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 132

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 132

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Mr. Hasenohr was born in the province of Westphalia, Germany, January 22, 1866, and is a son of Herman and Elizabeth (Saving) Hasenohr, who passed their entire lives in that section of Germany: of their seven chil- dren the subject of this review is the only one in the United States.

August Hasenohr was reared and educated in his native province, where his father was a prosperous fariner, and in 1888, at the age of twenty-two years, he severed the ties that bound him to home and fatherland, in order that he might win for himself independence and prosperity in the United States. Soon after his arrival he came to Gage county, and for the first summer he was employed on a farm in Holt township. His previous exper- ience well fitted him for independent enter- prise as an agriculturist and stock-grower, and as his financial resources were not sufficient to justify him in purchasing a farm, he achieved the desired end to a certain extent by renting land near Pickrell, where he con- tinued farming under these conditions, and with cumulative success, until 1897, when he made his first purchase of land,- a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, in Section 15, Holt township. There he continued his resi- dence until 1908, when he removed to his pres- ent homestead farm. With increasing pros- perity Mr. Hasenohr continued to make judi- cious investment in Gage county land, and he is at the present time the owner of a valuable and well improved Gage county estate of four hundred and eighty acres, as previously inti- mated in this article. He is one of the sub- stantial stockholders in the farmers' grain elevator at Pickrell, is a Republican in poli- tics, and is honored as a loyal and liberal

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citizen, as well as a man of sterling character and worthy achievement. Both he and his wife are active communicants of the German Lutheran church.

February 19, 1886, recorded the marriage of Mr. Hasenohr to Miss Carolina Tesmann, and about two years later she accompanied him on his immigration to America. She was born in Westphalia, Germany, July 27, 1859, and has been to her husband a true companion and helpmeet during the years that have marked his steady advancement toward the goal of prosperity. Of the seven children of Mr. and Mrs. Hasenohr the first two were born in Germany: William is now a success- ful farmer east of the city of Beatrice; Anna is the wife of Henry Henke, of Otoe county, this state: Theodore is a progressive farmer in Holt township and Frederick near Dewitt, Saline county ; Lillie is the wife of Dick Helm- ke, of Holt township; and Alfred and Oscar remain at the parental home.

BRUNO J. BUHR is the owner of a farm of one hundred and twenty acres, in Section 24, Hanover township, has been a resident of Gage county since he was two years of age and his present farm is a part of the excellent landed estate accumulated by his father, who was a sterling pioneer of the county. He gives his attention to diversified agriculture and stock-raising, and in his farm enterprise is dis- tinctly energetic and progressive, so that suc- cess comes to him as normal perogative.

Mr. Buhr was born in Atchison county, Missouri, October 19, 1878, and is a son of John G. and Grace (Holz) Buhr, both of whom were born and reared in Germany. In America their original home was in Illinois, where Mr. Buhr was engaged in Farming for a few years, after which he removed to Mis- souri and continued in the same basic line of enterprise, as did he later, for one year, in Kansas. He came to Gage county about the year 1880, and after farming for a time on rented land he purchased one hundred acres in Hanover township, where he later bought an additional tract, of one hundred and twenty acres. He reclaimed his farm from the virgin

prairie, made good improvements on the place and on the old homestead both he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives, both having been zealous members of the Ger- man Lutheran church. Of their eight chil- dren five are living: Annie, who resides on her farm in Filley township, is the widow of Albert Lukin ; John J. is a prosperous farmer in Logan township; Albert J. is a farmer in Norton county, Kansas; Gerd is engaged in successful farm enterprise in Hanover town- ship; and the subject of this review is the youngest of the number.

Bruno J. Buhr acquired his early education in the district schools and thereafter continued to be associated with his father in the manage- ment of the home farm, which he finally pur- chased, by acquiring the interests of the other heirs, in 1907. He permits nothing to deflect him from his close application to the work and management of his farm but is loyal and pub- lic-spirited as a citizen, his political support being given to the Democratic party and he and his wife being active communicants of the German Lutheran church.

