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 131
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OLTMAN OLTMANS, who is living prac- tically retired on his attractive homestead farm of one hundred and sixty acres, in Section 8, Highland township, is also the owner of a well improved estate of equal area in Nuckolls county. He came to America as a young man with virtually no financial resources and through his own energy and ability has achieved substantial and worthy success.
Mr. Oltmans was born in the province of Hanover, Germany, November 18, 1844, and there he was reared and educated. In 1866 he was a soldier in the war between Germany and Austria, and he saw four days' of specially active conflict with the forces opposed to the Hanoverian regiment of which he was a mem- ber. In 1866, shortly after attaining to his legal majority, he made the voyage to Ameri- ca on a sailing vessel, and the ship required seven weeks and three days to complete the trip across the Atlantic. He was accompanied by his sister Hilda and soon after their arrival they proceeded to Logan county, Illinois, where he found employment as a farm hand. There he continued his active association with farm enterprise until the spring of 1880, when he came to Gage county, where he arrived in February of that year. He purchased eighty acres of unimproved land in Highland town- ship, and that constituted the nucleus around
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which he has developed his splendid Gage county farm of the present day, his farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Nuckolls county having been purchased in 1905 and one of his sons having active management of the same. With him success has not came as an accident but has been the result of earnest and persistent industry, so that he is the more ap- preciative of the gracious prosperity that is now his portion. He is fervently loyal to the land of his adoption, with realization of the fact that here he has found opportunities for winning independence and substantial suc- cess, and in both spirit and action he exempli- fies the true American ideals of citizenship. His political support is given to the Demo- cratic party, and he and his wife are zealous members of the German Methodist Episcopal church in their home precinct, he having been one of the organizers of the same.
Miss Ella Decker was born in Germany, May 23, 1852, and she was a girl when she came to the United States. In Illinois, on the 23d of March, 1875, she became the wife of Mr. Oltmans, and she has proved a true help- meet to him in the years that have marked his advancement toward the goal of prosper- ity. In conclusion is given brief record con- cerning their children: Richard is a resident of Texas; Rinehart has charge of his father's farm in Nuckolls county; Oltman Frederick is associated with his brother in the operation of the farm in Nuckolls county ; William and George are prosperous farmers in Highland township; and Herman and Nettie remain at the parental home.
FRANK C. CROCKER is another of the native sons of Gage county whose civic and in- dustrial loyalty is manifested in his successful activities as a representative of farm enter- prise, his well improved homestead farm be- ing situated in Section 16, Filley township, where he carries forward progressive and vig- orous work in the line of diversified agricul- ture and is proving specially successful also in the breeding and raising of cattle and swine of superior order. He was born in Filley township, on the 1st of May, 1877, and ade-
quate data concerning the family history are given in the sketch dedicated to his father, Hiram P. Crocker, on other pages of this vol- ume.
Mr. Crocker gained his preliminary educa- tion in the district schools, later attended the village schools at Filley and thereafter con- pleted a course in the Beatrice Business Col- lege. He has never wavered in his allegiance to the basic industries with which he became familiar in his boyhood, and has proved a most successful and aggressive exponent of farm enterprise in his native county.
In 1900 was recorded the marriage of Mr. Crocker to Miss Dora Belle Bowen, who was born at Shawnee, Perry county, Ohio, a daugh- ter of Richard and Elizabeth (Morgan) Bow- en, who were born, reared, and married in Wales and who established their home in Ohio upon coming to the United States : in the '80s they came to Gage county, Nebraska, and set- tled in Midland township, where the father engaged in farming and where both he and his wife pased the remainder of their lives. Of their nine children eight are living, Mrs. Crocker having been the fifth in order of birth. Mr. and Mrs. Crocker have five children - Paul, Elton, Margaret, Harold, and Edith.
