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 126

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 126

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when his parents came to Gage county, and here he was reared on the farm, in the mean- while profiting by the advantages afforded in the district schools. He has followed farming during his entire active career and purchased his present farm, of one hundred and sixty acres, in 1909, since which time he has made excellent improvements on the place. He is independent in politics and he and his wife are members of the United Brethren church, in which he is serving as trustee.

September 25, 1907, Mr. Hoyle wedded Miss Bessie Rutter, who was born and reared in this county and who is a daughter of Clar- ence H. and Ermina (Flowers) Rutter, who now reside on their farm south of Beatrice, Mrs. Rutter being a daughter of the late John Flowers, one of the well known pioneers of Gage county. Mr. and Mrs. Hoyle have three children, - Ermina, Ralph and Luther.

CONRAD W. FRITZ is one of the enter- prising and successful farmers of Hooker township, where his well improved homestead, in Section 23, gives full evidence of thrift and effective management.

Conrad William Fritz was born in the city of Joliet, Illinois, November 14, 1879, and is a son of Frederick and Johanna ( Hacke) Fritz, both natives of Germany. The father was born in 1834 and was a resident of Gage coun- ty at the time of his death, September 13, 1907, his widow, who was born in 1842, re- maining with her son Conrad W. on the old homestead farm. Frederick Fritz came to the United States shortly before the outbreak of the Civil war and his deep loyalty to the coun- try of his adoption was shown in his three years of gallant service as a Union soldier. He enlisted in Company F, Twenty-ninth Wis- consin Infantry, and with the same he contin- ued in service until he was so severely wound- ed as to incapacitate him and to result in his honorable discharge. He later established his residence in Illinois, where his marriage was solemnized and where he was employed two years as a guard in the state penitentiary at Joliet. He then turned his attention to farm-

Walter E. Hoyle was three years of age ing, in Will county, Illinois, and in 1890 he

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came with his family to Gage county, Ne- braska, where he purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, in Hooker township. He erected a good house and made other ex- cellent improvements on the place and con- tinued as one of the representative farmers and highly esteemed citizens of Hooker town- ship until his death. He was a Republican in politics, was affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic and was a Lutheran in his re- ligions faith, his widow being a member of the German Methodist Episcopal church. Of the five children the subject of this review is the youngest of the four who survive the hon- , ored father; Amelia is the wife of Edward Gingery, of Filley township; George is a farmer near Crab Orchard, Johnson county ; and John is engaged in farming in Hooker township.

Conrad W. Fritz gained his early education in the public schools of Illinois and later at- tended those of Hooker township, Gage coun- ty, he having been about ten years of age at the time of the family removal to Nebraska. He has been actively identified with farm en- terprise since his early youth and has been specially prosperous in his independent activi- ties as an agriculturist and stock-grower. He owns eighty acres of land in Section 14, Hook- er township, and here he has erected good farm buildings, the place being a part of the old home farm of his parents and his residence being the commodious house erected by his father. He owns also an interest in the re- mainder of the old homestead of his father.

In 1902 Mr. Fritz married Miss Hattie I. Kritner, who was born at Sterling, Johnson county, this state, and they have four children - Elise, Milda, Florence, and Virgie.

Mr. Fritz has been influential in public af- fairs in Hooker township, is a stalwart ad- vocate of the cause of the Republican party and has served as a member of the county Republican committee. He served two years, 1912-1913, as township assessor, and in 1916 was reëlected to this office, for a term of two years. He has served nine years as school director and was reëlected to this office in 1917, for another term of three years. He is

affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America and he and his wife are active mem- bers of the German Methodist Episcopal church.

WILLIAM KREBSBACH is a vigorous and ambitious young man who has through his own exertions achieved substantial success and gained for himself secure status as a rep- resentative agriculturist and stock-grower of Gage county. His well improved farm com- prises one hundred and sixty acres and is sit- uated in Section 14, Sherman township.

