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 125

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 125

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home and are being educated to fill their places in the world.

HIRAM SIZER BARNUM, the subject of this sketch, was born at Buffalo, New York, November 11, 1837. His ancestry runs back to two well known New England families, the Barnums and Howards. His paternal grand- parents, Eli Barnum and Mary (Dibble) Bar- num, were both natives of the state of Con- necticut. They were born and reared in the city of Danbury and were married there. Af- ter their marriage, in 1810, they emigrated to Trumbull county, Ohio, where they pur- chased land in the deep woods, three miles from the nearest settler. This they cleared and finally developed into a good farm. They also erected a flouring mill, on a stream known as Eagle creek. Their home was always the abode of free-hearted hospitality and the scene of many a cheerful gathering. Here Eli Bar- num passed away at the age of seventy-six years, and his wife, Mary, surviving him, died at the age of eighty-five years.

Hiram Barnum, their son, was born on his father's Trumbull county farm in 1811, and obtaining a good, usable education, on reach- ing his majority, he made his way to Buffalo, New York, where he began life as a broker. Here he met and married Miss Irena How- ard, a member of the well known Howard family of Vermont. Five children were the fruit of this marriage, three sons and two daughters. The daughters, Lucy and Mary, both died in childhood. The sons were Eli Howard Barnum, Hiram Sizer Barnum, and Samuel H. Barnum. The oldest son, Eli, af- ter serving through the great Civil war with an Illinois regiment and accompanying Sher- man on his "march to the sea," died many years ago in Illinois. Samuel H. Barnum, the youngest son, lost his life in the ranks of the Union army in the terrible battle of Chancel- lorsville, in May, 1863.

When the subject of this sketch was one year old, his parents moved from New York to Trumbull county, Ohio, then to Akron, in Summit county, and returning to Trumbull

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

county, finally settled on the ancestral estate of the Barnum family, where they remained until both had paid the last great debt of na- ture, Hiram passing away at the age of sev- enty-six years and his venerable wife at the age of ninety-three.

state, has always remained a citizen of Gage county. Though stricken with age and weak- ness, he is still a living representative of that heroic band of pioneers who were the first to brave the dangers and hardships attending the early settlement of Gage county.

Hiram Sizer Barnum remained with his Mr. Barnum has always led the life of a farmer or a business man. The single excep- tion to this is his service in the army during the Civil war. On the 1st day of September, 1861, he enlisted in Company C, Curtis Horse, a Nebraska military organization which was afterward united with the Fifth Iowa Cavalry, and he served as a soldier in defence of the Union until November 11, 1862, when he was honorably discharged, for disabilities received in the line of duty, at Hieman, in the state of Kentucky. parents until the spring of 1859, when, accom- panied by his cousin, Eli B. Hendy, he crossed the Missouri river at Nebraska City, on the 20th day of April, and entered the new terri- tory of Nebraska. After several days spent there in inquiry and deliberation, they resolved to investigate the region of country known as the valley of the Big Blue river. Moving westward, the cousins, on May 24th, came to Blue Springs, in Gage county. On all their long journey they found little but a broad ex- panse of unbroken prairie, diversified to some Mr. Barnum acquired title to one hundred and twenty acres of land in Blue Springs township, where he resided until 1870, when he sold his stock and farm produce and with the proceeds purchased lumber at Brownville, on the Mis- souri river, which he hanled to Blue Springs with wagons, a distance of seventy miles, and erected a small house in that village. He al- so built a rough stable for his own use. There being at that time no accommodations for travelers at Blue Springs, Mr. Barnum hos- pitably opened his house and barn to trav- elers, and gradually this expanded until it be- came a business of considerable importance. "Barnum's Pioneer Livery Stable" at Blue Springs was known far and wide in this sec- tion of country, and his home for many years partook of the nature of a wayside inn. In 1899 Mr. Barnum sold his business in Blue Springs and moved to Beatrice, where he pur- chased a residence on East Court street, where he now resides. extent by stream and wood, with here and there, along the timbered water-courses, a squatter on the public domain. At that time there were not to exceed one hundred white people in all Gage county, and save the smil- ing face that nature wore, there was nothing to attract the young and aspiring. But the spell of the wide, rolling prairie, the dark-blue sky and the far mystery of distances fell upon them, and these young men, with the previ- sion of the true pioneer, resolved to cast their lots with the handful of settlers whom they found here clinging to the very rim of civiliza- tion. Both were poor, but they possessed the alchemy of youth, which, like the philosopher's stone, turns everything it touches into silver and gold. They settled on vacant tracts of prairie land in Blue Springs township, about two miles north of Blue Springs, and at once became identified with the destiny of Gage county and of the great territory of which it formed a part. Mr. Hendy, shortly after his On the 19th day of April, 1863, Mr. Bar- num married Mrs. Myra (Shelley) Rappleye, who was the daughter of Francis and Fanny (Hollingsworth) Shelley, pioneer settlers of Rockford township. She was born in Der- byshire, England, and came with her parents to America when a girl fourteen years of age. She was a very capable woman, and the ob- arrival here, married Caroline C. Coffinberry, a member of a pioneer family of Rockford township, and was one of the early sheriffs of Gage county. Years ago he returned to New Jersey to live, and there, at a ripe old age and much respected, he passed away sev- eral years ago. Mr. Barnum except for a temporary residence in another county of the . ject of the affection of a large circle of rela-