Mr. Crocker is a Republican in politics and he and his wife are active members of the Christian church in the village of Filley. He has attained to marked prominence and influ- ence as a successful breeder and grower of fine live stock and served five years as president of the Nebraska Swine Breeders' Association, besides which he was for two years a member of the state live-stock commission, under the administration of Governor Moorehead, he having been influential in effecting the estab- lishing of this commission or board, which has done much to advance the live-stock in- dustry in the state. Mr. Crocker's operations are conducted on the fine farm of three hun- dred and twenty acres which he recently pur- chased from his father, and upon an adjoining tract of three hundred and twenty acres that he rents. He is an extensive breeder of pure- blood Duroc-Jersey swine, his business in the handling of this fine type of swine being the
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largest of all private sales enterprises of the kind in the entire west and having given him wide reputation in farm industrial circles. He ships from his farm the finest types of Duroc- Jersey swine into all parts of the west, and has made this department of his farm enter- prise a specialty for fully fifteen years. He feeds an average of more than one hundred head of cattle each year and he is a leader in advanced farm enterprise in this favored sec- tion of his native state. He and his family occupy the pleasant old homestead in which he was born and reared, and his progressive- ness is shown not only in his individual ac- tivities but also in his insistent civic loyalty. About 1908 Mr. Crocker began zealous work to bring about legislative action for the pro- viding of a fund to be used in driving hog cholera from the state, and finally an appro- priation of five thousand dollars was made by the legislature for this purpose. Later Mr. Crocker was equally influential in obtaining a legislative appropriation of fifteen thousand dollars to be used in the establishing and maintaining of a state laboratory in which a serum should be manufactured for application in rendering swine immune from the cholera. In short, it may consistently be said that no other man in the state has done more to fur- ther the swine industry within its limits than has he, and his efforts in the suppression of hog cholera have been specially potent and beneficent.
GERD B. WIESE is another of the repre- sentative farmers of Gage county who claims the district of Ostfriesland, Province of Han- over, Germany, as the place of his nativity, his birth having there occurred on the 19th of September, 1869, and his parents, Bohle and Sarke (Loschen) Wiese, having there passed their entire lives. In the schools of his native land Mr. Wiese gained his early education and there also he gained his early experience in connection with agricultural pursuits. He was twenty-two years of age when he severed the home ties and came to the United States, in 1892, and in that year was recorded also his arrival in Gage county.
Here for the ensuing three years he was en- ployed at farm work in Hanover township, and thereafter he was engaged in independent farin operations on land which he held under a Scully lease until 1905, when he purchased his present fine farm of two hundred acres, in Section 18, Filley township. Of the build- ings on the place when he bought the property there is remaining only the main part of the house, which he has so remodeled and im- proved as to make it one of the attractive rural homes of the township, besides which he has erected other farm buildings of model type,-all standing in evidence of his progress- iveness and good management as an agricul- turist and stock-grower. For the first year of his residence in Gage county Mr. Wiese re- ceived wages of only sixteen dollars a month, and what he has achieved in the intervening years is shown definitely in his ownership of his present valuable farm property. Mr. Wiese gives loyal support to the Republican party and he served several years as treasurer of his school district. Both he and his wife are earnest communicants of the Lutheran church.
In Johnson county, this state, was solemn- ized the marriage of Mr. Wiese to Miss Grace Aden, who was born in Adams county, Illi- nois, January 15, 1870, a daughter of Fokke and Anke (Behrens) Aden, now residents of Johnson county, Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs. Wiese have two sons, John and Frank.
JOHN L. FRERICHS is giving his atten- tion to the management of a well improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres, belong- ing to his father, in Section 29, Logan town- ship, and his pleasant home receives mail ser- vice on rural route No. 3 from the city of Beatrice. He was born in Illinois, June 22, 1881, and is a son of Lammert W. Frerichs, concerning whom individual mention is made on other pages of this work, so that further review of the family history is not required in the present connection.
John L. Frerichs was about one year of age at the time of the family removal to Gage county, and here he was reared on his father's farm in Logan township, while his youthful
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GERD B. WIESE AND FAMILY
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education was obtained in the public schools of the locality. For the past fifteen years he has been engaged in farming enterprise in an in- dependent way, and since 1906 he has resided on this farm, which has been improved with good buildings since he assumed control and which gives palpable evidence of thrift and good management. Mr. Frerichs is independ- ent in politics, is serving as township clerk, to which office he was elected in 1916, and is also a director of school district No. 115, both he and his wife being members of the Lutheran church.
