USA > Nebraska > Dodge County > History of Dodge and Washington Counties, Nebraska, and their people, Volume II > Part 9
USA > Nebraska > Washington County > History of Dodge and Washington Counties, Nebraska, and their people, Volume II > Part 9
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The year 1878 recorded the marriage of Doctor Smith to Miss Cora M. Albertson, who was born in Colfax County, this state, a daughter of Alexander Albertson, who came to Nebraska Territory in 1856 and became one of the earliest settlers of Colfax County, where he took up land and instituted the development of a farm, his death having there occurred in 1866. Doctor and Mrs. Smith became the parents of two sons who survive the loved wife and mother, who passed to the life eternal in December, 1906, and whose memory is revered by all who came within the compass of her gracious influence. Victor B.,
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the elder son, resides in the City of Omaha, where he is associated with the Omaha Bee, one of the leading newspapers of the state; Floyd A. is in the automobile business in Fremont.
GUY H. TEETER is identified with a line of industrial enterprise with which his father has been prominently concerned for many years and he is now secretary of the North Bend Milling Company, which owns and operates a thoroughly modern merchant mill at North Bend, Dodge County, his father being president of the company and John A. Emerson, the treasurer, the latter being individually mentioned in the paragraphs that immediately follow this sketch.
Guy H. Teeter was born at Hampton, Iowa, on the 5th day of April, 1885, and is a son of John and Elizabeth (Watson) Teeter, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Sheffield, England. The father was actively associated with milling operations for more than sixty years, and though he is now living virtually retired at North Bend, he is still president of the North Bend Milling Company. He was secretary and treasurer of the company until the death of his honored coadjutor, the late William Emerson, and upon the death of the latter, in 1913, he succeeded to the presidency of the company. It is gratifying to record that the active management of the substantial business is now vested in the sons of the original partners. John Teeter had broad and varied experience in connection with milling operations, he having served an apprenticeship in the old Star & Crescent Mills in the City of Chicago, having worked in the dressing down of the buhr stones in mills operated under the old-time system, at Minneapolis, Minnesota, prior to the adoption of the roller process in that great center of the flour manufacturing industry, and as a skilled workman at his trade he held responsible positions in turn at Waterloo and Cedar Falls, Iowa. Later he was for fourteen years manager of the operation of the Wahoo Mills, at Wahoo, Nebraska, and in 1902. he became allied with the late William Emerson in the ownership and operation of the mills at North Bend, under the present corporate title of the North Bend Milling Company. These mills have a capacity for the daily out- put of 250 barrels of flour, steam power is used and the products are of the highest grade, with the result that a substantial and prosperous merchant-milling business is controlled by the company.
Guy H. Teeter gained his youthful education principally in the public schools of Nebraska, and after having availed himself of the advantages of the high school at Beatrice, judicial center of Gage County, he attended the University of Nebraska for two years. He has been actively associated with the North Bend Milling Company since 1909, and prior to that year had been for four years employed by the firm of Nye, Snyder, Fowler Grain Company, which operates the largest terminal grain elevator in the City of Omaha. He has been secretary of the North Bend Milling Company since 1913. He is a member of the directorate of the Nebraska Millers' Association, is a republican in politics, and his Masonic affiliation includes membership in that jocund order, the Mystic Shrine.
JOHN A. EMERSON, whose technical and executive powers have proved of marked value in connection with the operations of the North Bend Milling Company, at North Bend, Dodge County, is now serving as treasurer of this representative industrial corporation and is one of the progressive business men of the younger generation in this part of the state.
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Mr. Emerson was born at LaPorte City, Iowa, on the 23d of August, 1881, and is a son of William and Alfretta (Smith) Emerson, the former of whom was born in England and the latter in the State of Pennsylvania. At Waterloo, Iowa, as a young man, William Emerson learned the milling trade, and later he traveled somewhat extensively as an expert miller in the service of the Barnard & Leas Manufacturing Company, of Moline, Illionis. Finally he became associated with J. H. Patterson in establishing the milling business at North Bend, Nebraska, under the title of the North Bend Milling Company, and he continued as president of this corporation until his death, in 1913. He was a man of marked ability in the practical work of his chosen vocation, as well as in connection with the directing of commercial policies, his having been a secure vantage place as one of the prominent business men and honored and influential citizens of North Bend, where his widow still resides. He was a republican in politics and held membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, as does also his widow. Of their children John A., of this review, is the eldest; Howard is employed by the North Bend Milling Company; Harry E. is vice president of the company ; Ruth is the wife of George Snyder, a prosperous farmer in Colorado; and Joseph and Paul are stockholders in the North Bend Milling Company.
