History of Gage County, Nebraska; a narrative of the past, with special emphasis upon the pioneer period of the county's history, its social, commercial, educational, religious, and civic development from the early days to the present time, Part 105

Author: Dobbs, Hugh Jackson, 1849-
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western Publishing and Engraving Company
Number of Pages: 1120

USA > Nebraska > Gage County > History of Gage County, Nebraska; a narrative of the past, with special emphasis upon the pioneer period of the county's history, its social, commercial, educational, religious, and civic development from the early days to the present time > Part 105

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LOUIS KLOEPPER. - In Clatonia town- ship Mr. Kloepper is the owner of a well im- proved farm of one hundred and sixty acres and he has long been numbered among the substantial farmers of the county that has been his home from childhood and to which he came with his parents prior to the admission of Nebraska to statehood. In later years he has given special attention to the breeding of red polled Durham cattle and Duroc-Jersey swine, and in this department of farm enter- prise he has been notably successful.

Mr. Kloepper was born near Portmouth,

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Ohio, on the 31st of March, 1862, and is a son of Henry and Mary (Reller) Kloepper, con- cerning whose nine children the following brief record may be given: Henry is a resi- dent of Holt county, this state; John is de- ceased; William is living retired in the city of Lincoln, Nebraska; Mrs. Lena Gutzmer and her husband reside in Lincoln, Nebraska ; Herman is a resident of Clatonia township; Charles is deceased ; Louis, of this review, was the next in order of birth; Frank is deceased ; and Mrs. Anna Sable is a resident of the state of Kansas. The father was born and reared in Hanover, Germany, the year of his birth having been 1835, and he was a young man when he came to America and established his residence in Ohio. There he followed various lines of work until 1866, when he set forth with his family for Nebraska Territory. Pro- ceeding to St. Louis, the family came by steam- boat up the Missouri river to Nebraska City, and from that point the journey was continued by team and wagon to Martel, Lancaster county. There the family remained one year and the father then took up a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres in what is now Clato- nia township, Gage county. This land, consti- tuting the southeast quarter of Section 33, he broke up by means of ox teams, and the orig- inal family home was a primitive dugout of the type used by many of the other pioneer set- tlers, Nebraska City at that time being the nearest market, and a week or more being re- quired to make the trip to and from that trad- ing point with the ox team. Henry Kloepper and his brave and devoted wife passed through the hardships and trials incidental to droughts and grasshopper scourges in the early days, but looked with hope and confidence to the future and finally found their efforts crowned with peace and prosperity. Mr. Kloepper continued as one of the honored pioneer farm- ers of the county until his death, in 1895, and both he and his wife were earnest members of the German Methodist church. Mrs. Kloep- per was born in Germany and was a young girl when she made the voyage to America and joined her brother in Ohio, where her mar- riage was later solemnized. She was nearly

seventy years of age at the time of her death, in 1901.

Louis Kloepper was about four years old at the time of the family removal to Nebraska and was reared to maturity on the pioneer farm in Clatonia township, his early education having been gained in the primitive log-cabin school house and by instruction received in the home of John Henry Steinmeyer. As a boy he assisted in keeping the oxen in the fur- row while his father was plowing and with increasing capacity he assumed his full share of the labors of the farm. In 1887, after hav- ing previously farmed on land rented from his father, he purchased from the latter his pres- ent well improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres, and thus he has continued a resi- dent of Clatonia township since his boyhood, the while he has won success and independ- ence through his well directed industry. He is a Republican in politics, is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America and he and his wife are active members of the German Methodist church in Clatonia township, he being a trustee of the same.

In August, 1887, Mr. Kloepper wedded Miss Carrie Menke, daughter of the late Henry Menke, to whom a memoir is dedicated on other pages of this volume. Mrs. Kloepper was born near Portsmouth, Ohio, February 9. 1866, and was a child at the time of her par- ents' removal to Gage county, Nebraska. Arthur, firstborn of the four children of Mr. and Mrs. Kloepper, died at the age of twenty years ; Lulu remains at the parental home, as does also Norma; and Jennie died at the age of two years. In 1907 Mr. and Mrs. Kloep- per adopted two children, Henry and Grace, whom they are rearing as their own and who accord to them true filial affection.