Mr. Frerichs chose as his wife Miss Fannie Schuster, daughter of Evert and Anna Schus- ter, and the three children of this union are Marie, Evert, and Willis.
LAMMERT FRERICHS has all depart- ments of his farm enterprise well organized and is one of the progressive agriculturists and stock-growers of the younger generation in Logan township, his well improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres being situat- ed in Section 31 and being a part of the large estate owned by his father, L. W. Frerichs, of whom individual mention is made on other pages.
Lammert Frerichs attended in his youth the public schools and also well ordered German schools, and at the age of twenty-one years he began his independent operations on his present home place, his success being shown by the very appearance of the farm, which is kept up to the best modern standard. As a progressive citizen he gives his support to the cause of the Democratic party, and he and his wife are active communicants of the Lutheran church.
In 1909 Mr. Frerichs married Miss Cath- erine Jobman, who was born in Dawson coun- ty, this state, and whose father, John Jobman, now resides in the city of Beatrice. Mr. and Mrs. Frerichs have four children - Lammert, Jr., John, Pope, and Reinhard.
JOSEPH S. STANEK. - In Section 24, Sherman township, is located the attractive and well ordered homestead farm of Mr .:
Stanek, who is a native son of Nebraska and a representative of a pioneer family of Pawnee county. He was born in that county, on the 11th of May, 1871, and is a son of Anton and Anna (Kovanda) Stanek, both natives of Bo- hemia, where they were reared to maturity, both having been young folk when they came to the United States. In 1867, the year that marked the admission of Nebraska to state- hood, Anton Stanek numbered himself among the pioneers of Pawnee county, where he re- claimed and improved a farm and met his full share of the hardships that fell to the lot of the early settlers of Nebraska. He won suc- cess and prosperity through his industry and good management and continued his residence in Pawnee county until his death, his widow being now a resident of Humboldt, Richardson county. Of their six children the subject of this review is the eldest; Albert is deceased ; Frank and James are engaged in farm enter- prise in Pawnee county ; Fannie remains with her widowed mother; and Annie is the wife of Frederick Fridley, of Humboldt, this state.
Joseph S. Stanek was born in the pioneer dugout which at the time constituted the home of his parents, and was reared under the con- ditions marking the pioneer days, his early educational advantages having been those of the district schools .. His father was killed in a railroad accident and Joseph S., as eldest of the children, thereafter assumed the manage- ment of the home farm and the providing for his mother and the other members of the fam- ily. At the age of twenty-nine years he en- gaged independently in farm industry in his native county, and two years later he pur- chased his present farm and became one of the enterprising and industrious agriculturists of Gage county, his well directed energies having brought to him a generous success and having marked him as a thorough-going farm- er. He is independent in politics and gives his support to men and measures meeting the ap- proval of his judgment. He served ten years as a member of the school board of his dis- trict and is a citizen who commands high es- teem.
At the age of twenty-eight years Mr. Stanek
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It may consistently be stated that the father of Mr. Stanek was a mason by trade, and that in the early period of his residence in Ne- braska he supplemented his income by work at his trade. In this connection hie frequent- ly walked to Brownville and Lincoln to find employment at his trade, and he received com- pensation of five dollars a day, which he used in providing for his family. He assisted in the building of the state penitentiary in the city of Lincoln. He worked at intervals in Iowa also, and once when he and his partner were ready to cross the Missouri river they found the ferry out of commission, under which conditions they placed their clothing on their shoulders and swam the entire distance across the stream. In his pioneer home his wife used a coffee-mill to grind corn for food.