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

tives and friends. She died at Beatrice on the 15th day of December, 1913, leaving be- hind her the memory of a beautiful life. The fruit of this marriage was two sons and two daughters. One son, Samuel, died in infancy. The other, Eli Howard Barnum, was born at Blue Springs, grew to manhood there, and in 1892, married Miss Clara Robertson. He is now a member of a well known stock-commis- sion firm in Omaha. The daughters, Kate and Rosa, were both for some years school teachers. The elder daughter, Kate, in 1891, married Josiah A. Van Orsdel, at Blue Springs, and almost immediately they left for Chey- enne, Wyoming, where Mr. Van Orsdel en- gaged in the practice of law. He was for some years attorney general of the state of Wyoming and associate justice of the supreme court of that state. For the past ten years he has been associate justice of the court of appeals of the District of Columbia and lives the greater part of the year in Washington, When not engaged in official duty, his home is in Beatrice, where he owns an elegant resi- dence, at the corner of Thirteenth and Wash- ington streets. The younger daughter, Rosa, in 1901, married Dr. B. L. Spellman, a lead- ing dentist in the city of Beatrice. They live in a pleasant home at the corner of Tenth and Ella streets.

Mr. Barnum in his old age is surrounded by his children and grandchildren, who ten- derly watch over his declining years and with great solicitude minister to his every want. Behind him lie many years of honorable and blameless life, and with an unfaltering trust in Almighty God he approaches the time when he may wrap the drapery of couch around him and lie down to pleasant dreams.

ALVIN D. SPENCER. - The life story of Alvin D. Spencer, banker, ex-representa- tive, and ex-senator, is a record of the doings of a successful man of affairs who has won his place in the citizenship of Barneston by virtue of a decided ability of a high order.

Mr. Spencer was born in Jo Daviess county, Illinois, November 21, 1870, and is the young- est son of Oscar and Mary (Daniels) Spencer.,

Oscar Spencer was born in 1833, in Jefferson county, New York, the son of Samuel Spen- cer, who also named Jefferson county, New York, as his birthplace. Samuel Spencer was a cooper by trade and followed his trade all of his life, the latter years were spent in Lin- coln, Nebraska, where his decease occurred in 1899. His son, Oscar Spencer, was given a very good education, fitting him for his life work of bookkeeper. For a few years was a school teacher in New York, but later took up bookkeeping at Freeport, Illinois, with a harvester company. September 19, 1854, he married Mary Daniels, who was the daughter of Joseph and Mary (Tucker) Daniels. She was born in Jefferson county, which was also the birthplace of her parents. Mr. Daniels was a cooper by trade and was laid to rest in Adams, New York.

Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Spencer, in 1862, came to Jo Daviess county, Illinois, and first lo- cated in Nora, Illinois, where they remained for some years. Mr. Spencer then was em- ployed in the thriving city of Freeport, same county, as a bookkeeper. As the years pro- gressed, four sons were born to Mr. and Mrs. Spencer, as follows: Jay A. is in the hard- ware business at Barneston, Nebraska; Edson R. is in the wholesale casket and undertaking supplies business at Des Moines, Iowa ; Evelyn O. is in the same business, located at Wichita, Kansas; Alvin D. is the subject of this sketch.