RAYMOND LANCASTER. - The fam- ily tree of Raymond Lancaster is rooted in the mother country of England, from which the grandparents migrated to America and set- tled in Macoupin county, Illinois. The fam- ily tree has spread out amongst the American born to such an extent that it is now more American than English in its branches. Ray-

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mond Lancaster is a son of William and Mary (Hovey) Lancaster. William Lancaster was a son of Frank and Harriet Lancaster, and was a lad of six years when his parents came from England to this country. The parents used their talents and energies in winning to fertility the willing soil of Macoupin county, Illinois, in which state they passed the remain- der of their lives. They left their sons and daughters to play equally useful parts on the stage of life's activities. Their son William married Mary Hovey, who was born in Massa- chusetts and came to Illinois with her par- ents. William and Mary (Hovey) Lancaster became the parents of seven children, five of whom are living. Mr. and Mrs. Lancaster continued their residence in Illinois until their death.

Raymond Lancaster was born June 21, 1865, in Macoupin county, Illinois. There he attended the district schools, and early began to assist his father in the work of buying and feeding large herds of cattle for the market. When he started out from the parental home he fol- lowed the same line of enterprise in an inde- pendent way. In 1887 he came to Gage county, Nebraska, where, in company with his brother Edward, he engaged in feeding cat- tle, near Holmesville. In 1900 he purchased two hundred acres of land, in Section 20, Rockford township, and here he has since successfully given his time and attention to general farming.

In Gage county, in 1890, was solemnized the marriage of Raymond Lancaster to Miss Net- tie Cripe, who was born April 6, 1868, in Ma- coupin county, Illinois. She is a daughter of Adam and Susan (Troyer) Cripe, who are residents of Rockford township. Mr. and Mrs. Lancaster have four children: William A. is married and has two children, Dean and Everett ; Ruth is at the parental home; Leta is the wife of George L. Harris, farmer of Rockford township; and Arless is at home.

Mr. Lancaster and family are members of the Brethern church, and Mr. Lancaster votes the Democratic ticket. He has never sought political honors, his time being devoted en- tirely to his farming operations.

S. B. AYRES, a veteran and popular loco- motive engineer on the line of the Union Pa- cific Railroad, maintains his home in the city of Beatrice and is familiarly known to his host of friends as "Curly" Ayres. He has the distinction at the present time of being the only living witness of the historic Indian massacre at Fort Kearney, Nebraska, and his reminiscences relative to other incidents of the pioneer days are specially graphic and inter- esting.

Mr. Ayres was born in Wyoming county, Pennsylvania, on the 4th of August, 1848, and is a son of J. L. and Patience M. (Vin- cent ) Ayres, both natives of the state of New York and both of staunch Scottish lineage, both families having been founded in New England in the early colonial period of our national history. After their marriage the parents of the subject of this review removed from the old Empire state to Pennsylvania, where they remained until coming to the west as pioneers, the father having attained to the patriarchal age of ninety-three years and the mother having been eighty-six years of age at the time of her death. J. L. Ayres became one of the very early settlers of Gage county, Nebraska, where he established his residence in 1857 and where he obtained one hundred and sixty acres of land in recognition of his gallant service as a soldier in the Mexican war. He remained on his frontier farm about eighteen years and then removed to Beatrice, where he and his wife passed the remainder of their long and worthy lives, both having been members of the Methodist Episcopal church and he having been first a Whig and later a Democrat in politics. Of the seven children four are living: A. W. is a pros- perous rancher and cattle-grower near Doug- las, Wyoming ; George is a hardware merchant at Deadwood, South Dakota; S. B. is the im- mediate subject of this sketch; and Mrs. Amanda Reed is the one surving daughter.

S. B. Ayres was a lad of nine years when the family home was established in Gage county, and in the pioneer schools he obtained his educational discipline thereafter, it having been his privilege to walk a distance of four

