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 120

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 120

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He has not found it expedient or a matter of inclination to sever his active association with farm enterprise in the succeeding years and he purchased his present attractive farm in Grant township in 1903. Here his progres- siveness and cumulative success are shown not only in the general thrift that characterizes all parts of the farm but also in the splendid improvements which he has made, including the erection of a handsome and modern house of ten rooms, placed on a fine site in the cen- ter of a field and one and one-half miles dis- tant from the village of Dewitt, Saline county. On the place Mr. Ulrich has erected also a large barn of modern type, as well as minor farm buildings. He utilizes in his agricultural and stock-raising operations the best of mod- ern accessories and has proved himself a leader in farm enterprise in this part of the county.

Mr. Ulrich is a stalwart advocate of the cause of the Republican party and his ability and popularity marked him as specially eli- gible when he was made his party's candidate for treasurer of Grant township, an office to which he was elected in 1914. Later he was elected for a second term, and he is giving a careful and effective administration of the fiscal affairs of the township. Both he and his wife are earnest communicants of the Lu- theran church and their attractive home is known for its generous hospitality and good cheer.

October 6, 1897, recorded the marriage of Mr. Ulrich to Miss Laura M. Meyer, who was born in Marshall county, Illinois, a daugh- ter of Edward and Emma (Hanan) Meyer, the former of whom is deceased and the lat- ter of whom resides on the old home farm in Adams county, Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs. Ul- rich have six children, all of whom are, in 1918, still members of the happy home circle, namely: Meta, Carl, Edward, Gertrude, Jo- hannah, and Herbert.

MAURICE KIRBY. - Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Kirby have a valuable farm estate of three hundred and twenty acres in Sicily township, and for nearly thirty years they

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have been identified with the agricultural life of their community. They are both natives of the Emerald Isle, that land of bouyant and generous people who have for so many years tried to get their rights and freedom as a free-governing people, but who are still under the rulership of England.

Maurice Kirby was born January 1, 1852, in County Limerick, Ireland, and is the only child born to Maurice and Johanna (O'Mal- ley) Kirby, who passed their entire lives in Ireland, where the father devoted his active life to tilling the soil. When Maurice Kirby was nineteen years of age he left his aged parents and set out to see the world. Coming to America, he first settled in Detroit, Michi- gan. He there remained only a short time and then went to Pennsylvania, where he was employed for six years as a stone cutter.

In 1878 Mr. Kirby came to Gage county, Nebraska, and for fifteen years thereafter he was foreman of John Fitzgerald's ranch. In 1889 he purchased his present three hundred and twenty acres of land in Sicily township, but he did not establish his residence on the place until March 9, 1898.

February 7, 1887, holy wedlock united the lives of Maurice Kirby and Ellen Quinn. Mrs. Kirby was born in Ireland, and is a daughter of Patrick and Alice (Hawley) Quinn, who were tillers of the soil, and who, no doubt, experienced the oppression inci- dental to the landlord system by which Eng- land has handicapped the toilers of Ireland. While her people have been oppressed, Ireland has not lost her individuality or her propen- sity for fun and wit. Two brothers and one sister of Mrs. Kirby make their home in the United States - John Quinn and Maurice Quinn, the latter a machinist living at Scran- ton, Pennsylvania, and Margaret, wife of Charles Harms, of Omaha, Nebraska.

Eleven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Kirby, and of the number seven are living: Alice is a stenographer, employed in the city of Omaha; Johanna is a clerk in Neumann's store at Wymore; Maurice William remains on the home farm; and Ed J. and Ella (twins), John and Jeannette are all under the parental roof and attending school.

Mr. Kirby has a nice residence and other farm buildings, and his place is fully equipped with the necessary farm machinery and im- plements. His vote is given to the Demo- cratic party, he has served his township as treasurer and is now its efficient road over- seer. Both he and his wife are communicants of the Catholic church, in the faith of which they were reared, even as they are rearing their children in the same faith.