John A. Emerson is found aligned as a supporter of the cause of the republican party, holds membership in the Presbyterian Church, is affiliated with the Masonic Lodge and is recognized by the milling fraternity as one of the leading hard wheat millers of his state.
H. O. BERGQUIST. A prominent and prosperous member of the farming community of Dodge' County, H. O. Bergquist, of Logan Township, is in very truth a native, and to the manner born, his birth having occurred May 22, 1876, on the farm which he now occupies, and which he is managing with such marked ability and success.
Oscar A. Bergquist, his father, was born and educated in Sweden, and early in life came with his parents, two brothers and two sisters to the United States, and for a short time thereafter lived in Illinois. In 1867 the father, who was a farmer by occupation, came with his family to Dodge County, Nebraska, making the long, tedious trip with wagons. Taking up a homestead claim in Logan Township, on section 24, he lived for a few seasons in a dugout, as did nearly all of the pioneers at first, and began the improvement of a farm. His earnest labors were well rewarded, and on the farm which he redeemed he spent the remainder of his life, passing away at the age of sixty-six years. His wife, whose name before marriage was Nellie Nelson, survived him, and is now a resident of Hooper, this county.
Brought up on the parental homestead, where his entire life has been spent, H. O. Bergquist began as soon as old enough to assist in the manual labor of the home farm, and since assuming its management has met with assured success, his improvements being of an excellent character, while everything about the premises bears evidence of the thrift and good judgment of the proprietor. Mr. Bergquist is a general farmer and stock raiser, making a specialty of breeding Polled Shorthorn cattle. Mr. Bergquist has also acquired considerable other property, being a stockholder in the Lion Bonding Company, of Omaha, and in the Logan Valley Bank, of Uehling. Mr. Bergquist is a Lutheran in religion, and acquired his business education in the Lutheran College after attending the Fremont Normal School.
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Mr. Bergquist married, in 1906, Edith Tunberg, the oldest daughter of Frederick and Matilda Tunberg, Knox County farmers, who reared a family of eleven children. Mr. and Mrs. Bergquist have two children, Harold and Hazel, both attending school.
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C. J. ScHow has been a resident of Dodge County since he was a boy of five years, has imbibed deeply of the progressiveness for which Nebraska stands forth most distinctly and in his career as a farmer and stock-grower he has achieved the success that marks him as one of the representative exponents of these basic industries in the county. He continued to be actively associated with his father in farm operations until the latter's death, and since that time has independently carried forward the activities of the fine farm of 292 acres, which they together accumulated and improved and which is attractively situated in section 25, Maple Township. The buildings and other improvements on this farm estate offer little suggestion of conditions that existed when the father here established his home in a rude dugout of the type common to the pioneer days, and the remarkable changes that have occurred, but offer evidence of the splendid rewards which Nebraska pays to those who earnestly and industriously call forth returns from the willing soil of this fine commonwealth.
C. J. Schow was born in Denmark, April 28, 1871, and is a son of John and Catherine Schow, who continued their residence in their native land until 1876, when they immigrated to America and estab- lished their home in Dodge County, Nebraska, where they passed the remainder of their lives, the father having died at the age of sixty-nine years and the mother having passed away when sixty-eight years of age. Both were devout communicants of the Lutheran Church. As previously noted, C. J. Schow was a lad of five years when his parents came to Dodge County, and here he was reared on the pioneer farm, his father having at first rented eighty acres of land and then having purchased the property, to which he and his son continued to add until they developed the present fine farm of 292 acres now owned by the latter. Hans J. Schow, a brother two years older than C. J., lived at the parental home until his death at the age. of twenty. The first team which John J. Schow owned and used in connection with the work of the farm was a yoke of oxen, but these slow-moving animals soon gave place to horses, while today Mr. Schow uses the best of modern facilities in the varied operations of his farm. C. J. Schow gained his early education in the schools of Dodge County, and that in later years he has taken loyal interest in the public schools of the county is shown by his having served six years as a member of the school board of his district. He is a democrat in his political adherency and he served two years as treasurer of Maple Township, a preferment indicative of the unqualified confidence and esteem in which he is held in his home community. Mr. Schow has been a member of the' board of directors of the Farmers' Union Co-operative Association of Nickerson, Nebraska, since it began business in 1913 and he is now president of the organization. He is also president of the Peoples Co-operative Store of Fremont, one of the leading business houses of the city at present doing a mercantile trade of $200,000 annually.