The year 1904 recorded the marriage of Mr. Buhr to Miss Grace Ackermann, who was born and reared in this county, a daughter of John and Geska (Schuster) Ackermann, who here established their home in the pioneer days. Of the seven children of Mr. and Mrs. Buhr all are living save one and the names of the surviving children are here entered in respective order of birth : Grace, Geska, John, Tillie, Menna and Rosie.

JESTUN O. McCLUNG was in the very prime of his vigorous and useful manhood when he was called from the stage of life's mortal endeavors, in 1892, at the age of forty- five years, and just prior to his demise he had purchased the farm of fifty-five acres, in Sec- tion 32, Filley township, on which his widow still maintains her home.

Jestun Otto McClung was born in Muskin- gum county, Ohio, on the 6th of September, 1846, and was twelve years of age when his parents removed to Missouri, where he was reared to adult age and where he completed

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

MR. AND MRS. JOHN G. BUHR

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

his school work. As a young man he came to Nebraska and leased a farm in Lancaster county. Later he was engaged in farming under similar conditions in Johnson county, and finally he came to Gage county, where he became a farmer on rented land in Filley township. He was industrious and progres- sive and his success was shown when he final- ly purchased a farm of his own, but his death occurred shortly afterward, before he had removed with his family to the place. He was a man of sterling character, commanded unqualified popular esteem and was a loyal and progressive citizen of the state and county of his adoption. His political support was given to the Republican party and he was a member of the Baptist church, as was also his widow, who now holds membership in the Christian church.

After the death of her husband Mrs. Mc- Clung removed with her four sons to the farm which he had purchased, and here she has maintained her residence for a quarter of a century. Within this period excellent im- provements have been made on the farm, which is well managed and yields good re- turns.

In Lancaster county, this state, the year 1877 recorded the marriage of Mr. McClung to Miss Albertina Krantz, who was born in Jefferson county, Wisconsin, a daughter of William Krantz. She was a child when her parents came to Nebraska and numbered them- selves among the pioneers of Johnson county, and when she was but five years old her mother died. Her father later contracted a second marriage, and when Mrs. McClung was twelve years old she came to Gage county to make her home with the family of Lucius Filley, with whom she remained two years. In the meanwhile she had duly profited by the advantages of the pioneer schools, and after leaving the home of Mr. Filley she went to Lancaster county, where she met and finally became the wife of Mr. McClung, with whom she returned to Gage county. With all of maternal devotion she has reared her four sons, each of whom accords to her the fullest measure of filial love and solicitude and all

of whom are now well established in life : Louis is a prosperous farmer in Sherman township; John B. is a resident of the state of California ; Guy is in Franklin county, Ne- braska; and Claton C. remains with his moth- er and has active management of the farm.

Mrs. McClung's memory touches the pio- neer period in Nebraska history and she re- calls that when she was a child the Indians not infrequently called at the home of her father. In Gage county, as a girl, she as- sisted in fighting prairie fires, and she drove Mr. Filley's ponies to Beatrice when the pres- ent attractive city was a mere village with much of the present business and residence district marked by sloughs and pond-holes. She remembers incidents relative to the trip which she made with her parents from Wis- consin to Nebraska, the journey having been made with wagon and ox team and a cow having been tied behind the wagon. In ford- ing a river en route the life of the cow was nearly sacrificed, as it narowly escaped drown- ing. Mrs. McClung finds pleasure in remi- niscences concerning the early days, especially in view of the fact that she has been a witness of the various stages of progress that have brought opulent civic and industrial prosper- ity to this section of the comonwealth.

JOSEPH L. WEBB, M. D., attained to more than local prestige in the exacting pro- fession that had been so signally dignified and honored by the services of his father, the late Dr. Joseph Luther Webb, who was one of the leading pioneer physicians and most in- fluential citizens of Gage county and to whom a memorial tribute is entered on other pages of this publication, so that further review of the family history is not here demanded. It may be said, however, that few families have been more prominently and worthily identi- fied with civic and material development and progress in this favored section of Nebraska than that of which the subject of this review is a popular representative. Though une- quivocal success had been his in the practice of his profession and as a factor in its edu- cational work, Dr. Joseph Lewis Webb re-

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

tired from active practice in the spring of 1914, in order that he might give his personal supervision to the development and manage- ment of one of the large and valuable farm properties near his native city of Beatrice, and on this estate, in Riverside township, he now maintains his residence. In his farm en- terprise he is bringing to bear the most ap- proved scientific methods and the most mod- ern facilities, and his executive ability is such that he has made the farm a veritable model in general efficiency of operation, as it is also in its improvements, the while he is giving special attention to the raising of pure-bred live stock and also the better types of graded stock.