JOSEPH H. SCHEVE. - In the all im- portant domain of basic industry Mr. Scheve is consistently to be designated as one of the foremost agriculturists and stock-growers of his native county, where he is the owner of a splendidly improved landed estate of seven hundred and sixty acres, his attractive home- stead farm being eligibly situated in Section 22, Blakely township, and comprising three hundred and twenty acres. Under the able supervision of Mr. Scheve is conducted the cultivation of fully one thousand acres of the excellent land of Gage county, the same be- ing devoted primarily to the raising of wheat, corn, oats, and alfalfa.

On the old homestead that is now his place of residence Joseph H. Scheve was born March 20, 1882, and he is a son of John and Marie (Meyer) Scheve, of whose eleven chil- dren he is the third in order of birth of five now living; Anna is the wife of John Meyer, of Thayer county, this state; Henry is a rep- resentative farmer of Jefferson county ; Mar- tha resides in the home of her sister Amanda, who is the youngest of the children and who is the wife of John Kuchenbecker, of Ruskin, Nuckolls county, Nebraska.

John Scheve was a native of Germany, where he was born April 28, 1842, and where he was reared and educated. About the year 1865 he came from his native land to the United States and settled in Bremer county, Iowa, where he worked two years as a farm hand, besides showing his ambition by study- ing English and other branches under the preceptorship of a leading teacher in that sec- tion of the Hawkeye state. In the autumn of 1867, the year that marked the admission of Nebraska to statehood, Mr. Scheve came to

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

MR. AND MRS. JOHN SCHEVE

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

Gage county and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of unbroken prairie land in what is now Blakely township. He lived up to the full tension of the pioneer life, and in this con- nection it may incidentally be recorded that in the early days he aided in fighting prairie fires on the site now occupied by the postoffice building in the city of Beatrice. He managed to provide himself with an ox team, and this he used in the breaking of his land, as well as in other farm activities. While this work was in progress he found diversion by an occa- sional friendly game of cards with other pio- neers, and his genial and kindly nature gained to him the lasting friendship of those with whom he came in contact in both the early and later days. John Scheve was a man of sterling character and his energy and persistence were on a parity with his resolute purpose. He labored early and late in reclaiming and im- proving his farm, and his early crops were taken overland to Nebraska City, which was then the nearest market point. He added from time to time to his landed possessions and be- came eventually one of the most substantial and progressive farmers of the county. He had mature judgment and understood the true values of Nebraska land, so that he accumu- lated property of this kind not only in Gage county but also in Jefferson county, and in Cheyenne county, Kansas, his landed estate at the time of his death having comprised two thousand seven hundred and twenty acres. Mr. Scheve was a leader in the civic as well as the industrial development and upbuilding of Gage county, was called upon to serve in var- ious minor offices of public trust and was un- wavering in his allegiance to the Republican party. Both he and his wife were most ear- nest and devout communicants of the German Lutheran church and he was the organizer of the church of this denomination in his pre- cinct. He continued to reside on his attractive old homestead, the present abiding place of his son Joseph, of this review, until his death, which occurred October 9, 1911, only a few months prior to his seventieth birthday anni- versary, his cherished and devoted wife hav- ing passed away on the 9th of the preceding

July, so that in death these honored pioneers were not long divided, Mrs. Scheve having been born in the province of Hanover, Ger- many, on the 15th of June, 1841, and having preceded her husband to eternal rest by ex- actly one month. Their engagement to be married was formed in Germany, but not until about 1866 did Mrs. Scheve find it expedient to come to America and join her fiance, their marriage having been solemnized in Iowa, shortly prior to their coming to the new state of Nebraska.

On the old homestead farm which he now occupies and which came as his heritage at the time of the death of his parents, Joseph H. Scheve was reared to manhood, and in addition to receiving in his youth the ad- vantages of the public schools of his native county he completed a course in the North- western Business College, at Beatrice. He has gained precedence as one of the most progres- sive and successful agriculturists and stock- growers of the younger generation in Gage county and has made his homestead place a veritable model. In addition to remodeling and enlarging the substantial house erected by his father he has erected on the place two modern silos and made other excellent im- provements of permanent order, including the building of large sheds for the care of his cattle. He is giving special attention to the breeding of shorthorn cattle, and in the season of 1917 has had upon his farm twenty-five head of purebred stock of this type.