At Fremont, this county, in 1895, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Schow to Miss Christine Eidam, who was born and reared in Dodge County, where her father, Casper Eidam, was an early settler. Mr. and Mrs. Schow have three children: Lydia is the wife of Harry
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Christensen, who is engaged in farming in Dodge County; and Harry and Marie remain at the parental home. Both C. J. Schow and his wife are earnest communicants of the Lutheran Church.
OTTO A. LANGHORST. The Langhorst family became identified with Fontanelle a few years after the establishment of the colony here and the Langhorst farm near Fontanelle is one of the oldest places under continuous ownership in that community. Representing the second generation of the family in Washington County, Otto A. Langhorst has spent all his life here and for a number of years was a leading mer- chant at Fontanelle, but has latterly found an interesting and profitable vocation as a grower of fancy poultry.
He was born at Fontanelle November 20, 1874, son of Otto and Mary (Brunkhorst) Langhorst. His parents were natives of Germany. The family established themselves at Fontanelle in 1865, when Otto Langhorst bought the land comprising the old homestead. Many years ago he set out a good orchard, and also carried on an extensive enter- prise as a farmer and stock raiser. He has lived retired since the age of seventy-six. His good wife, who was born in 1845, died in 1913. Both were supporting members of the Lutheran Church. Special men- tion made of them on other pages of this volume.
Otto A. Langhorst attended the common schools of Washington County and took a one-year commercial course in the Midland College. After some years of general farming experience he became a clerk in the mercantile house of Sprick & Burkheimer at Fontanelle, later bought out the firm, and altogether continued in business for fourteen years. He finally sold to Block & Flaton, who had previously been associated with him. About the time he left the store, Mr. Langhorst started the development of his noted flock of rose comb Rhode Island Red chickens, and has been steadily at that business for eleven years, his farm being a highly specialized industry.
In 1902 he married Miss Emma Sprick, a member of the prominent Sprick family of the Fontanelle community, her father, Henry Sprick, having been one of the founders of Fontanelle of whom special men- tion is given on other pages of this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Langhorst have four children: Marion, attending high school at Fremont ; Mildred, Margaret and Gerald, all at home. The family are active members of the Lutheran Church. Mr. Langhorst is venerable consul of the Modern Woodmen of America and in politics is a republican.
GUY B. BAIRD, D. D. S., was formerly one of the reputable dental surgeons of Dodge County, where he enjoyed a well-earned practice of large proportions. He is a carefully trained and skillful operator and one who gives conscientious service to his patients. Doctor Baird was born on a farm in Floyd County, Indiana, in 1873, a son of William H. H. and Nancy C. (Smith) Baird. William H. H. Baird was born in Kentucky, and his wife was born in Illinois, and they were married in Indiana. Two brothers of William H. H. Baird, Wesley and Thomas Baird, were Confederate soldiers, but he was a Union man, this division in the family being but one of the innumerable instances during that unhappy conflict when brother was opposed to brother, and each one was actuated by the highest of principles.
In 1889 William H. H. Baird brought his family to Nebraska, home- steading in Box Butte County, and remaining on his claim for two years. He then moved to a farm near Central City, Nebraska, where
MR. AND MRS. OTTO A. LANGHORST
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both he and his wife later passed away, having been successful farmers. In religious faith he was a Methodist, and she a Presbyterian. Made a Mason in Illinois in 1884, William H. H. Baird rose in his lodge and held a number of offices during a long period of years. In politics he was a republican. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Baird were as follows: Mrs. J. F. Wallace, a widow of Central City, Nebraska ; G. B. Baird, who was second in order of birth; and Frank, who is a farmer in the vicinity of Central City.