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and one-half miles from his home to attend school at Blue Springs. As a youth he be- came a driver of a stage on one of the old- time routes, and for some time he was in the employ of the quartermaster's department of the government service. He went farther to the west and for fifteen years was engaged in teaming and other occupations, he having been only sixteen years of age when he left the parental home to assume his independent activities. In 1872 Mr. Ayres identified him- self with railway service, by taking a position as locomotive firemen on the Union Pacific. In the following year his ability led to his ad- vancement to the position of engineer and dur- ing the long intervening years he has con- tinued as a locomotive engineer on the lines of the Union Pacific, with a record that re- flects honor upon him and that marks him as one of the veterans in the employ of this great railroad company. He still owns his father's old homestead farm, in Island Grove township, and in his youth he gained wide and varied experience in connection with fron- tier life. In this connection it may be noted that he was the second person to be engaged as mail carrier in this part of Nebraska, he having taken the mail on horseback from Ne- braska City to Beatrice and also between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Beatrice, and to White Cloud, Kansas. He was in close touch with the various Indian troubles of 1864, and with the Apache outbreak in Wyoming, in 1869, besides having been, as previously intimated, a witness of the Indian massacre at Fort Kearney. He established his residence in Beatrice in 1884, and in 1890 he wedded Miss Lucy Uter, who was born in Ripley county, Indiana, a daughter of Otto and Hannah (Clark) Uter. Mr. Uter was born and reared in Germany and upon coming to America he settled in Indiana, having learned in his na- tive land the trade of harnessmaker. For a time he was employed at the Long View In- sane Asylum, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and finally he came with his family to the west and be- came a pioneer farmer in Marshall county, Kansas, where he and his wife passed the rest of their lives. Thomas Clark, father of Mrs.

Uter, was born on the island of St. Helena, and became well acquainted with the great Napoleon when that historic man was held in captivity at St. Helena. Mr. and Mrs. Ayres have two children : Vern Uter Ayres, who was born May 24, 1891, was graduated in the Beat- rice high school, attended the University of Nebraska one year and at the time of this writing he is in one of the training camps in which the flower of young American manhood is being prepared for service in the great European war. He is now at Talliaferro Field, No. 1, Fort Worth, Texas. He has been twice promoted, having won his com- mission as lieutenant at Fort Sheridan, near Chicago, Illinois, and he is now an aeroplane instructor at Talliaferro Field. Prior to en- tering the government military service he had been for two years a student in the Chicago Medical College. Ruth was graduated in the Beatrice high school, as a member of the class of 1917, and remains at the parental home. Mr. and Mrs. Ayres and their daugh- ter are members of the Christian church.

In politics Mr. Ayres is a Democrat, and he has been long affiliated with the Masonic fra- ternity, his local membership being in the blue lodge and chapter in Beatrice and the chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, in which his wife served eight years as treasurer. He has been an active member of the Brother- hood of Locomotive Engineers since 1878 and has passed the various official chairs in the same.

FRANK WANDERSEE. - The home farm of Frank Wandersee presents the ap- pearance of a little village, and one can hardly realize the changes that have taken place since he and his wife came here, thirty-nine years ago. His life record emphazises what may be accomplished by a willingness to work and a determination to succeed.

Mr. Wandersee was born in the province of Pomerania, Germany, November 10, 1853. His father, Martin Wandersee, passed his en- tire life in Germany. Mr. Wandersee does not remember ever having seen his mother nor does he know her family name. He was

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reared and educated in his native land and when nineteen years of age came to the United States, sailing from Bremen and land- ing in New York city, after a voyage of eleven days. His wordly possessions were only a few dollars, and it was necessary for him to find employment that would yield him a living. He made his way to Rochester, New York, and for five years thereafter he was employed at farm labor, in the meanwhile learning the language and customs of the country of his adoption. In 1877 he made his way west- ward to Nebraska, and here for two years he worked at whatever he could find to do, at Beatrice. An old settler, John Ellis, owned considerable land in Gage county, and he pre- vailed upon Mr. Wandersee to purchase two hundred acres in Section 17, Sicily township. This Mr. Wandersee did in the fall of 1878, and in the spring of 1879, he established him- self on the farm. The only improvements at that time were a little upright board shanty - made of native cottonwood lumber, the logs having been sawed at Blue Springs - and a prairie stable made of poles set in the ground and covered with hay. Some time later he sold forty acres of this land, but in a few years he bought an additional eighty acres, so that to-day he is the owner of two hundred and forty acres of excellent land. He raises the cereals best adapted to the soil and climate and in his pastures are found a good grade of cattle, each branch of his business yielding him a substantial income.

At Beatrice, in 1878, Mr. Wandersee mar- ried Miss Caroline Wandersee, who was born in the same German province as was her hus- band, her natal day being July 31, 1850. She was reared in her native land and came to America two years after Mr. Wandersee crossed the ocean. She has been with her husband all of these intervening years, shar- ing in the trials and hardships of the early days as well as in the hopes realized and the pleasures that have come to them.

