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 117

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 117

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"Byron P. Zuver was born November 8, 1840, in Wayne county, Ohio. After the re- moval of the family to Iowa he attended the common schools, and in the winter of 1860 he taught school. He left the teacher's desk to attend classes of Western College, in Linn county, Iowa. April 28, 1861, he enlisted in Company D, Twelfth Iowa Volunteer Infan- try, being the first to enlist from this county. Owing to the fact that only three-months men could be utilized to advantage, he was obliged

to re-enlist, on the 20th of September, 1861. The organization of this company for service was at Cedar Rapids, where the ladies of the city presented them with a silken flag that was afterwards carried into the conflict and became a source of inspiration and courage to the jaded and weary soldiers. From that city they went to Dubuque, and November 28th they proceeded by railroad to St. Louis, where they were stationed until January 28, 1862. They then went to Smithland, Kentucky, thence to Fort Henry, which was reached February 6th, and that very day the fort surrendered. Mr. Zuver was an active participant in the battle and splendid victory of Fort Donelson. At Mineral Landing they took the boats for Pitts- burg Landing, where they arrived March 20th, and on the 6th of the following month they were in the battle of Shiloh. On the evening of that day several regiments were taken pris- oners, among them the Twelfth Iowa, which had been in the conflict all day and which fought to the bitter end, in the portion of the field known by the enemy as Hornet's Nest and Hell's Hollow.

"The prisoners - among them Mr. Zuver - were hurried off to Corinth and thence to Memphis; from Memphis they were trans- ferred successively to Granada, Jackson, and Meridian, Mississippi, and finally to Mobile, Alabama, where they were put upon boats and sent to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, their arrival at this point occurring on the tenth day of their imprisonment. It was the great misfortune of these prisoners to be under the charge of the notorious tyrant, Henry Wirz, of Anderson- ville Prison fame, and from him they suffered, directly or indirectly, the most scandalous treatment and untold brutality. Leaving Tus- caloosa, they were then taken to Montgomery, Alabama, and there they were paroled, on the 22d of May. Mr. Zuver rejoined the army, on the 30th of the same month, at Huntsville, Alabama, and as a paroled prisoner-of-war he was sent to Nashville, Louisville, Cairo, and finally, on the 10th day of July, to Benton Barracks, at St. Louis, Missouri. Here he remained until the reorganization of the regi-

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ment, on the first day of January of the fol- lowing year - 1863.

"Leaving St. Louis on the 9th of April, Mr. Zuver with his regiment started once more to the front. Their first battle was that of Grand Gulf, Louisiana, and this was speedily fol- lowed by the engagements at Fort Gibson, Raymond, Jackson, Clinton, Edmund Station, Champion Hills, Black River Bridge. They then went on to the seige of Vicksburg, near which city they remained until its fall, July 4, 1863. They next engaged in the eight days' seige of Jackson, Mississippi, which fell in the same month. Next was the battle of Bran- don, which was fought on the 19th of July. Returning to Vicksburg, they were stationed there until the Canton expedition, in October, in which they took part. In the next month they went back to Memphis, guarding the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, and in this work the regiment continued during the win- ter of 1863-1864, at Chewalla, Tennessee.

"On Christmas day of the year 1863 Mr. Zuver re-enlisted as a veteran, and February 1, 1864, he started once more for Vicksburg, where the regiment was engaged in guard duty at the Black River Bridge until the 4th of March. The next four days were spent at Vicksburg, and March 8th they left for home. arriving at Davenport, Iowa, on the 22d After much needed rest and recreation, they reassembled at Davenport on the 26th of April, proceeding immediately to Memphis, where they arrived May 1st and were engaged in picket duty until the 16th. Active hostili- ties for this company re-commenced with the battle of Tupelo, which lasted from the 13th to the 16th of July. This was the occasion when the Twelfth Iowa Regiment covered it- self with a mantle of glory that can never grow old or dim; they were the heroes of the day. Upon the 22d they were back to Mem- phis and on the 31st of the same month they started out for the Oxford expedition. At this period Mr. Zuver was detailed for pro- vost duty part of the time, at Holly Springs, and also took part in the battles of Abbeville and Tallahatchie, Mississippi.