Mr. Scheve has marked his appreciation of the advantages and attractions of his native county by his unfaltering civic loyalty and his productive activities along industrial lines. He has taken active part in public affairs of a local order and has held some manner of town- ship office almost continuously since he at- tained to his legal majority. He is now serv- ing as treasurer of Blakely township, of which office he became the incumbent in 1915. He is one of the stockholders in the cooperative farmers' grain elevator in the village of Hoag. His political allegiance is given to the Repub- lican party and he and his wife hold member- ship in the German Lutheran church.

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

May 7, 1908, recorded the marriage of Mr. Scheve to Miss Maria Wollenburg, who like- wise was born and reared in Gage county, she being a daughter of William and Wilhelmina (Meyer) Wollenburg, who were born in Ger- many and who became pioneers of Blakely township, Gage county, where Mr. Wollen- burg reclaimed and improved the old home- stead farm on which his widow still resides. Mr. and Mrs. Scheve have four children - Josephine, Edward, Alvin, and William.

In a reminiscent way it may be stated that the father of Mr. Scheve was a man of ex- ceptional physical strength and weighed more than two hundred pounds, though he was re- markably alert and vigorous. He purchased and placed in operation on his farm one of the first self-raking harvesting machines in- troduced into Gage county, and on one occa- sion when he had the harvester in commission he was caused some disquietude when a band of fifteen hundred Indians gathered at his farnı to witness the marvelous working of the machine. The Indians were on their way to the west and at first their appearance on the scene caused some consternation to Mr. Scheve, but in their gutteral language and by their sign language they assured him of their friendship, as well as their curiosity, and they finally passed on without molesting him in the least. He and a man named Harvey were as- sociated in the buying, ownership, and opera- tion of the first threshing machine ever used in this county.

MRS. SARAH J. EASTMAN is one of the loved pioneer women of Gage county, and is a sister of Hugh J. Dobbs, the author of this history. A record of the family appears elsewhere in this volume.

In December, 1880, Miss Sarah Dobbs be- came the wife of Matthew Weaverling, who was born in Pennsylvania, in 1845, and who became a resident of Nebraska in 1869, when he settled in Lancaster county. In 1875 he came to Gage county, where he became one of the early-day school teachers. In 1878 he was elected county superintendent of schools, and by re-election he held this office six years.

In 1883 he bought and removed to a farm near Barneston, and soon afterward he purchased the Barneston Star, of which he continued the editor and publisher until his death, which occurred April 18, 1895.

Mr. Weaverling was a prominent figure in the educational, political, and social life of his adopted county. He was a member and an active worker in the Methodist Episcopal church. Concerning the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Weaverling the following brief rec- ord is entered: Ray W. Weaverling is a traveling salesman for a hardware concern and lives at Huron, South Dakota. He mar- ried Miss Alice Parker, of Beatrice, and they have three children .- Ralph W., Robbin Dale, and Carrol Louise. Charles S. Weaverling died in the year 1912. Ralph E. Weaverling, a graduate of the law department of the Uni- versity of Nebraska, class of 1910, is .success- fully practicing his profession at North Bend, this state. He married Miss Beatrice Moffit, of Lincoln, a graduate of the University of Nebraska, and they have two children, Elea- nor and Ralph W.

October 1, 1901, Mrs. Weaverling became the wife of Leonard A. Eastman, a native of Minnesota. He is engaged in brick and cement contracting. By a former marriage he had four children: Grace M .. Guy B., Roy L., and Hazel. These are all at home except Roy L., who is in the United States Army and now in active service in France. Mr. and Mrs. Eastman are held in high esteem in Be- atrice, where they have an attractive home at 1401 High street.

JAMES H. FREEMAN is a native son of Gage county, a scion of one of its foremost pioneer families, and in his individual versa- tility he has been successful along varied lines of productive endeavor. At the present time he is one of the leading real-estate dealers en- gaged in business in the city of Beatrice, his operations being of broad scope and impor- tance and having included effective service in promoting desirable immigration not only into Nebraska, Missouri, and Texas, but also into the Canadian northwest.

