark, now in business with his father, is a grad- uate of the high school and of the Armour Institute of Technology at Chicago. The daughter, Enid, is a graduate of the Blair High School and of the Rockford Woman's College in Illinois, and is the wife of Fred Rankin of Sioux City, Iowa. Mr. Rankin served as a lieutenant in the World war, having been trained at Camp Grant and also at the School of Fire at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Mrs. Beaty and her children are Catholics. Mr. Beaty is a prominent Mason, having filled all the chairs in the lodge, past high priest of the Royal Arch Chapter, past eminent commander of the Knights Templar, and is also a Mystic Shriner. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and a republican in politics. In 1900 Mr. Beaty built the beautiful home in Blair where he and his family reside, and he also owns some valuable farm lands in Washington County.
EUGENE W. BURDIC. The value in business of concentrating one's forces upon a given line of activity, of correctly gauging its importance among the needs of the world, and keeping pace with the ever-changing conditions surrounding it, is confirmed anew in the success of E. W. Bur- dic, vice president of the Plateau State Bank of Herman. A resident of Washington County since 1877, in his earlier years he was interested in farming, merchandise and stock shipping, but for many years has centered his attention in financial matters.
Mr. Burdic was born November 16, 1861, in Steuben County, Indiana, and was a lad of fifteen years when brought to Nebraska in 1877 by his parents, Fred and Ann Burdic, natives of Indiana, who settled in Washington County, near Herman. There the father rounded out a long and honorable career in the pursuits of agriculture, and died at the age of seventy-four years, highly esteemed and respected. The widow still survives. There were four children in the family: R. L., a resident of Ashland, Oregon; E. W .; Mrs. Maude Hasbrook of Hood River, Oregon ; and Alva, who is deceased.
E. W. Burdic received his education in the public school at Herman, and when about twenty-three years of age began farming on his own account. After two years spent in agricultural activities, he turned his attention to merchandising and the shipping of stock, pursuits which he followed for eighteen years at Herman. At the end of that time he purchased an interest in the Plateau State Bank, of which institution he has been vice president ever since, and to the success of which he has contributed materially by his good judgment, foresight and natural business ability. Mr. Burdic is a Knight Templar Mason and Shriner and a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In political matters he considers the character of the aspirants for office and is not bound by party lines. He has rendered efficient and con- scientious service to his community in public positions for many years, having been for fourteen years a member of the Board of County Com- missioners, a member of the Board of School Directors for upwards of twenty years, and a member of the town board for a long period.
Mr. Burdic was united in marriage March 12, 1885, with Miss Cora Rose, who was born at Omaha, Nebraska, but reared in Washington County, a daughter of S. C. and Mattie Rose, the latter of whom makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Burdic, Mr. Rose being deceased. In the Rose family there were five children: George, Edward, Eugene, Cora and Jessie. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Burdic: Earl, Lloyd, Neil and Gretchen.
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