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 141

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 141

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

Grand Island, Nebraska ; and Mabel, the wife of John Greenwood, of Parsons, Kansas.

In 1882 Mr. Calland came to Nebraska and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of un- improved land in Highland township, and until 1897 he devoted his energies to the im- provement and cultivation of this tract. He conducted his agricultural operations on a very large scale, as he leased two thousand acres of land and became one of the most ex- tensive farmers of Gage county. He met with marked success, and in 1897 he retired to Beatrice, where he has since made his home.

The religious views of Mr. Calland coincide with the teachings of the Methodist church, of which he is a member. In politics he has always been a Republican.

Mr. Calland is one of those who can doubly appreciate the patriotism manifested by the young men of America at the present time, when they are giving themselves earnestly to making up the fine national army for the coun- try's participation in the great European war. This attitude can but recall vividly to his mind. the time when, as a boy of seventeen, he subordinated all personal interests to respond to the call of patriotism, by tendering his ser- vices in defense of the Union. To these men of to-day, as to the boys of 1861 to 1865, the country owes a debt of gratitude it can never repay.

ARTHUR GRONE. - The story of Ar- thur Grone's early life is definitely connected with that of his father, John Grone, who was born in Bremen, Germany, October 14, 1824. John Grone sailed from that land of many Germanic states, with as many rulers and op- pressors, to the free land of the United States, which is united under one chosen ruler, the president. He was a lad of fourteen when, in company with an aunt, he landed in New York city. During the next eight years he spent his time in learning the language and customs of the new land. He was for some time an ap- prentice to a tailor. In 1846 this fearless young man made his way to the wilds of Wis- consin. Amongst her virgin forests the bear and the wolf were stalking their prey, the deer

blithely fleeing from an imaginary foe; but the advent of the settlers soon struck terror to these denizens of the forest. Mr. Grone par- ticipated in many a chase of the deer and bear, bearing them triumphantly to his home. Only one other white settler was in the valley where he lived : the other inhabitants of those parts were the Indians, who still lived in their tepees and followed their nomadic ways. Among these surroundings of nature in her purity and strength, Mr. Grone reared a fam- ily of fourteen children. The mother of this large and interesting family was Wilhelmina (Albertus) Grone, who was born in Germany, August 11, 1835, and who came to the United States when a young girl. She was her hus- band's companion and helpmeet for many years, and the gracious ties were broken only by death.

John Grone removed with his family to. Iowa in 1874, and in 1886 they came to farm in Fillmore county, Nebraska. The farming activities of Mr. and Mrs. John Grone covered nearly a half-century and were brought to a close in 1894, when they retired and moved to ·Bruning, Thayer county, Nebraska, where the death of Mrs. Grone occurred, August 14, 1906. Mr. Grone passed away October 9, 1917, at a patriarchal age.

Arthur Grone was born in Sauk county, Wisconsin, August 1, 1867, and was the tenth in order of birth of the fourteen children born to his parents. He was a young man upon his arrival with his parents in Nebraska. He spent the following twenty years farming dif- ferent rented tracts of land, in different lo- calities, the last tract of land thus rented having been owned by his father, in Fillmore county. It was here he made a good start to- ward the success shown in his ownership of his present fine landed estate. He purchased two hundred and forty acres of land in Elm township, Gage county, in 1906, and in the following year he came to make his home on these broad acres. He has remodeled his house and barn to meet the needs of his home and his farming operations. He is raising high-grade Poland-China hogs, which, when put upon the market, will bring two dollars

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM J. DOBBS

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

for every dollar's worth of corn he has fed them.

Mr. Grone was married September 18, 1889, to Frances J. Clark, who was born December 17, 1871, in Macedonia, Pottawattamie county, lowa. Her parents, Ellis P. and Mary E. (Cisna) Clark, were born in Kentucky and Ohio respectively. The father was born in 1838 and died May 24, 1913. The mother was born in 1852 and died July 22, 1900, in He- bron, Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs. Clark went to Iowa during the great Chicago fire of 1871. From 1886 to 1889 they farmed in Norton county, Kansas, and they then moved to Thayer county, Nebraska. After several other changes they finally adopted Nebraska as their home, and here their death occurred. They were the parents of eleven children. Mr. and Mrs. Grone have four children: Alma M. is the wife of E. Dougherty, living in Bruning. Nebraska; Florence is the wife of L. Rich- ardson, of Elm township, Gage county ; and Frank and Violet L. remain at the parental home.

Mr. Grone is a Democrat in politics and has served as road overseer. He is affiliated with the Woodmen and his wife holds membership in the Methodist Episcopal church.