Dr. Joseph Lewis Webb, third son of the late Dr. Joseph. Luther Webb and Kate Louise (Sheppard) Webb, was born at Beatrice, this county, January 25, 1884. His early educat- tional advantages were those afforded in the public schools of his native city, which was then a mere village, and he had also the fos- tering influences of a home of distinctive cul- ture and refinement. He prosecuted higher academic studies in Highland Park College, Des Moines, Iowa, and in Cotner University, at Lincoln, Nebraska. In preparation for his chosen profession he attended first the Lincoln Medical College, in the capital city of his na- tive state, and later the Bennett Medical Col- lege, in the city of Chicago, in which latter institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1906 and from which he received his degree of Doctor of Medicine. After a period devoted to travel, Dr. Webb engaged in the practice of his profession at Hebron, judicial center of Thayer county, Nebraska, butt later he returned to Chicago and became an attache of the general staff of the Jefferson Park Polyclinic & Hospital, where he gained broad and varied.clinical experience and where he remained thus engaged about two years, in the meanwhile having been retained to give courses of lectures before the students of his alma mater, Bennett Medical College and also those of the Jefferson Park Hospital training school for nurses. After severing these rela- pany A. Eighteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry,

tions the Doctor again spent some time in travel and then he returned to Beatrice and became associated with his father in active general practice. His technical attainments here further brought to him recognition in connection with educational work in his pro- fession, as he was called upon to deliver lec- tures before the students of the Lincoln Med- ical College at Lincoln, Nebraska, and also

those of the Mennonite Hospital Training School for Nurses, at Beatrice. As a prac- titioner he added to the prestige of the family name in Gage county, where his father had for many years held precedence as one of the leading physicians and surgeons of this sec- tion of the state, and finally, as previously noted, he withdrew from active professional work to give his attention to his farm inter- ests. The Doctor is a Republican in politics and his is a most vital interest in all things touching the welfare and advancement of his native city and county, his attitude being that of a broad-gauged and public-spirited citizen.

August 16, 1905, recorded the marriage of Dr. Webb to Miss Iva M. Gamble, of Beat- rice, she being a daughter of George W. Gam- ble, a member of a well known pioneer family that early made settlement northwest of Be- atrice. Dr. and Mrs. Webb have three chil- dren, whose names and respective dates of birth are here indicated: Joseph Lewis, Jr., February 16, 1907 ; George Harold, February 11, 1911; and Edna Katherine, September 8, 1914.

JAMES FISHER is another of the ster- ling citizens who has won success and inde- pendence through long continued association with farm enterprise in Gage county, and his present attractive home farm, of one hundred and forty acres, is situated in Section 4, Sher- man township.

Mr. Fisher was born in Bohemia, Germany, March 1, 1857, was there reared and educated and was twenty-two years of age when he came to the United States. He landed in the port of New York city and his financial resources were at such low ebb that he was compelled to bor- row twenty-four dollars to pay his railroad fare