Mr. Krebsbach was born in Polk county, Nebraska, May 19, 1880, and the somewhat limited educational advantages which he there received have been effectively supplemented by well ordered self-discipline, with the re- sult that he has in large degree made good this early handicap. He is a son of John and Gertrude (Smith) Krebsbach, the former of whom was born in Germany and the latter in the state of Wisconsin, where their marriage was solemnized and whence they came to Ne- braska and became pioneer settlers in Polk county. There John Krebsbach entered claim to a homestead and he continued his alliance with farm industry in this state until about 1905, when he sold his farm in Polk county and removed to El Campo, Texas, near which place he engaged in farming. He is now suc- cessfully engaged in the banking and invest- ment business at El Campo. . He is a Repub- lican in politics and he and his wife are com- municants of the Catholic church. Of their thirteen children seven are living and of the number the subject of this review is the only one residing in Gage county.

William Krebsbach continued his residence in his native county until 1898, when he came to Gage county, where for the ensuing two years he was employed by the month at farm work. For fourteen years thereafter he farmed on land which he rented from D. S. Dalbey, and in 1910 he purchased his present farm, which has since been the stage of his aggressive and successful activities as an agri- culturist and stock-grower. He gives his al- legiance to the Republican party and he and

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his wife are members of the Christian church.

November 21, 1900, recorded the marriage of Mr. Krebsbach to Miss Ida Erickson, and they have four children - John Peter, Ida Belle, Maynard, and Wilma.

HANS ANDERSEN came to Gage county when a young man and by his vigorous and progressive activities as a farmer he achieved such success as to enable him at the present time to live in well earned retirement from the active labors that were long his portion. He still retains ownership of his well im- proved farm estate of two hundred acres, in Hooker township, but in 1909 he purchased six acres of land in the village of Filley and on the same erected the attractive and modern home in which he and his wife have since re- sided.

Mr. Andersen was born in Denmark, on the 21st of April, 1855, and is a son of Nils An- dersen, who was born in 1830 and who passed the closing years of his life in Gage county, where he died on the 3d of February, 1917, his vocation having been that of farming dur- ing his entire active career. Upon coming to Gage county he rented land and he was en- gaged in farming on land obtained under Scully lease at the time of his death, this farm being in Filley township, where his widow still remains on the place. The subject of this sketch is the eldest in a family of three chil- dren ; Marie is the wife of John H. Moller, of Bruce, Wisconsin, where her husband holds the office of postmaster and is engaged in the real estate business; and the third child died in infancy. After the death of his first wife the father contracted a second marriage, and his widow still resides on the farm which he operated in Gage county, as previously noted, the five children of the second marriage all surviving the honored father. Mr. Andersen was a Democrat in politics and was a member of the Lutheran church.

Hans Andersen was reared and educated in his native land and was twenty-three years of age when he became a resident of Gage county, in 1878. For two years he was here employed by the month at farm work, and

he then initiated the independent farm opera- tions that led ultimately to his achieving large and substantial success. His civic loyalty has been of the highest order, his political support is given to the Republican party and he has served as road supervisor, as well as a mem- ber of the school board. Both he and his wife are communicants of the Lutheran church but in their home village they attend and support the Methodist Episcopal church. The maiden name of Mrs. Andersen was Marie Nelsen, and she was born and reared in Denmark, where her parents passed their entire lives. Mr. and Mrs. Andersen have no children.

JAY P. AND MASON D. CLOUGH, popular representatives of one of the honored pioneer families of Gage county, were closely associated in operating two hundred and twen- ty acres, in Highland township, until the for- mer entered the service of the nation in con- nection with its participation in the great world war, as will be more fully noted in a later paragraph. In Section 21, this township. Jay P. Clough was born on the 12th of No- vember, 1885, a son of Marion M. and Ellen H. (Dodge) Clough, of whose eight children he was fifth in order of birth; Nettie E. is the wife of William J. Leopold, of Orleans, Har- lan county ; Alta P. is the wife of Ariel A. Gillespie, of Cortland, Gage county ; Mary V. is the wife of Thomas Walter Sargent, of Highland township; Florence is deceased, as are also Dessa A. and John R .; and Mason D., who was born May 28, 1890, became the able coadjutor of his brother Jay P. in well ordered operations as agriculturists and stock- growers.