"The regiment returned to Memphis on the

30th of August and then proceeded to Duval's Bluff, on the 8th of September, thence to Brownsville on the 11th, then leaving to go on the "Pap" Price expedition, in which they followed Price and his forces for three hundred and fifty miles. Landing at Cape Girardeau, Missouri on the 5th of October, they went to St. Louis; thence to Jefferson City, arriving on the 18th ; thence by cars to LaMine Bridge, where they set forth on the march to the scene of action. On the way they passed through Sedalia, Lexington and Independence, arriving on the battlefield of the Big Blue on the 24th of the same month, - just after the fight was over. From that place they went to Santa Fe, Kansas, reaching Harrisonville, Missouri, on the 26th. They left again on the 30th, for St. Louis, via Se- dalia.

"Upon the 8th of November Mr. Zuver voted in the capitol building of Missouri and in favor of Abraham Lincoln. This is mem- orable to him as being his first presidential vote. He was twenty-four years of age at the time. Leaving St. Louis on the 23d, he proceeded with his regiment to Cairo, which was reached in four days; thence on to Nash- ville. December 15th and 16th he and his brave comrades were again under fire and added fresh laurels to those already won. After this they went on the Hood expedition. Mr. Zuver's regiment belonged to the Six- teenth Army Corps, which became known by the opprobrious appellation "Smith's Guer- rillas." The expedition was continued to the Tennessee river, where they arrived January 2, 1865. On the 10th they were at Eastport, Mississippi, where they remained the 7th of February. Then they went to Paducah, Cairo, Memphis, Vicksburg and New Orleans, in which last named city they arrived on the 21st. During this time Mr. Zuver, being de- tached from his regiment, was transferred to the ordnance department of the division, as ordnance sergeant, in which service he re- mained until near the close of the war.

"From Lake Pontchartrain they left for Mobile Bay, and thence went to Spanish Fort. They participated in the seige of that

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fort and also that of Fort Blakesley, which fell April 10, 1865, and was the cause of the evacuation of Mobile the next day. Thence they marched to Montgomery, Alabama, which was reached upon the 25th. During the said march they learned of Lee's sur- render, and shortly afterward of Johnston's. During the summer and fall of 1865 they did duty at Selma and Talladega, and they then took up their march to Memphis, Tennessee, proceeding onward to Demolis, Meridian and Corinth, at which last point they arrived January 3, 1866. Mr. Zuver returned to his company on the 19th of July, 1865, with the rank of sergeant. Leaving Memphis on the 18th, they reached Cairo on the 20th and Davenport on the 23d. The regiment was mustered out, to date the 20th of January, and was paid off on arrival at Davenport, where the gallant comrades, had marched, labored, fought and suffered together so long, answered the words of command for the last time, bade each other their affectionate fare- wells, and disbanded.

"Mr. Zuver was in the service of his coun- try during a period of four years and four months. Within this time he marched over four thousand miles, in all weathers, suffering from heat and dust, frost and wet, passing over roads rough, hard and rocky, and through streams and swamps, or plodding wearily through deep clay and mud, - no easy task or pleasant journey. It is some- what remarkable that in spite of the fact that Mr. Zuver was so long in the service, so often an active combatant, so often engaged in lesser hand-to-hand conflicts, he sustained only one wound, and that of a comparatively slight na- ture, - this occurring at the battle of Shiloh. He kept a very careful record of all the hap- penings and circumstances of any importance from the first to the last of his military ex- perience and has since written a very com- plete, accurate and interesting history of Com- pany D, Twelfth Iowa Veteran Volunteers, besides which he has received the honor of an appointment as a member of the regimental historical committee.

"After the war Mr. Zuver returned to Ma-

son City, Iowa, and engaged as clerk in a mercantile honse, but in the fall of 1866 he engaged in the hotel business at Waterloo, Iowa. There he continued until the spring of the following year, when he came with his brother, George W., to Nebraska City, where he arrived on the 1st of July, reaching Brown- ville the next day. During the summer he en- gaged in farming, and in the winter in teach- ing school. Upon the 17th of July, 1867, Mr. Zuver took a homestead in Hooker township, Gage county, and it was during this time that he became acquainted with Miss Nancy Adams, the daughter of John O. Adams, the first settler of Gage county, whose rec- ord appears elsewhere in this volume. Oc- tober 16, 1873, Mr. Zuver and Miss Nancy Adams were joined in holy wedlock. Nancy Adams was born October 16, 1842, in Du- Bois county, Indiana, where she continued to make her home until she was fourteen years of age, when she came with her parents to Nebraska Territory, in 1857. Her education was, by force of circumstances, quite meager so far as schooling went, al- though she has earnestly endeavored to make up for any loss in that direction. The first school in upper Nemaha Valley was held in the house of her father, who did everything in his power to advance the interests of the young people.