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

The pages of this publication in which is outlined the general history of Gage county give due consideration to the interesting fact that the first tract of land entered under the provisions of the United States homestead act was that obtained in Gage county by the late Daniel Freeman, father of him whose name initiates this review, and on this first home- stead thus obtained James H. Freeman was born February 27, 1870, a son of Daniel and Agnes (Suiter) Freeman. However, there is consistency in amplifying the data by incor- porating in this article, with minor elimina- tion and paraphrase, quotations from an old- time issue of the Beatrice Daily and Weekly Express :

"One of the events connected with the early settlement of Gage county, and one which will eventually form a page of national history, is the taking up of the homestead of Daniel Freeman, the first under the homestead act passed by the United States congress. The securing of the first homestead, or the filing of the first application, by Mr. Freeman was more by accident than design. The homestead act was approved on the 20th of May, 1862, and took effect January 1, 1863. In July, 1862, Mr. Freman purchased a 'squatter's right,' which he held until the 31st day of De- cember following. The government land of- fice was located at Brownville, and on Decem- ber 31st Mr. Freeman went to that place to make an entry and file his application under the homestead law. At this time he had been regularly enlisted in the United States army, and was in Nebraska Territory on special duty. He was under orders to report to head- quarters and was therefore in some haste to file his application. While at the hotel in Brownville he was introduced to a young man who was to be clerk or assistant to the land- office receiver. By this young man Mr. Free- man was informed that the next day being New Year's, and consequently a holiday, the office would not be open. Mr. Freeman stated the urgency of his business and that he was ordered to report to the army headquarters without delay, after which he said that it would be a great accommodation to him if he

could file his application before leaving for the army. Upon this representation, made on the evening of his arrival at Brownville, Mr. Free- man met with exceptional consideration, as the clerk sent for the register of the land office and before 12:05 o'clock on the morning of January 1st Mr. Freeman had made his filing on the first homestead ever taken under the homestead act."

The above mentioned entry was recorded in the archives of the United States land office in the city of Washington on the 6th of January, 1870, after Nebraska had attained to the dig- nity of statehood, and is filed as "Homestead certificate No. 1, application No. 1." The homestead of one hundred and sixty acres thus distinguished above all others in Amer- ican annals is situated in Section 26, town 4 north, of range 5 east of the sixth principal meridian, and about four miles west of Bea- trice, which city was a frontier village at the time when Mr. Freeman made the historic entry. The homestead, in the valley of Cub creek, became the nucleus of the extensive and valuable landed estate which Mr. Freeman eventually accumulated and improved in Gage county.

Daniel Freeman was born in Preble county, Ohio, April 26, 1826, and his death occurred December 30, 1908. He was a son of Samuel and Phoebe (Willis) Freeman, natives respec- tively of Vermont and Ohio, and in 1835 the family home was established at Abingdon, Knox county, Illinois, where Samuel Freeman became a citizen of prominence and influence : he was a successful merchant and also de- veloped a prosperous enterprise in the extend- ing of financial loans, his operations having in- cluded loaning money to the government at the time of the Civil war. Samuel Freeman died in Knox county, Illinois, February 6, 1887, one of its most honored pioneers, and his widow survived him by a number of years.

Daniel Freeman, second in a family of six sons and one daughter, was about ten years old at the time of the family removal from Ohio to Knox county, Illinois, in which state he was reared and educated. Concerning him the fol- lowing interesting statements have been made:

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

"About the time of the Civil war he became connected with the interests of the government, and was sent to the west and southwest. While thus engaged he traveled over a large portion of the undeveloped western country, becoming one of the most familiar characters of this section. He was peculiarly adapted for com- ing in contact with unruly frontiermen and the native Indians, nature having endowed him with an unusually commanding physique, the nobility of which was heightened by his mili- tary bearing, the while his keen black eye seemed to penetrate through hidden things. For weeks at a time he rode over the wilds of the west, acting as a watch against the wary Indians, leaving his saddle only to obtain food and sleep and making the saddle his pillow as he slept on the hard ground. Such was the character of his experience that he had a wide range of information and an unlimited knowl- edge of the country in which he took up his permanent residence before the close of the war." Mr. Freeman reclaimed and developed one of the large and valuable landed estates of Gage county and was to the close of his long and useful life numbered among the honored and influential pioneer citizens of the county. His service as a soldier in the Civil war cov- ered a period of three years, during which he was a member of the Seventeenth Illinois Vol- unteer Infantry. In 1864 he established his permanent home on his historic claim in Gage county and there he maintained his residence many years, the while he bore his full share of the responsibilities and trials incidental to pioneer life. He served two terms as sheriff of the county, and also held the offices of coroner and justice of the peace. His was a noble figure in the history of the county, the territory and the state, and every record touch- ing Gage county should pay to his memory a tribute of honor. His political support was given to the Democratic party and he and his wife were earnest and tolerant in their abid- ing Christian faith and practice.