wedded Miss Anna Hubka, daughter of Albert L. Thornburg, who was born in the year 1821 Hubka, of whom mention is made on other pages, and the one child of this union is a son, Lester. and whose death occurred in 1911, was reared and educated in Indiana and was a scion of a sterling pioneer family of that state. He was a son of Joab A. and Betsy ( Holoway) Thorn- burg, the former of whom likewise was born in Ohio, his father, Isaac Thornburg, having been one of the very early settlers in the old Buck- eye state and having served as a soldier in the war of 1812. John Diggs, maternal grandfath- er of the subject of this review, was a native of England and became a pioneer settler in Ohio, to which state he removed from Pennsylvania. John L. Thornburg was a lad of seven years at the time of his parents' removal from Ohio to Indiana, where he grew to man's estate and where he continued his alliance with farm in- dustry until he removed with his family to Iowa. He thus became a pioneer of the Hawkeye state, as did he later of Nebraska, to which latter commonwealth he came in 1869. He made Gage county his destination, In 1917 Mr. Stanek purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in Saskatchewan, Can- ada, where he will farm during the summer seasons, returning to Gage county, during the winter months. purchased land in Rockford township and here he developed a productive farm. Eventually he sold the property and removed to Kansas, in which state he and his wife passed the re- mainder of their lives, theirs having been the distinction of being pioneers in each of three now opulent states of the west. Both were birthright members of the Society of Friends, to which gracious faith they adhered all their lives. In politics Mr. Thornburg was origin- ally an old-line Whig, but he espoused the cause of the Republican party at the time of its organization and thereafter supported its principles until his death. Of his nine children five are now living,- Mrs. Olive Moore, of Morgan county, Kansas; John D., the immed- iate subject of this sketch; Mrs. Lydia Stapes, a resident of Iowa; Mrs. Rachel Fetrel, of Washington county, Kansas; and Mrs. Cath- erine Henry, who maintains her home in the state of Idaho.
JOHN D. THORNBURG. - In the year that marked the admission of Nebraska to statehood Mr. Thornburg numbered himself among the pioneer settlers in Gage county and during the long intervening period of half a century he has continuously held precedence as one of the representative citizens and farm- ers of Midland township, where he is now the owner of a well improved landed estate of two hundred acres. He endured his share of the hardships and trials incidental to pio- neer life, did well his part in the furtherance of civic and material development and progress and is a sterling citizen to whom it is gratify- ing to accord recognition in this publication.
Mr. Thornburg was born in Randolph coun- ty, Indiana, July 30, 1846, and is a son of John L. and Harriet (Diggs) Thornburg, the former of whom was born in Ohio and the latter in Pennsylvania, their marriage having been solemnized in the Hoosier state. John
John D. Thornburg was reared on the old home farm in Indiana and acquired his early education in the common schools of that state. He was eighteen years of age at the time of the family removal to Iowa, in 1864, and there he remained until 1867, when he came to the
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new state of Nebraska and numbered himself among the pioneers of Gage county. He en- tered claim to a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres in Section 25, Midland township, and here he has resided during the passing years, which have brought to him a generous measure of success and prosperity, as well as inviolable place in the confidence and esteem of all who know him. On his embryonic farm he provided as his first domicile a rude dug- out of the type common to the early pioneer days, and later he manifested his enterprise, as well as his increasing prosperity, by erect- ing his present attractive residence, as well as other excellent farm buildings. He has been a vigorous and resourceful exponent of agri- cultural and live-stock industry in this section of the state and, as before stated, is now the owner of a fine farm property of two hundred acres. He has given special attention to the rais- ing of full-blood Red Polled cattle. Mr. Thorn- burg recalls that when he first established his home on his present farm his nearest neighbor was sixteen miles distant, and he has done his share in bringing about the marvelous chang- es that have been wrought in the intervening years. His courage has been on a parity with his ambitious purpose and he never faltered in the face of difficulties and reverses while he was striving to reclaim and develop his farm and to aid in civic and material advancement, his devoted wife having been his earnest help- meet and coadjutor. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party and his civic loyalty has been shown in his effective service as township assessor, of which office he was the incumbent for two years, and as a member of the school board of his district. He has been for many years an active member of the Christian church, of which his wife likewise was an earnest adherent.