Marion M. Clough, a man of marked ability and sterling character, became one of the ex- tensive stock-growers and ranch men of Gage county and was a renter of Scully land - of seven hundred and twenty acres in Highland township. He was born in Venango county, Pennsylvania, March 3, 1834, a son of Horace P. and Ann (Brown) Clough, both natives of the state of New York; the mother died in Illinois, in 1867, and the father passed the closing years of his life in Gage county, Nebras-

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

ka, where he died at a venerable age. Marion M. Clough was reared on the home farm, re- ceived the advantages of the common schools and at the age of fifteen years initiated an apprenticeship to the carpenter's trade. In 1854 he engaged in the work of his trade in Henry county, Illinois, and in 1859 he estab- lished his residence at Sparta, Monroe county, Wisconsin, where he was actively identified with the lumber business until the outbreak of the Civil war. In August, 1861, he en- listed as private in Company A, Third Wis- consin Cavalry, and with his command he was assigned to the Army of the Frontier. He participated in several of the historic battles in which this army was involved, including the ten days' conflict incidental to the raid of General Price in Missouri. While engaged in repelling bushwhackers his horse was shot from under him, but he was neither wounded nor captured. He was made corporal of his company, in 1862 was promoted sergeant and he was mustered out with the rank of orderly sergeant, his honorable discharge having been granted in February, 1865.

After the close of the war Mr. Clough en- gaged in overland freighting from Fort Leav- enworth, Kansas, to Denver, Colorado. After one year of activity along this line he engaged in farming and stock-growing in southwestern Missouri, where he remained until 1873, when he and his wife established their home in Gage county, Nebraska. Here he reclaimed a farm in Highland township, besides becoming one of the leading stock raisers and dealers of this county. He remained an honored and influ- ential citizen until his death, which occurred May 10, 1903, his widow having passed away December 14, 1916. Mr. Clough had broad and varied experience in life on the frontier and as a pioneer in Nebraska. He was affiliat- ed actively with Monitor Post, No. 84, Grand Army of the Republic, at Cortland, and both he and his wife were active members of the Congregational church, of which he served as a deacon for a long term of years. The Clough family was founded in America in. the colonial days and Horace Clough, grandfatlı-

er of Marion M., was a native of New Hamp- shire.

December 2, 1865, Marion M. Clough wed- ded Miss Ellen H. Dodge, whose acquaintance he formed while serving as a soldier of the Union, in Missouri. She was born in Vernon county, Missouri, July 2, 1847, a daughter of Edward and Phoebe (Austin) Dodge, na- tives of New Hampshire, the latter having been a daughter of Daniel Austin, one of the founders of the Harmony Mission for the Osage Indians and a man prominent in the pioneer history of Missouri.

Jay P. and Mason D. Clough have passed their entire lives thus far in Gage county and have upheld the honors of the family name, both as progressive farmers and as liberal and public-spirited citizens. The brothers in their business alliance proved specially successful agriculturists and stock-growers and they have a wide circle of friends in their native county, where both received excellent educational ad- vantages.

At the time of this writing, in the spring of 1918, Jay P. Clough is serving his country in connection with its participation in the terrific European conflict. He is a member of the signal corps being prepared for active service at the aviation field maintained in the gov- ernment camp at Greenfield, South Carolina, and ere this work is issued from the press he will have undoubtedly been called to service on the battlefields of France.

On the fourth of December, 1917, Mason D. Clough married Miss Bernice M. Culp, who was born at Princeton, Lancaster county, Ne- braska, September 1, 1895. She is a daughter of George and Mary E. (Connor) Culp, na- tives respectively of Pennsylvania and Iowa. Mr. Culp is living in Gage county and is eighty years of age (1918). He was a valiant Union soldier in the Civil war. His wife died in 1901, at the age of forty-two years.

GEORGE W. CAMPBELL. - Among the early settlers of Adams township may be men- tioned the venerable pioneer whose name in- troduces this review, and none is more worthy of recognition in this history than he. A na-

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

MR. AND MRS. GEORGE W. CAMPBELL

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

tive of the Keystone state, Mr. Campbell was born on a farm in East Smithfield township, Bradford county Pennsylvania, on May the 3d, 1835. He is a son of George W. and Har- riet (Kingsley) Campbell, also natives of Bradford county, and of German and Scotch Irish descent respectively. The father con- ducted a saw mill for a number of years, though later he became a farmer, and he and his wife spent their entire lives in Bradford county, Pennsylvania.