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

to Nebraska. Upon arriving in this state he settled in Johnson county, where he was em- ployed for the following three months at farm work, with a compensation of but eight dollars a month. He was so frugal that he soon was able to pay the debt which he had incurred in coming to Nebraska, and after having worked about eight years as a farm employe he had saved one hundred dollars, besides hav- ing become the owner of a small house. He sold the house and! with the one hundred dol- lars thus added to his savings he purchased a lease on school land, incidentally assuming a debt of two hundred dollars. After his mar- riage he continued his operations on this land eight years, and he then sold the lease and pur- chased one hundred and sixty acres in Filley township, Gage county. This was wild prai- rie land, in Section 1, and on the place he erected a house and other modest farm build- ings. There he continued his activities as a farmer and stock-grower for ten years, and in 1910 he purchased his present well improved homestead farm, besides which he owns eighty acres in Filley township and, in 1917, gave a farm of eighty acres to one of his sons. Mr. Fisher endured his full share of the hardships incidental to pioneer life and recalls that in the early days he sold wheat for only thirty cents a bushel. After his marriage he and his wife occupied for some time a little frame house that was only fourteen by sixteen feet itt dimensions, and that afforded entirely in- adequate protection during the cold winters, the walls of the little dwelling being fre- quently covered with frost, so cold was the interior of the building. Mr. Fisher has been unremitting in his industry and, in the face of many handicaps, has achieved substantial suc- cess.

In Johnson county was solemnized his mar- riage to Miss Anna Brush, who likewise was born in Bohemia, and they have four children: Frank, who is a successful farmer in Filley township is married and has two children ; Rudolph and his wife reside on another excel- lent farm in Filley township: Joseph, who is married and has one child, is a prosperous farmer in Sherman township; and Helen is

the wife of Frank Hubka, of Sherman town- ship, they having one child.

Mr. Fisher is a loyal citizen of the county and state in which he has found opportuni- ties for the winning of independence and prosperity and though in a basic way he sup- ports the cause of the Democratic party he is not restricted by partisan lines in local affairs and gives his support to men and measures meeting the approval of his judgment.

GEORGE M. STEECE is lawyer by pro- fession but has proved his versatility by his specially successful activities in connection with farm industry in Gage county, where he owns and operates a splendidly improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres, in Section 25, Logan township.

Mr. Steece was born in Lawrence county, Ohio, on the 2d of July, 1852, and is a son of Archibald and Helen (Sterne) Steece, the former of whom was born in Ohio, in 1824 and died in 1900, and the latter of whom was born in Virginia, she having celebrated her eighty-seventh birthday anniversary in 1918 and being still a resident of Gage county. The marriage of the parents was solemnized in Lawrence county, Ohio, where the father followed the trade of iron moulder. He went forth as a valiant soldier of the Union when the Civil war was precipitated on the nation. In response to President Lincoln's first call, he enlisted, in 1861, as a member of Com- pany A, Eighteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which command he proceeded to the front and continued in active service one year and four months, at the expiration of which he was given an honorable discharge, on ac- count of physical disability. After the war he continued his residence in Ohio until 1877, when he removed with his family to Benton county, Iowa, and in 1881 he came with his family to Gage county, Nebraska, where he purchased the homestead now owned by his son George M., the immediate subject of this sketch, who is the only child. On this farm Mr. Steece passed the remainder of his life, and he achieved success in connection with farm enterprise in this county. He was a Republican in politics, and was affiliated with

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

the Grand Army of the Republic, his widow being an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Archibald Steece was a son of George Steece, who was born in Mary- land, and who became a successful manufac- turer of pig iron in Ohio, later following the same line of enterprise in Missouri, where his death occurred, the family lineage tracing back to staunch Holland Dutch origin. Wil- liam Sterne, maternal grandfather of the sub- ject of this review, was born in Virginia and removed thence to Ohio in 1847. He became a successful and influential exponent of the iron industry in the Buckeye state, where he passed the closing years of his life.

George M. Steece acquired his early edu- cation in the public schools of his native state and finally he entered the law department of the celebrated University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, from which he received his degree of Bachelor of Laws upon his graduation as a member of the class of 1873. For two years thereafter he was engaged in the practice of his profession at Vinton, Iowa, and in 1881 he accompanied his parents on their removal to Gage county, where he has since been in active charge of the farm purchased by his father. He has erected all of the present farm buildings, which are of model type, and is one of the successful agriculturist and stock- growers of the county.