Mr. and Mrs. Wandersee have become the parents of eight children, as follows: Frank H., who married Miss Susan Lewis, is a farmer in Sicily township; Henry A. married

Miss Augusta Kauffman and is a farmer in Kansas; Edward, Nellie, Ben and Annie all remain at the parental home; Albert died at the age of two and one-half years ; and Emma, who became the wife of J. B. West, died in June, 1917, leaving four children, one of whom, a winsome little child, is in the home of the maternal grandparents. Mr. and Mrs. Wandesee were reared in the Lutheran faith and belong to the church of that denomination at Beatrice.

In Sicily township are left but few of the old settlers who were here when Mr. and Mrs. Wandersee settled on the new farm. The success that has come to this sterling pioneer couple was won through their own efforts, as they started out empty-handed. They are folk of genuine personal worth and are held in high esteem by all who know them.

JOHN H. HELMKE is one of the sub- stantial and honored citizens of Gage county who has accumulated in Nebraska a large and valuable landed estate. In this county he is the owner of four hundred acres of well im- proved and productive land in Highland town- ship, including his attractive home place, in Section 29, and in Holt county he owns three hundred and twenty acres. On his homestead he has as his efficient coadjutor in agricul- tural and live-stock enterprise his youngest son, and they give each season an average of one hundred acres to the raising of corn.

Mr. Helmke was born in the province of Hanover, Germany, which has given a fine quota of sterling citizens to Gage county, and the date of his nativity was June 18, 1854. He received his early education in the excel- lent schools of his native land and there, in accord with governmental rules, he served a term in the German army as a youth. He is a son of Henry and Margaret (Schluter) Helmke, who passed their entire lives in Ger- many, where the father was a prosperous Hanovarian farmer : he was born in 1826 and died in 1906, his wife having been born in 1828 and her death having occurred in 1904. Of the twelve children the firstborn died in infancy and the subject of this sketch was the

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

MR. AND MRS. JOHN H. HELMKE

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

next in order of birth; Alice is the wife of John Freese and they remain in Germany ; Henry is a prosperous farmer of Clatonia township, Gage county; Dietrich resides in his native land, as does also Herman ; William is a resident of Murray county, Minnesota , Frederick is deceased; Mrs. Rebecca Schale remains in Germany; Dora and Martha are deceased; and Frederick (second of the name) is a resident of Murray county, Minne- sota.

John H. Helmke was an ambitious and self- reliant young man of about twenty-nine years when he severed the ties that bound him to the fatherland and came to America, in the spring of 1883. He settled in Lancaster county, Ne- braska, and he came to Gage county in 1890. After having been employed the first year as a farm hand he rented a farm in Highland township, where he continued his activities under these conditions for the ensuing four years. He then purchased his present home- stead place of one hundred and sixty acres, upon which he erected good buildings and made other improvements that mark it as one of the model farms of Highland township. With the increasing prosperity resulting from his indefatigable efforts, Mr. Helmke contin- ued by degrees to make further investments in Gage county land, and here his now ex- tensive farm property is unexcelled in general improvements, in productiveness and in gen- eral evidences of thrift and prosperity. On his Holt county land he likewise has made good improvements, and the same is under the active management of his two sons. As a loyal citizen he has done his part in supporting movements for the general good of the com- munity ; he is independent in political affiliation and he and his wife are earnest communicants of the Lutheran church in Clatonia township.

On the same vessel that transported Mr. Helmke to America in 1883 came Miss Mar- tha Warnke, who was born in Hanover, Ger- many, December 11, 1862, and their mutual regard reached its climax when, on the 9th of March, 1884, their marriage was solem- nized, in Gage county. Their gracious union has been blessed by these children : Ella is the

wife of Henry Messman, of Highland town- ship; Margaret, who became the wife of George Oltman, of this county, is deceased, as is also Henry, the next in order of birth; John and Richard have supervision of their father's farm property in Holt county ; Lena is housekeeper for her brother John; and Herman and Amelia remain at the parental home. In 1891 Mr. and Mrs. Helmke made a most pleasing visit to their native land, where they renewed the associations of their earlier years, but the experience did not in the least abate their appreciation of America and of the state and county of their adoption.

GEORGE S. HARRIS, who resides in a beautiful home at Blue Springs, is one of the early settlers of Gage county and for many years was actively engaged in farming and stock-raising, meeting with the success which enables him to lay aside active labor and live in honorable retirement.

Mr. Harris is a' native of Ireland, born April 6, 1853. His parents, John and Mar- garet (Monroe) Harris, immigrated from the Emerald Isle to America in 1853 and after a residence of seven years in Ohio settled in LaPorte county, Indiana. John Harris be- came a successful farmer, and he continued his residence in Indiana until his death. His widow was killed in a cyclone, near Holmes- ville, Nebraska, in 1904. Both were members of the Christian church and were persons of sterling character.