In 1865 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Thornburg to Miss Mary E. Ford, who like- was born in Indiana. She was a daughter of Dr. R. and Elizabeth (Bricker) Ford, who were residents of Iowa at the time of their death. The supreme loss and bereavement in the life of Mr. Thornburg was that entailed in the death of his loved wife, who was sum-
moned to eternal rest on the 22nd day of Oc- tober, 1915, and whose memory is revered by all who came within the compass of her gentle influence. Of their nine children six are liv- ing: Alonzo U. is a prosperous farmer in Osborn county, Kansas; Elvin A. is engaged in farm enterprise in the state of Oregon; Rosanna is the wife of Elmer E. Phillips, of Custer county, Nebraska ; Frank V. has active charge of his father's farm, in association with his younger brother, and is also the owner of a farm of ninety acres, in Midland township; Miss Pearl remains at the parental home ; and Charles E. is associated in the work and man- agement of the home farm.
CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. - The well ordered farm of Mr. Andersen comprises one hundred and sixty acres and is situated in Sec- tion 35, Hooker township. He purchased this property in 1884, the land having at the time been entirely unimproved, and with the passing years he has reclaimed the farm most effectively and made it one of the valu- able places of Hooker township. He has pro- vided excellent buildings and unequivocal suc- cess has attended his activities as an agricul- turist and stock-grower. Mr. Andersen is consistently to be designated as a pioneer citi- zen of Nebraska, in which state he has main- tained his home for nearly half a century and in which he has stood exponent of loyal and appreciative citizenship. His political support is given to the Republican party and he and his wife are earnest members of the Lutheran church.
Mr. Andersen was born and reared in Den- mark, the date of his nativity having been September 2, 1842. He is a son of Nis and Eliza (Gissen) Andersen, the latter of whom died in Denmark. Nis Andersen came to the United States in 1881 and he passed the re- mainder of his life in Illinois, his vocation in his native land having been that of a farmer. Of the six children the subject of this sketch is the younger of the two surviving, and An- drew is living retired in Bureau county, Illi- nois.
Christian Andersen gained his early educa-
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tion in the schools of his native land, and there he served on two different occasions as a mem- ber of the Danish army. He came to the United States in 1871, and for some time he found employment in the city of Chicago, af- ter which he was for seven years engaged in farming in Bureau county, Illinois, in which state he resided for a total of twelve years. In the autumn of 1884 he came to Nebraska, and here his energy, industry, and ability have gained to him substantial prosperity, he having been for many years one of the suc- cessful farmers of Gage county.
In 1872 Mr. Andersen wedded Miss Mary C. Hendricksen, who likewise was born in Denmark, a daughter of Peter Hendricksen, who there passed his entire life. Mr. and Mrs. Andersen became the parents of six chil- dren and concerning them brief record is here given: Christina is the wife of T. Thomp- son, a farmer in Filley township; Matta is the wife of Harry Yohe, of the same township; Peter R., who is an active manager of his father's farm, ' married Anna Christiansen, whose death occurred November 29, 1915, and who is survived by three children - Marion, Howard, and Julia ; Anna is the wife of Wood Lovett, of Johnson county; Andrew is en- gaged in farming in Hooker township; and Millie is the wife of Carl Sorensen, of Filley township.
AUGUST HASENOHR is another of the sterling citizens given to Gage county by the great empire of Germany, and in the state of his adoption he has through his own ability and energy so taken advantage of opportuni- ties as to win for himself substantial prosper- ity. He came to Gage county shortly after attaining to his legal majority and here he found employment at farm work. What the intervening years credit to him in achieve- ment is shown in his ownership at the present time of a valuable landed estate of six hun- dred and forty acres,- comprising two differ- ent farms in Gage county and one - of one hundred and sixty acres - near Dewitt, Sal- ine county. His fine homestead farm, com- prising one hundred and sixty acres, is one of
the model places of Holt township and is sit- uated in Section 8, about four miles distant from the village of Pickrell, which is his post- office address. On this homestead Mr. Hasen- ohr has made the best of modern improve- ments, his barn, thirty-six by forty-four feet in dimensions, having been erected in 1910, and the following year having recorded the erection of his handsome farm residence of twelve rooms.
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