Doctor Baird attended the public schools of Horace, Illinois, and Chapman, Nebraska, and then spent four years on a Nebraska farm. He matriculated at the Omaha Dental College of Omaha, Nebraska, in 1897, and then in the fall of 1900 entered the dental department of the Northwestern University, at Chicago, Illinois, and was graduated therefrom in 1901. On May 1 of that year he established himself in practice at Fremont, and remained there recognized as one of the leaders of his profession in Dodge County until his removal to Los Angeles.
On October 25, 1911, Doctor Baird was united in marriage with Bertha A. Rine, born on a farm north of Fremont, a daughter of Philip S. Rine, a prominent banker of Fremont. They have no children. Doctor and Mrs. Baird are Christian Scientists.
In 1894 Doctor Baird was made a Mason and has risen until he is now a Knight Templar and Shriner Mason. He had held all of the offices in the Blue Lodge, and was eminent commander of Fremont Commandery in 1906, and he also belongs to the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks.
For a number of years he has been connected with the various societies of his profession, and has held all of the offices in the Nebraska State Dental Association, including that of president in 1918 and 1919, and he also belongs to the National Dental Association. For a number of years he has been a member of the Woodbury Study Club. A close student, Doctor Baird has taken up much post graduate work under Dr. E. D. Campbell, of Kansas City, Missouri, and a course under Dr. Rupert E. Hall, of Chicago, Illinois, completing the last in 1919. During the late war Doctor Baird did considerable missionary work in dentistry in the various states from New York to California, and he is extremely well known all over Nebraska. His specialty is gold fillings and Prosthodontia, although he does a large amount of oral surgery. A man interested in civic betterment, he was active in the Commercial Club, while he found congenial social diversion and com- panionship in the Country Club.
At present Doctor Baird is located in Los Angeles, California, spe- cializing in Prosthodontia.
P. J. EWALD. The almost universal use of automobiles by the gen- eral public has brought into being a new line of business within recent years, that of providing an efficient service in the way of repair work, the handling of accessories and the selling of standard makes of these cars. Hooper, like every other community in the country, has its repre- sentatives in this business, and one of them who has been more than ordinarily successful because of his capability and probity, is P. J. Ewald, senior member of the firm of Ewald & Schaub.
P. J. Ewald was born at McCloud, Minnesota, a son of Martin and Anna (Kulbflesh) Ewald, natives of Denmark and Illinois, respectively. Mrs. Ewald died in 1911, aged sixty-two years, but Mr. Ewald is still
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living, making his home in Minnesota. When he came to the United States in young manhood, he located in Minnesota and there was engaged in general farming and dairying until he retired. He and his wife had twelve children, all of whom are living. In her religious belief Mrs. Ewald was a member of the German Methodist Church. Mr. Ewald is a thirty-second degree Mason. He never definitely connected himself with any political party, but voted independently.
P. J. Ewald attended the public schools and was graduated from the high school course. After leaving school Mr. Ewald spent five years with a dredging company, and then for a time engaged in contracting. In 1911 he came to Hooper and was employed by Tunberg & Ruty as floorman and repairer of automobiles. After a year Mr. Ewald bought a half interest in the business, and eighteen months later became the sole proprietor. Subsequently Mr. Daw bought an interest and remained in the business for over a year, when he sold to Mr. Schaub, and the present firm of Ewald & Schaub was organized. The firm represent the Ford and Republic cars, carry a complete line of accessories and do a general repairing business, and have a fine and constantly growing trade among people who appreciate good service.
In 1913 Mr. Ewald was united in marriage with Louisa Schaub. A sketch of her family is to be found elsewhere in this work. Mr. Ewald is a Mason and his wife belongs to the Eastern Star, and she is also a member of Grace Lutheran Church, of Hooper. Like his father, Mr. Ewald is an independent voter. He is a man widely and favorably known and has always taken an intelligent interest in civic matters, although never willing to go into politics as an office seeker.