The subject of this record spent his boy- hood days in his native county, attended country school until he had attained the age of fifteen years, and in the meanwhile he worked in the saw mill and on the farm. At the age of twenty he married Miss Mary Dewey, who was born in Chenango county, Pennsylvania, August 4, 1834, a daughter of John and Polly (Holmes) Dewey, both natives of New York state. As a girl Mrs. Campbell was bereft of her father and thereafter she made her home with a sister in Bradford county, Pennsyl- vania, where she taught school. She is a third cousin of Admiral Dewey, the hero of Manila Bay in the Spanish-American war.

The year after his marriage Mr. Campbell removed to Illinois and settled in Carroll county. While a resident there, a cloud arose which threatened to disrupt the Union, and when President Lincoln made the first call for volunteers Mr. Campbell responded by enlist- ing in Company B, Seventh Illinois Cavalry. The members of this company were mustered in at Camp Butler, Springfield, Illinois, and from that place, by way of Cairo, they went to Bird's Point, Missouri, where they joined the forces of General Grant, under whose command they did skirmish duty and were ordered to Shiloh, reaching that place just after the famous battle. They took part in the first expedition against Vicksburg, but lack of supplies forced them to return to LaGrange, Tennessee. They were then placed on guard of the Tennessee river, but the approach of Price caused them to fall back to Corinth, and they took part in the second battle at that place. The winter of 1862 they spent in camp at LaGrange, Tennessee, and in the spring of

1863 they opened the Grayston raid, of sixteen days. In six days of that time Company B, Seventh Illinois Cavalry, rode four hundred and twenty-five miles by itself, fighting all along the way. At the siege of Port Hudson they guarded the road with much credit and then took boats to Memphis. They then went to Colliersville, Tennessee, and while on picket duty there Mr. Campbell, with twenty-five of the forty-nine men thus engaged, was cap- tured during the fight of November 3, 1863. There were five hundred Union men against two thousand Confederates. The prisoners were taken to Cahoba, Alabama, where they were kept until April, 1864, when they were transferred to Andersonville Prison. The hor- rors of this place could not be exaggerated, awful suffering, unmitigated by a gleam of humanity on the part of their captors, made the lives of the weary victims a wretched mock- ery. Nauseous food, impure water, crowded and vermin-infested quarters, contributed to disease and death, which took away all but eight of the company of twenty-six. Mr. Campbell and his companions were kept there until August, 1864, when they were removed to Charleston. There they were kept four weeks, and they were then taken to Florence, where Mr. Campbell was released on sick par- ole. Upon regaining his health Mr. Campbell · went to Annapolis, Maryland, and from there he made his way to his father's home, in Pennsylvania, where he arrived in January 1865. In April of that year Mr. Campbell re- ceived his honorable discharge, after having served three years and six months. Four hundred and seventeen days of that time, how- ever, he was held as a captive of the enemy. After returning to his family, in Illinois, Mr. Campbell was unable to work for about one year, but gradually he resumed farming.

In the spring of 1868, accompanied by his wife and their two children, Mr. Campbell started for the west and located in Nebraska, the prairies of the new state being largely un- settled at that time. He homesteaded one hun- dred and twenty acres in section 33, Adams township, Gage county. During the first year in the state Mr. Campbell and his family lived

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

in a covered wagon, and with a team of mules and one yoke of oxen he broke the prairies on his own land, beside which he worked for neighbors. Nebraska City was the nearest trading point, and Mr. Campbell hauled freight from that place to Beatrice, the county seat, which was only a little village at that time. From Nebraska City Mr. Campbell hauled cottonwood lumber to build his first house. He resolutely set to work improving and de- veloping his farm, and he is to-day one of the few homesteaders who still reside on the same farms which they obtained in the early pioneer days. On his present fine farm he has lived for fifty years, during which time he has prospered.

To Mr. and Mrs. Campbell were born six children : Dewey is residing at Buffalo, Wyo- ming; Nettie and Hattie are deceased; John resides in Adams, this county ; E. W. is a resi- dent of Clarion, Iowa ; and George B. lives at Fort Morgan, Colorado.