In 1877 Oscar Spencer came to Lincoln, Ne- braska, and was employed as a bookkeeper in the McCormick Harvesting Machine Com- pany's general agency. He was a member of the Ancient Free & Accepted Masons and he and his wife were members of the Methodist church. His life was an inspiration to his sons, who have taken their positions in the world of affairs. Both he and his good wife are deceased. The former died in Lincoln, and the latter at Barnston, in 1909.

Alvin D. Spencer attended the public schools of Lincoln and his education was supplement- ed by a course at the F. F. Roos Business College at Lincoln, which fitted him for his life work of bookkeeper and banker.

For a number of years Mr. Spencer was

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

employed as bookkeeper in McCormick Har- vester Company's main office at Lincoln. In this position he was so capable and rendered such efficient service that he was elected the cashier of the forenamed company in 1896. He continued in this position until he severed his connections with the McCormick Harvester Company, in 1898, and purchased the Bank of Barneston, at Barnestone, Nebraska. This institution is capitalized at $5,000; with a sur- plus of $1,000; undivided profits, $1,425; de- posits, $140,000. For a number of years, Mr. Spencer was the owner of the Spencer Eleva- tor at Barneston, but he has discontinued this business and confines his efforts to the bank- ing business.

In Lincoln, Nebraska, January 25, 1893, was solemnized the marriage of Alvin D. Spencer and Miss Emma Glover. She is the daughter of Peter and Mary (Crawford) Glover, farm- ers in Lancaster county. Mrs. Spencer was born March 22, 1873, in Malcomb, and was educated at Lincoln institutions of learning. No children have been born to this union.

Mr. Spencer exercises his right of fran- chise by voting the Republican ticket and up- holding its principles in national, state, and local affairs. In 1900 the voters of district No. 34, composed of Gage and Saline coun- ties, elected Mr. Spencer to represent them in the twenty-seventh session of the house of representatives. In 1916 he was elected state senator, from the Fourteenth district, com- posed of Gage and Pawnee counties. In these two houses of our law-making institu- tion he served his people faithfully and well, looking after the best interests of his district and the state at large.

He has served as treasurer and clerk and village trustee for years and is now clerk. He has also been justice of the peace of Barne- ston township and a member of the local school board. In all of these positions, he has shown a rare genius of administering the affairs of his fellow voters in a highly efficient manner.

Mr. Spencer is a member of the Ancient Free & Accepted Masons and in this great fra- ternal organization he has received the thir- ty-second degree of the Scottish Rite. He

and his esteemed wife affiliate with the Pres- byterian church and are giving of their time and talents unstintingly.

IRA W. EVANS, D. V. S., Beatrice, Ne- braska, was born in Fillmore county, Nebras- ka, December 8, 1886, a son of C. L. and Lucy (Ward) Evans.

C. L. Evans was born in Ohio and when a young man moved to Iowa, where he engaged in farming. About forty-five years ago Mr. Evans came to Fillmore county, Nebraska, where he took a homestead near what is now the town of Geneva. A few years later Mr. Evans was united in marriage to Miss Lucy Ward, of Geneva, Nebraska, and to this union were born six children: Albert, superintend- ent of schools at Dow City, Iowa ; Le Roy, of Fairbury, Nebraska; Jay, a merchant of La Porte, Indiana ; Dr. Ira W., of Beatrice, Ne- braska ; Mary, widow of W. L. Martin, living in Omaha, Nebraska; and Iva, wife of Wil- liam Bennett, of Iowa. C. L. Evans has now retired and makes his home in Omaha, Ne- braska. His wife passed away July 27, 1915.

Dr. Ira W. Evans was educated in the schools of Geneva, Nebraska, and is a graduate of the Kansas City Veterinary College, class of 1915. He began the practice of his pro- fession in Bruning, Nebraska, in 1915, and remained there until April, 1917, when he moved to Beatrice, where he has built up a fine practice, where he enjoys the confidence of the people, and where he is considered one of the leading veterinarians in the community.

ARON E. CLAASSEN is consistently to be designated as one of the sterling pioneer citizens of Gage county, is a man of vigorous mentality and impregnable integrity and through his own well directed endeavors he has become one of the representative exponents of agricultural and live-stock enterprise in Gage county, where he is the owner of a val- uable landed estate of seven hundred and twenty acres, his finely improved homestead farm being situated in Section 18, Riverside township, five miles west of the city of Be- atrice. Mr. Claassen still gives a general su- pervision to his extensive farm interests,

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

though the active management of the farms is now reposed in his sons, who are well up- holding the industrial and civic prestige of the family name. He has much of his land un- der a high state of cultivation and also makes a specialty of breeding and raising the best type of Hampshire swine.