HERMAN H. F. WATERMAN. The manufacturing interests of a sec- tion of country are exceedingly important and their healthy growth an indication of public prosperity. Directly connected with the growth are the men whose knowledge, judgment, foresight and energy are necessary in the organization and maintenance of these enterprises. Capital with no wise directing hand would be useless and the results of unregulated effort would be unsubstantial. Especially important are those industries which are in any way connected with building activities for the problems of providing proper housing facilities are increased when the normal output of building material is disturbed. Herman H. F. Waterman, of Hooper, brick manufacturer, is one of the men of Dodge County who has won his way step by step to his present position in his community, through industry, natural aptitude and per- severing effort.
Herman H. F. Waterman was born at Fontanelle, Nebraska, in 1886, a son of Herman and Caroline (Nolte) Waterman, natives of Germany. Herman Waterman was a brick maker, beginning his apprenticeship to the trade when only fourteen years old, in Germany. He came to the United States with his father, and they located in Washington County, Nebraska, where he established a brick plant and operated it at Fon- tanelle for five years. Moving to Scribner, Nebraska, he bought the plant owned by Mr. Romburg and conducted it for five years, and then he came to Hooper, and in 1893 bought the brick yard at this point, then owned by John Heimrick, who had established it. At that time there were four kilns, but the plant has been enlarged so that there are now ten, all of which are in operation, and the capacity of the plant is 50,000 brick per day. Associated with Mr. Waterman in this business are his son and John Edelmeier. The plant including the land covers
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157 acres, and shipments are made to Wyoming, South Dakota, Iowa and different parts of Nebraska.
Herman H. F. Waterman was married in 1909 to Emma Bayer, born in Dodge County, Nebraska, a daughter of Henry Bayer, now a resident of Omaha, Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs. Waterman have one child, namely, Melba, who is attending school. Mr. Waterman is an inde- pendent voter. Fraternally he belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Knights of Pythias. Both he and his wife belong to .. Grace Lutheran Church, of Hooper.
Herman H. F. Waterman is a Dodge County man, and received his educational training in Hooper High School, Fremont Business College and Boyles College of Omaha, where he completed his commercial course. The brick yards are conducted as an incorporated concern with Herman Waterman as president; John Edelmeier as general manager, and Herman H. F. Waterman as secretary and treasurer.
JOHN J. HANSEN. To a stranger in Nebraska perhaps the finely cultivated farms and sleek stock might not convey the lesson taught one who was conversant with the history of agricultural development in these western states, or the proof this advancement affords of the fine quality of the character of the citizens who have brought this about. While it is now many years since Dodge and Washington counties were included in the class of pioneer communities, yet that day is not so far distant that men still in the very prime of life were participants in the most strenuous period of this constructive development. Perhaps because of the vivid contrast afforded between those days and the present ones, these same men are able to appreciate what they and their contemporaries have accomplished, and to look forward into the future and see that the time is not so far distant when a much greater advance will be shown along all lines.
One of the constructive agriculturists of Dodge County, whose finely cultivated rural property is the homestead of his family for two gen- erations, is John J. Hansen of section 27, Maple Township.
John J. Hansen was born on this farm on August 3, 1878, a son of Hans and Ellen Hansen, natives of Sweden, who came to the United States in 1852. For a period after reaching this country Hans Hansen worked at different jobs as he found them, but finally came West to Nebraska and bought forty acres of land, later increasing his holdings until he owned 160 acres at the time of his demise. His widow survives him and makes her home at Fremont.
John J. Hansen was reared on his present farm and learned under his father's careful supervision to be a practical farmer, and in his agricultural ventures he has been eminently successful. For the past ten years he has been conducting the homestead and doing general farm- ing and stockraising, averaging forty head of cattle of a good grade but no thoroughbred strains.
In 1912 Mr. Hansen was united in marriage with Miss Minnie Harnes, who was born in Dodge County. Mr. and Mrs. Hansen have three children, namely: Mabel, Victor and Merl. In his political sentiments Mr. Hansen is an independent republican, but he has never sought to come before the public for consideration for public honors, his time being too much occupied with his agricultural work. For some years he has maintained membership with the Modern Woodmen of America, and finds congenial companionship among his lodge brothers. A man of solid and dependable characteristics, Mr. Hansen is an admir-
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