The first marriage of Mr. Freeman was to Miss Elizabeth Wilber, whose death occurred in 1861, at Rock Island, Illinois. She was sur- vived by three children, - Julia F., Charles

and Loretta, the last named becoming the wife of Martin Rich. February 8, 1865, recorded the marriage of Mr. Freeman to Miss Agnes Suiter, of Scott county, Iowa, where she was born and reared, the date of her nativity hav- ing been November 16, 1843. This revered pioneer woman still resides in Gage county and owns the fine old homestead place which her husband secured in the early territorial days, as previously noted, the same being in Blakely township. Mrs. Freeman is a daugh- ter of John and Eliza (Wright) Suiter, who were numbered among the early settlers of Scott county, Iowa, the farmer's father, Philip Suiter, having settled at LeClaire, that county, when the place was a mere Indian village, the same having been named in honor of Antoine LeClaire, who was Indian agent to the Sac and Fox tribes. Mrs. Freeman received good edu- cational advantages in her youth and after coming with her husband to Gage county she had the distinction of being the first teacher in Blakely township, her first school having been held in a private house. Of the children of Daniel and Agnes (Suiter) Freeman all are living except Daniel, who died at the age of three years; Eliza is the wife of D. Webster Carre, of Beatrice; Samuel is a prosperous farmer in Jefferson county ; James H., of this review, was the next in order of birth; John is a substantial farmer near Beatrice; Frank and LeClaire remain with their widowed mother on the fine old homestead farm; and Agnes is the wife of Clifford Quackenbush, another of the progressive farmers of this county.

James H. Freeman passed the period of his childhood and early youth on the old home farm and in the meanwhile profited by the ad- vantages afforded in the public schools. After leaving the parental home he was for a time identified with newspaper work at Beatrice, and thereafter he gave six months to the read- ing of law. Later he took up the study of medicine and he so fortified himself that though he did not receive a medical diploma he was engaged in successful practice four years. For the past decade he has been one of the most aggressive and influential expon-

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ents of the real-estate business in Beatrice, and his operations now extend to wide limits, as noted in an earlier paragraph of this article. As a business man and public-spirited citizen he is well upholding in Gage county the honors of the family name, and his political allegiance is given to the Democratic party. It is a mat- ter of record that no other man in Beatrice has handled and sold as large an amount of land as has Mr. Freeman, and he is an authority in all details pertaining to the real-estate business.

In 1891 Mr. Freeman wedded Miss Lelah Hare, who was born in the city of Phila- delphia, Pennsylvania, a daughter of William N. and Eliza Hare, who came to Nebraska in 1879 and settled at Pawnee, Mr. Hare having been an architect by profession. Of the four children of Mr. and Mrs. Freeman three are living: Laura is the wife of T. J. Long, who is engaged in the drug business at Mitchell, South Dakota; Alice is a popular teacher in the public schools of that place; and Bobbie Josephine remains at the parental home, she being at the time of this writing a student in the public schools of Beatrice.

FRANK N. HOFFSTAEDT has the intel- lectual attainments and business acumen which make possible the effective accomplishment of results along any line in which he may direct his energies, and none can doubt his progres- siveness and leadership as an exponent of agri- cultural and live-stock industry in the state that has been his home since his young man- hood. Here he is the owner of one of the fine landed estates of this section of Nebraska, and the same comprises four hundred acres, - two hundred and forty in Highland township and one hundred and sixty in Section 13, Clatonia township. His homestead place, of eighty acres, is one of the best improved and most attractive rural demesnes in the county and is situated in Section 18, Highland township. This is a part of the estate locally known as the old Uplinger ranch, and here Mr. Hoffstaedt has made the best of modern improvements, in- cluding the erection, in 1900, of his handsome residence, which in facilities and appointments, as well as architectural design and construc-

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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 120

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