Mr. Claassen was born in the west Prussian province of Dantzic, Germany, May 28, 1850, and is a son of John and Catherine (Entz) Claassen, of whose three children he is the firstborn, his father having been twice mar- ried and having passed his entire life in that section of the German empire. After his death his widow came with her three children to America, in 1874, and after remaining for a time in Canada she became a member of the company of one hundred and twenty-eight Mennonites who founded a colony at Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and she passed the closing years of her life in Beatrice, where she died at the age of seventy-three years, she having been a devout member of the Mennonite church, as was also her husband. The subject of this sketch was reared and educated in his native land and was twenty-four years of age when he accompanied his widowed mother to America. He remained for a time with the Mennonite colony at Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and then set forth to seek a location in which he might successfully initiate his independent activities as a farmer. In this quest he trav- eled through Minnesota, Kansas, and Nebras- ka, and finally, in 1876, he and his brother Jacob purchased a section of land in Riverside township, Gage county, his present homestead farm being a part of this tract. The brothers here continued to be closely associated in their farm enterprise for seven years, and in the meanwhile both married. The passing years, marked by diligent and well directed application and progressive policies, have brought generous prosperity to the honored subject of this review, and the tangible evi- dence is afforded in his ownership of his pres- ent large and well improved landed estate.

On the 9th of January, 1879, was solemn- nized the marriage of Mr. Claassen to Miss

Anna Jansen, who has proved a devoted wife and helpmeet and the gracious mother of their fine family of children. Mrs. Claassen was born in Prussia, Germany, March 23, 1856, and was a child of six months when her par- ents, Cornelius and Helena (VonRiesen) Jan- sen, removed to Russia, where she was reared and educated. In 1873 Mr. Jansen came with his family to America and settled near Ber- lin, Waterloo county, Ontario, Canada, whence he later removed to Mount Pleasant, Iowa, as a member of the previously mentioned Men- nonite colony. In 1876 he came with his fam- ily to Gage county, where he became an ex- tensive land owner but made his home in Be- atrice. Here he and his wife passed the re- mainder of their lives. They became the par- ents of six children: Margaret died in child- hood; Peter, who is now living retired in the city of Beatrice, was long numbered among the leading ranchers of the state and is an in- fluential citizen who represented in the state senate the district comprising Gage, Pawnee, and Jefferson counties; Mrs. Claassen was next in order of birth; John is now a resident of Saskatchewan, Canada; Miss Helen main- tains her residence in Beatrice; and Cornelius, who was formerly a popular teacher in the public schools of Beatrice, is now a resident of Pasadena, California. In politics Mr. Claas- sen is a liberal Republican, more for the man than party, and as a citizen he has been most liberal and progressive. Both he and his wife are earnest members of the Mennonite church and their sterling attributes have gained and retained to them the high regard of all who know them. Of their ten children the first two died in infancy; Cornelius is cashier of the Peters Trust Company, in the city of Oma- ha ; John J. has active management of the old homestead farm; Aron J. is a successful farmer in Lincoln township; Daniel died at the age of ten years; Anna is, in 1918, a stu- dent in the University of Nebraska, at Lin- coln; Catherine is a student in a hospital for trained nurses, in the city of Omaha ; the ninth child died in infancy ; and Margaret remains at the parental home.

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

JASPER H. PENCE is a successful ex- ponent of farm enterprise in Logan township, where he is the owner of a good farm of one hundred acres, in Section 5, and where he is conducting well ordered operations as an agri- culturist and stockgrower. He was born in Adams county, Ohio, November 24, 1857, was reared to the sturdy discipline of his father's farm and received in his youth the advantages of the common schools, his parents, Harrison and Mary J. Pence having passed their en- tire lives in Adams county, Ohio, and having been representatives of sterling pioneer fam- ilies of the Buckeye state.

In his native state Jasper H. Pence contin- ued his alliance with farm enterprise until 1884, when he came to Nebraska and estab- lished his residence in Gage county. For sev- eral years thereafter he was engaged in farm- ing on rented land and he then purchased for- ty acres, to which he later added an adjoining forty acres. He made improvements on this property and upon selling the same he pur- chased his present homestead, upon which he has since continued his successful enterprise as a substantial farmer, the while he is known for his sterling integrity and for his loyalty as a citizen. His political allegiance is given to the Democratic party and he and his wife became in their youth active members of the Church of the Brethren, with which he has continued his earnest affiliation.