"Mr. Zuver owned one hundred and sixty acres of land in Hooker township and two hundred and forty acres in Adams township, where he resided. He was a member of the Post No. 100, Grand Army of the Re- public, at Adams, of which he was com- mander for two years and adjutant for a num- ber of years. For several years, he was jus- tice of the peace in Hooker township and also in Adams township. He served also as town- ship assessor and deputy county assessor, as well as a member of the petit jury and the United States circuit jury. For a number of years he was appointed by the governor as the register of voters. It is hardly necessary after the foregoing military and official rec- ord to state that in political matters Mr. Zu- ver was an uncompromising Republican and

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that all of his influence and energy were at its service.

"An intimation has already been made to the effect that Mr. Zuver has made a reputa- tion as a writer upon the thrilling, painful and patriotic history of the war. To this de- partment of literature he added that of a writer of travels. The productions of his pen in this department are very interesting, be- cause he is a man of keen perceptions and knows what to observe and how to observe it, and what is perhaps more rare, how to present it. In 1884 he made a trip to Cali- fornia, and concerning the journey he sup- plied the columns of the Beatrice Express with regular letters of deep interest. Com- ment on such history is superfluous ; it is its own compliment as to the character of Mr. Zuver and the estimation in which he was held by his fellow men."

Mr. Zuver continued a resident of Gage county until his death, which occurred March 21, 1893. From 1880 until his death he was in the United States railway service. His wife passed away April 28, 1898. The chil- dren born to this worthy couple were six in number: Georgia L. died at the age of thirteen years; Mary A. and Martha are twins, the former being the wife of Daniel E. Tracey, of whom special mention is made on other pages of this volume, and the latter be- ing the wife of E. H. Whittemore, of Adams, this county ; Anna and John A. died in infancy ; and Byron P. is a resident of Ellendale, North Dakota.

CHRIST SPILKER. - In virtually the center of a fine landed estate of somewhat more than five hundred acres, in Section 17, Holt township, is situated the beautiful mod- ern farm home of Mr. Spilker, and the at- tractive residence combines with the group of other high-grade farm buildings to give to the place the semblance of a little village. Here Mr. Spilker is living retired from active labor since the time when he was incapacitated by a paralytic stroke, on the 21st of February, 1912, but he bears his infirmity with fortitude and equanimity, his mental faculties are un-

impaired and he takes lively interest in the supervision of the general activities of his fine estate, as well in community affairs, - a man who has won success through vigorous and well ordered endeavor and who has so ordered his course as to merit and receive the high regard of his fellow men. In Gage county Mr. Spilker is the owner of a finely improved estate of eight hundred and eighty acres, - five hundred and sixty acres in Sec- tion 17, Holt township, and the remaining three hundred and twenty acres in Midland township, four miles north of the city of Bea- trice.

Mr. Spilker was born in Westphalia, Ger- many, July 18, 1870, and is a son of Henry and Louisa (Frome) Spilker, who were hon- ored pioneers of Gage county and concerning whom specific mention is made on other pages, in the sketch of the career of their son Ernst H.

Christ Spilker acquired his rudimentary education in the common schools and was twelve years of age at the time when the fam- ily home was established in Gage county, where he has maintained his residence during the intervening years and where his prosper- ity has been won entirely through his own ef- forts, save that his father gave to him the sum of fifteen hundred dollars as a basis for his independent activities. He was reared to adult age on the old homestead farm near Clatonia and later the family lived not far dis- tant from his present fine farm estate in Holt township. As a youth he attended the district schools of Gage county and he has never wavered in his allegiance to farm industry, through the medium of which he has won suc- cess of most substantial and worthy order. In 1891 Mr. Spilker purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in Holt township, and after there conducting operations a few years he sold the property to his brother Frederick. In the meanwhile he had purchased other farm property in the same township, and his good judgment has been significantly manifested in his further accumulation of Gage county land, as well as in the progressive policies he has followed in all departments of his farm enter- prise. He has been influential in community

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affairs of public order, has served as treasurer of Holt township, is a Republican in his po- litical proclivities, and he and his wife are communicants of the German Lutheran church. His farm in Holt township is one of the finest in this part of the county, all parts of the estate being kept in the best of order and the buildings being of most modern type, the attractive family residence, of eight rooms, having furnace heat. Mr. Spilker is one of the principal stockholders of the Farm- ers' State Bank at Pickrell and is serving as vice-president of the same.