Some years ago Mr. Campbell let the mantle of intelligently directed industry fall upon his son John W., who now owns and operates the old home place in his own behalf. George W. Campbell and his wife still reside on the old home place, where they have lived and labored side by side all these years, that their children and their children's children might reap the benefit.

Mr. Campbell has always taken a deep inter- est in the affairs of his community and has maintained pleasant relationship with his army comrades by membership in Sergeant Cox Post, No. 100, Grand Army of the Republic, at Adams. In the Civil war it took men of heart, brains and heroism to bear the brunt of the conflict, the toil and suffering in camp and on the march and to face starvation in prison, but Mr. Campbell was one of those valiant souls, and his life as a pioneer in Gage county reveals the same characteristics as were dis- played by him during the days when he fought for the preservation of the Union.

JOHN M. MARTIN, as noted in the me- moir dedicated to his honored father, the late Thomas M. Martin, on other pages of this

publication, remains with his widowed mother on the old homestead farm, of which he has the active management, the same being one of the fine landed estates of Sherman township. On this farm Mr. Martin was born Septem- ber 16, 1872, and his early educational ad- vantages were those afforded in the public schools of his native township. He learned under the direction of his father the valuable lessons of practical industry and gained inci- dentally a thorough knowledge of the various details of farm enterprise. He has had no desire to sever his allegiance to the great basic industry under the influence of which he was thus reared and he now rents from his mother the old homestead farm, in the operations of which he is proving himself a most aggressive and successful exponent of agricultural and live-stock enterprise, the while he is upholding the civic and industrial prestige of a family name that has been worthily linked with the history of Gage county during the entire peri- od of Nebraska statehood.

Mr. Martin is one of the influential and popular citizens of Sherman township, and has served as a member of the school board, an office of which he has been the efficient in- cumbent ten years. In the city of Beatrice he is affiliated with Aerie No. 351 of the Frater- nal Order of Eagles.

February 16, 1898, recorded the marriage of Mr. Martin to Miss Nellie Lash, who like- wise was born in this county, and they have one child, Margaret, who is, in 1918, a student in the public schools at Holmesville.

FRANK SCHOEN is the fortunate owner of a remarkably fine farm property of three hundred and thirty acres, improved with the best farm buildings to be found in Hooker township, where his attractive homestead is in Section 27 .- This distinct evidence of pros- perity is the more pleasing to note by reason of the fact that Mr. Schoen was dependent entirely on his own ability and efforts in mak- ing his way to the goal of independence. He was born in the district of Friesland, province of Hanover, Germany, on the 27th of Septem- ber, 1867, a son of Ahrend and Tina (John-

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

son) Schoen, who passed their entire lives in that section of the German empire.

Frank Schoen was reared and educated in his native province and at the age of seven- teen years he severed the home ties and set forth to seek his fortunes in the United States. For eight years after his arrival he was em- ployed at farm work in Illinois, and in 1892 he came to Nebraska and established his resi-

management, and he stands forth as one of the representative agriculturists and stock-growers of Hooker township, as well as a substantial and popular citizen. He is a Republican in politics but has held no public office save that of road supervisor. He is vice-president of tlie Adams State Bank.

As a young man Mr. Shoen married Miss Mary Rathe, who was born in the vicinity of

RESIDENCE OF FRANK SCHOEN

dence in Gage county. For the ensuing nine years he farmed on a Scully lease, in Hanover township, and he then purchased one hundred and sixty acres in Hooker township - the present Stevens farm. In 1909, after selling this farm, he purchased his present fine estate of three hundred and thirty acres, the build- ings, as intimated previously, being of model order, the farm having woven-wire fences, and an attractive evergreen grove adding to the beauty of the place. The same thrift and in- dustry which enabled Mr. Schoen to accumu- late this property are brought to bear in its

the city of Chicago, Illinois, and they have three children: Frank F. is a member of the military forces being prepared for service in the great European war and at the time of this writing, in the spring of 1918, he is stationed with his command at Deming, New Mexico; and Henry and Louis remain at the parental . home.

JAMES E. BALDERSON is another of the honored citizens who is a member of one of the sterling pioneer families of Gage county and who has here achieved large and worthy

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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 126

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