As a young man of twenty-six years Mr. Pence wedded Miss Mary E. Roush, who like- wise was born in Ohio, and her death occurred December 24, 1900. She is survived by four children - Walter S., Grace, Edna, and Clif- ford D.

HERMAN CARSTENS is the owner of a fine farm of six hundred and twenty acres, in Sections 11, 12, and 13, Riverside township, where in addition to general agricultural pro- duction he gives attention also to the raising of Poland-China swine and graded short-horn cattle.

Mr. Carstens was born in Adams county, Illinois, November 14, 1869, and is a son of George and Hattie (Harmke) Carstens, to

whom four children were born. After the death of his first wife George Carstens wedded Miss Lulu Bowser, and of this union were likewise born four children. George Carstens was born in Oldenburg, Germany, in October, 1828, and was one of the venerable and hon- ored citizens of Gage county at the time of his death, in 1910. He came to America in the year 1858 and after remaining for a time in Brown county, Illinois, he removed to Clay- ton township, Adams county, that state, where he became a prosperous farmer. In 1890 he came to Gage county, Nebraska, and settled in Hanover township, where he became the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of land and where he continued his association with farm industry until his death, his religi- ous faith having been that of the Lutheran church. Of the children of his first marriage the eldest is Anna, wife of Bartdel Aden, of Hanover township; Minnie is the wife of George Ordgisen, of Hildreth, Franklin coun- ty; Richard is a resident of Meadow Grove, Madison county ; and Herman, of this review is the youngest, he having been two years old at the time of his mother's death. John G., eldest child of the second marriage, is a farm- er of Adams township; Christopher W. is a resident of Jefferson county ; Paul is a sub- stantial farmer in Hanover township and with him remains his sister, Mary, the mother hav- ing died in 1916, at the age of seventy-eight years.

Herman Carstens was a young man at the time of the family removal to Gage county and he was assisted by his father in gaining a start as an independent farmer. In 1901 he purchased a portion of his present well im- proved farm estate and to the area of the same he has since added until he now has one of the valuable farm properties of the county. In politics he is a Republican and he served for a number of years as treasurer of River- side township, an office which he resigned in 1916. He and his wife are active communi- cants of the Lutheran church.

April 14, 1892, recorded the marriage of Mr. Carstens to Miss Anna Schuster, who was born in Adams county, Illinois, November 9,

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

WALTER E. HOYLE AND FAMILY

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

1870. Of this union have been born nine children : George is a successful farmer in Riverside township; Henry was drowned in Blue river, July 13, 1913; Mary is the wife of Heye Schuster, of this county; and Ella, Minnie, Leah, Paul, John H., and Emma re- main at the parental home.

WALTER E. HOYLE is numbered among the progressive and successful exponents of farm industry in Holt township, where he is the owner of the northwest quarter of Section 14, and where he is giving his attention to diversified agriculture and stock-growing and makes a specialty of raising graded Duroc- Jersey swine. He was born in Lee county, Illinois, January 17, 1876, a son of Solomon and Elizabeth (Fritz) Hoyle, of whose six children the eldest is Cora, wife of Ed. C. Willie, of Midland township; Jennie B. is the wife of Benjamin Wheeler, of Delta, Colo- rado; Passamore is a substantial farmer in Holt township; Walter E., of this review, was the next in order of birth; Eugene likewise is identified with farm enterprise in this county ; and Margaret is the wife of Albert J. Reedy, of Lincoln, this state.

Solomon Hoyle was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, in 1835, and from the old Keystone state he went to Illinois, where he remained until 1879, when he came with his family to Gage county and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in Hanover township. There his death occurred in the following year, and his widow, who was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, November 1, 1856, later became the wife of Frederick Schober, both being now deceased, her death having occurred in 1912. The one surviving child of this marriage is Julia, wife of Howard Rutter, a farmer in Lincoln township, this county. Frederick Schober, was a soldier of the Union in the Civil war. By his first marriage he became the father of three chil- dren. The parents of Mr. Hoyle were earnest members of the United Brethren church and their remains rest in the cemetery in Holt township.

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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 125

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