On the 1st of June, 1892, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Spilker to Mrs. Mary (Tiemann) Spilker, widow of his brother Henry, who had met death as the result of injuries received when he was kicked by a mule. Mrs. Spilker's marriage to Henry Spilker occurred March 6, 1891, and his death occurred only a few months later, the only child of this union being Henry, who married Lydia Obring and who is now engaged in farming in Holt township. Mrs. Spilker was born in Germany, January 4, 1874, and was eleven years of age when she came to Gage county, in 1885, in company with one of her kinswomen. She is a daughter of William and Anna (Daubendick) Tiemann, who came to this county in 1888, and who removed, in 1907, to Kansas, in which state they have since maintained their residence. Mr. and Mrs. Spilker have a fine family of eight children, all of whom remain, in 1918, members of the ideal home circle, their names being here en- tered in respective order of birth: William, Herman, Ernest, John, Frederick, Charles, Louisa and Anna.

GEORGE C. BURROWS. - A brief rec- ord of the Burrows family cannot fail to be of interest to the readers of this volume, as its members have faithfully served state and nation in times of both war and peace.

George C. Burrows was born in Chautauqua county, New York, May 27, 1859. His father, Jay Burrows, likewise was a native of the Empire State, born in the little town of Mayville, at the head of Lake Chautauqua,

March 4, 1837. As a young man Jay Bur- rows learned the printer's trade, which he fol- lowed until the outbreak of the Civil war. Having watched the course of events, his pa- triotic spirit was aroused, and he enlisted in the Ninth New York Cavalry, with which he faithfully followed the stars and stripes for three years, being mustered out at the close of hostilities, as a lieutenant. In 1865 he re- moved with his family to Iowa, where he fol- lowed agricultural pursuits until 1880. He then became a resident of Filley township. Gage county, Nebraska. In 1879 he had pur- chased a relinquishment on the last homestead taken in Gage county. He was engaged in farming this tract for ten years. Mr. Bur- rows founded and organized the Farmers' Alliance in Nebraska, and in 1890 he moved to Lincoln and edited and published the Farm- ers' Alliance official paper, continuing in this connection until shortly before his death, which occurred January 16, 1900. In New York state he married Lucinda Walker, who passed away in 1894. Of their children, Charles E. died in childhood ; George C. is the subject of this review ; Frank E. is a resident of Augusta, Kansas; James B. lives at Paul, Idaho; Mary B. is the wife of L. H. Boggs, of Beatrice, Nebraska ; Lucinda B. is the wife of William Axling, of Tokio, Japan, and they have devoted their lives to missionary work ; Sara A. is the wife of J. B. Lobell, of Denver, Colorado; and Carrie died in childhood.

George C. Burrows was a young man of twenty-one years when the family home was transferred to Nebraska. His education was acquired in the common schools of Iowa and Nebraska, and he became a farmer on his father's place. On October 16, 1884, he was united in marriage to Miss Sarah J. Long, a daughter of Jacob and Catherine (Stahr) Long. Mr. and Mrs. Long came to Gage county in 1880, and bought land in Filley township. The father died August 27, 1888, and the mother passed away May 11, 1906. They were the parents of six children : Elias, was a soldier in the Civil war and died in the army hospital at Madison, Wisconsin, in 1865; Alvin, died in childhood; John, resides at

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

Idaho Falls, Idaho; Mary died in infancy ; Mrs. George C. Burrows was the next in order of birth; and William died May 28, 1917.

To Mr. and Mrs. Burrows have been born six children: Earl C. married Miss Mabel Culp, and they reside in Adams, this county ; Jessie died at the age of seventeen years ; Herbert W. died in childhood; Chase W. en- listed as a volunteer in Company F, One Hun- dred and Thirty-Fourth Regiment United States Army, and is now at Camp Cody, New Mexico: he was elected by a large majority to the State Legislature and had the distinc- tion of being the youngest member of that body during the session of 1917-1918; Leslie W. is a member of the same military company as his brother Chase; and Miss Nina C., is still under the paternal roof.

Mrs. Burrows is a member of the Method- ist church, and in politics Mr. Burrows is a Democrat. For thirty-eight years he has been a resident of Gage. county, where he is well and favorably known, and where he has always taken a prominent part in supporting those things which have to do with the up- building of the community.

PERRY L. BOWER, market gardener and greenhouse proprietor in the city of Beatrice, was born in Jefferson county, Nebraska, Sep- tember 6, 1871, and is a son of Henry T. and Mary A. (Norman) Bower.