George S. Harris was the third in a family of ten children and was reared on a farm in Indiana, where he attended the public schools until he had attained to the age of seventeen years. He then found employment as clerk in a grocery and dry-goods store, and he held this position seven years. In 1876 he was united in marriage to Miss Aminta Harpster, who was born in Seneca county, Ohio, a daughter of Frederick Harpster.

In 1877 Mr. Harris and his young wife came to Gage county, Nebraska, and here he secured a lease on eighty acres of state land. In the spring of 1878 he settled on the land and began farming. He later bought the property

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and there he continued operations until 1883, when he sold the farm and purchased one hundred and sixty acres near Barneston. This place was the stage of his activities as a farmer and stock man until he retired to Blue Springs, in 1897. For ten years after coming to Blue Springs he bought and shipped stock. Mr. Harris is to-day the owner of two good farms, -one of two hundred and twenty-two acres in Blue Springs township, and a tract of two hundred and forty acres in Rockford town- ship. In the early days he hauled hogs to Marysville, Kansas, thirty miles away and sold them for two dollars and seventy-five cents a hundred weight. Rather than sell corn for fifteen cents a bushel he fed it to his live stock and no doubt reaped a better return than from its sale. In 1898 Mr. Harris was associated in the organization of the Blue Springs State Bank, of which he has since continued a stock-holder and director.

Mr. Harris is a Republican in politics and efficiently served as member of the school board. Fraternally he holds membership in the Masonic and Odd Fellows lodges, with which latter fraternity he has been affiliated since he was twenty-one years of age. He holds office in each of the lodges. With no unusual advantages at the beginning of his career, by industry and good management he has accummulated a competence which places him among the men of influence in Gage county.

Mr. and Mrs. Harris are the parents of two daughters: Ada is the wife of Homer Knight, head miller at Black Brothers' mills at Blue Springs, and they have two children, Elwood H., and Helen M., and the younger daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harris is Mabel, who still remains at the parental home.

THEE T. JURGENS, who has won inde- pendence and prosperity through his own ability and well directed efforts, is now the owner of a valuable landed estate of five hun- dred and sixty acres in Gage county, and his attractive homestead farm is in Section 36, Hanover township. He was born in the prov- ince of Hanover, Germany, November 20,

1868, the third in order of birth of the five children born to Thee H. and Anna (Dutz- man) Jurgens, the former of whom was born in 1833 and the latter in 1830. The parents were in most modest financial circumstances in their native land and finally, about 1882, they came to America and established their home in Gage county, where the father still resides, the mother having passed away in 1913. After farming on rented land a num- ber of years Thee H. Jurgens purchased eighty acres in Hanover township, where he reclaimed and improved a good farm, the same being now owned by his youngest son, John T., with whom he makes his home. He is one of the honored pioneer citizens of Gage county and is an earnest member of the Ger- man Lutheran church, as was also his wife.

Thee T. Jurgens early began to make his own way in life and of the family record in his youth it may be said, as Abraham Lincoln spoke of his own family, that it constituted "the short and simple annals of the poor." He was afforded in his native land but lim- ited educational advantages, but in the inter- vening years he has profited fully by the les- sons gained under the direction of the wise headmaster, experience. After the family home had been established in Gage county Mr. Jurgens herded cattle on the prairies and worked as a farm hand, taking no time for recreation but working diligently and with ever quickening ambition. Finally he rented a farm, and later he made his first purchase of land, - a tract of eighty acres, in Hanover township. This was the nucleus around which, with increasing prosperity, he has evolved his present well improved and valuable landed estate of five hundred and sixty acres, and on his homestead place he erected in 1915 his present commodious and attractive house, which is modern in design and appointments. The other farm buildings are of excellent order and the entire appearance of his farm property gives evidence of thrift and pros- perity.

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History of Gage County, Nebraska; a narrative of the past, with special emphasis upon the pioneer period of the county's history, its social, commercial, educational, religious, and civic development from the early days to the present time, Part 105

Author: Dobbs, Hugh Jackson, 1849- Publication date: 1918 Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western Publishing and Engraving Company Number of Pages: 1120

Author: Dobbs, Hugh Jackson, 1849-
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western Publishing and Engraving Company
Number of Pages: 1120