In 1879 Mr. Steece wedded Miss Eva Gam- ble, who was born in Wabash county, Indiana, a daughter George and Mary (Squire) Gam- ble, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Gamble finally removed with their family to Iowa, where the death of the latter occurred, and he was a resident of Colorado at the time of his death. Both he and his wife were of Scotch-Irish ancestry. Mr. and Mrs. Steece have five children : Lottie is the wife of Dav- id Thompson, of Riverside township; Jessie J. is the wife of James C. Carmichael, who rents and operates the farm of Mr. Steece ; Louis is an agent for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, in the city of Beatrice ; Guy is engaged in farming in Logan town- ship; and Florence is the wife of C. Peter

Jensen, likewise a farmer in this township.

In politics Mr. Steece is a staunch Repub- lican, thoroughly fortified in his convictions concerning economic and governmental poli- cies, and he has held various township offices, including that of assessor, of which he is the incumbent in 1918. He passed one summer in Omaha as an attache of the meat inspec- tion service of the agricultural department of the government, and it should be noted that prior to coming to Nebraska he was for two years editor and publisher of the Benton County Democrat, at Vinton, Iowa. On his farm he gives special attention to the raising of pure-blood Jersey cattle. He is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America and he and his wife are active members of the Methodist Episcopal church.

J. J. KING is one of the vigorous and suc- cessful farmers of Filley township, where he conducts operations as an agriculturist and stock-grower on three hundred and twenty acres of rented land, besides being the owner of his attractive little homestead farm, of thirty acres, in Section 32. He is a son of Charles W. King, of whom specific mention is made on other pages, so that further review of the family history is not here demanded.

Mr. King was born in Rock Island county, Illinois, on the 23d of March, 1871, and was five years of age at the time of the family re- moval to Gage county, Nebraska, where he was reared on a farm and received the ad- vantages of the local schools. As a young nian he engaged in independent farming on rented land in Filley township, and in 1905 he purchased his present homestead place of thirty acres, upon which he continues to make excellent improvements from time to time. He is a Republican in politics and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.

In 1912 was recorded the marriage of Mr. King to Miss Emma Shelton, who was born in the city of Knoxville, Tennessee, and who is the popular chatelaine of their pleasant home. They have no children.

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

MARTIN FRITZEN makes each succes- sive year count in productive activity and cum- ulative prosperity in connection with the var- ied operations on the farm of one hundred and sixty acres which is his place of residence, in Section 21, Logan township, the property belonging to his father, Lammert Fritzen, an honored pioneer of the county.

Martin Fritzen was born in Adams county, Illinois, on the 26th of January, 1873, and was only a boy at the time of the family removal to Gage county, Nebraska, where he was reared on his father's farm and where he profited duly by the advantages afforded in the district schools of Logan township. At the age of twenty-four years he began farm- ing in an independent way, and his energy and good judgment have brought to him a generous measure of success in his operations as an agriculturist and stock-grower. He re- calls the conditions that obtained in the pio- neer period of Gage county history and as a boy he herded cattle over the prairies, when settlers were few and widely separated. Mr. Fritzen is a Democrat in politics and has been called upon to serve in the offices of justice of the peace and road supervisor, in each of which he acquitted himself with characteris- tic ability and fidelity. Both he and his wife are active communicants of the Lutheran church.

In 1899 Mr. Fritzen wedded Miss Ricka Buss, who likewise is a native of Adams coun- ty, Illinois, and they have seven children: An- nie, Lammert, Gerhard, Otto, Martin, Jr., Carl, and John, all of whom remain members of the ideal family circle of the parental home.

WILLIAM R. JONES. - Though he has not advanced far beyond the psalmist's span of three score years and ten and has the men- tal and physical vigor that belies even this age, Mr. Jones has the enviable distinction of be- ing at the present time the earliest settler of Beatrice now living within its gracious borders. He was a lad of eleven years when he ac- companied his parents on their immigration to Nebraska Territory, in 1857, and the fam- ily home was in that year established in Gage

county,-a full decade prior to the admission of the state to the Union. It can thus be realized that the memory of this honored pioneer compasses virtually the entire gamut that has been run in the development of this section of Nebraska from a prairie wilderness to a populous and opulent district of a great commonwealth, and it is gratifying to him that he has been able to play a part in the civic and industrial progress and upbuilding of Gage county.

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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 132

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