Henry T. Bower was born in Ohio, June 3, 1844. At the age of eighteen he enlisted in an Ohio battery of light artillery, and he served as gunner until the close of the war, in 1865. Mr. Bower came to Nebraska in 1869, settling in Jefferson county, where he took a home- stead. At that time the nearest town to this pioneer farm was Beatrice, about twenty miles distant, where he went for the family mail, often making the trip on foot. A few years later a postoffice was established at Bower, Jefferson county, and this was named for Mr. Bower. When he first located in Jefferson county he hauled lumber and provisions from Nebraska City with ox team, and it took one week to make the round trip. Mr. Bower

lived on the homestead until 1899, when he retired and moved to Fairbury, Jefferson county, where he now makes his home. Mr. Bower had three brothers and three sisters. Fred and Harlow are deceased; Arthur is living in Missouri; Mary is the widow of Henry Quayle and resides in Ohio; Miss Ella Bower is a resident of Corvallis, Oregon; and Mrs. Minnie Huff lives in Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Henry T. Bower became the parents of three children : Lavinia is deceased; Rena is the wife of W. J. Moss, an attorney at Fairbury, Nebraska ; and Perry L. is the sub- ject of this sketch.

Perry L. Bower was educated in the coun- try schools of Jefferson county, and as a boy and youth he worked on the farm with his father. Later he farmed for himself in that county. In 1908 he came to Beatrice and en- gaged in market gardening. About two years ago Mr. Bower built a beautiful home and greenhouse at 739 West Scott street, the green- house being one of the most complete and modern establishments of its kind to be found in the state. The building is of concrete and steel construction, heated with hot water, with about seven thousand feet under glass. Here Mr. Bower raises winter vegetables for the market, making a specialty of strawberries and early vegetables.

Mr. Bower owns twenty acres of land and has about five acres of this under irrigation. using the Skinner system of irrigation, and he has it so arranged that he can use either water pumped from his own well by gas engine or that obtained by direct connection with the Beatrice city water system.

On July 18, 1899, Mr. Bower was united in marriage with Miss Ethel Rutledge, daughter of Thomas J. and Delilah (Fred) Rutledge, of Jefferson county. They are the parents of four children - Albert L., Harold O., Thelma I., and Hugh T.

Thomas J. Rutledge, father of Mrs. Bower, died at Fairbury, Nebraska, in April, 1905, at the age of seventy-seven years. His wife passed away in November, 1907, at the age of seventy-seven ycars. Mr. and Mrs. Rutledge were the parents of seven children: Irving is

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PERRY L. BOWER

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deceased ; William H. is a resident of Arling- ton, Kansas; Alice is the widow of William Montgomery and lives at Houston, Texas ; Mary is the wife of Aaron Cowles, of Fair- bury, Nebraska ; Ethel is the wife of the sub- ject of the sketch ; and Misses Ella and Belle Rutledge reside at Fairbury, this state.

JOHN. R. SPEALMAN. - After one has spent many years in honest toil, to win a com- petence for old age and to rear sons and daughters who are willing to give of their very best in the upholding of the principles that are for the advancement of mankind, it is with pleasure that such a person looks cheerfully upon the past and confidently to the future. There is also a pleasure in knowing that all the struggling and striving has not been in vain; that our ideals, our principles, are being realized in our posterity and that they are taking up the burden where we laid it down, with a surer vision and a greater strength.

John R. Spealman and his wife are hon- ored citizens of Wymore, where they are living a retired life, after years of active farming in Marshall county, Kansas.

John Spealman was born in La Salle county, Illinois, July 18, 1848, and is a son of Henry and Sarah Ann (Richart) Spealman, who be- came pioneers of Marshall county, Kansas. Henry Spealman was born in Germany, Feb- ruary 15, 1820, a son of John Spealman, and his wife was born in Pennsylvania, November 15, 1828. They were joined in holy wedlock June 24, 1847, in the state of Pennsylvania, where Henry Spealman had settled upon his arrival in this land of freedom. With hearts full of courage and beating with abounding pulse of youth, they started their home life in La Salle county, Illinois, where they tilled the soil and where sons and daughters were growing up around them. Later they re- moved to Lee county, that state, and in 1886 they moved to Marshall county, Kansas, and homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land. Henry Spealman and his wife shared the privations of the pioneer life, and their sons and daughters also participated in these

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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 117

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