WILLIAM J. DOBBS, who is living re- tired in the city of Beatrice, is a representa- tive of one of the most prominent and hon- ored territorial pioneer families of this sec- tion of Nebraska and proper review of the family history is given on other pages, both in a specific way and in connection with the gen- eral history of the county, prepared by Hugh J. Dobbs, a younger brother of the subject of this review. The family home was es- tablished in Gage county in the early terri- torial days and the name of Dobbs, as repre- sented in the various generations, has been one indicative of large and benignant influ- ence in the annals of Gage county. Thus it is specially gratifying to be able to incorpor- ate in this volume an individual, though neces- sarily brief, review of the career of William J. Dobbs, who was a lad of eleven years at

the time the family home was established in Gage county, - nearly sixty years ago.

Mr. Dobbs was born in Taney county, Missouri, April 16, 1848, a son of Fidillo H. and Mary Jane (Shullenbarger) Dobbs, con- cerning whom proper record is given else- where in this work. Mr. Dobbs gained his rudimentary education in Missouri and, as be- fore stated, was eleven years of age at the time of the family immigration to Nebraska Terri- tory, in 1859. He was reared to manhood under the conditions and influences of the pioneer farm of the frontier, his father having obtained land in Rockford township, Gage county, and having there instituted the recla- mation and development of a farm at a time when settlers were few and widely separated and when Indians were still much in evidence in this section. William J. Dobbs attended the primitive schools maintained by the early settlers, and was signally favored in being reared in a home of refined influences. In 1868 he took up a homestead of one hundred and twenty acres, in Rockford township, and with the passing years he well upheld the honors of the family name both as a success- ful farmer and as a broad-minded and pro- gressive citizen. He developed one of the valuable farm properties of Gage county and remained on his old homestead until 1901, when he retired from the active labors and responsibilities that had so long been his por- tion. For three years thereafter he resided in the village of Blue Springs, and he then removed to the city of Beatrice, where he and his wife now occupy their beautiful home, at 1001 Market street, where they delight to wel- come the hosts of friends they have drawn about them during their many years of resi- dence in this county. Mr. Dobbs still owns a well improved landed estate of two hundred and sixty-nine acres in Gage county, and he long held precedence as one of the most ag- gressive and successful exponents of agricul- tural and livestock industry in Rockford town- ship. Though he has had no ambition for public office of any kind he has been liberal in the support of measures and movements

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

advanced for the general good of his com- munity and of the county, and has given his allegiance to the Republican party, both he and his wife having been for many years active members of the Methodist Episcopal church.

In the year 1873 Mr. Dobbs wedded Miss Clara Richards, who was born in the state of Pennsylvania, a daughter of William and Jane (Trowbridge) Richards, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of West Vir- ginia. In 1859 Mr. Richards came with his family to Nebraska Territory and he was numbered among the early settlers of Pawnee county, - a sterling pioneer who contributed his full quota to the development and progress of southeastern Nebraska. In conclusion is given brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Dobbs: Dora is the wife of E. E. Tombaugh, of Hereford, South Dakota ; Burton H. is a resident of Beloit, Wisconsin ; Luella is the wife of Charles Cavett, of Blue Springs, Gage county ; Kate is the wife of H. H. Dann, of Beatrice; Alice is at home; and Chester B. is in the United States Marine service, being at Paris Island at the time of this writing, in the spring of 1918.

DAVID H. MICHAEL. - The village of Liberty, Nebraska, has for its postmaster a man who has been very successful in his farm- ing operations during his twenty years' resi- dence in Gage county. Mr. Michael came from Warren county, Illinois, in which county he was born, October 24, 1852. His parents, David K. and Cynthia (Lieurance) Michael, were born in North Carolina and Ohio re- spectively. The parents of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Michael had migrated from their respective states and were early pioneers of Illinois, giving their lives in the reclaiming of the wild fertile lands to productivity. In their adopted state of Illinois these young people met and were joined in holy wedlock. In 1852 David K. Michael went to California. where he remained three years, but he dis- covered, as did many another, that the gold did not grow on the trees and that the soil of his adopted state, Illinois, would still yield

her treasures of wheat and corn. Upon his return he purchased land, and he continued his farming pursuits the rest of his life. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Michael, left Illinois and moved to Missouri, arriving there during the great pro-slavery agitation in that state, before the Civil war, and there they passed the remainder of their lives.

Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. David K. Michael, three of whom survive them, as follows: David H., the subject of this review; Perry, a farmer in Pawnee county, Nebraska ; and Douglas, likewise a resident of that county. The mother, Cynthia (Lieurance) Michael, was the daughter of Elijah and Eliza Lieurance, who had tilled the soil in Ohio prior to their removal to Warren county, Illinois.

David H. Michael made good use of his op- portunities for education, for, after finishing his high-school work, he attended Abbingdon College, in Knox county, Illinois.

In 1874 Mr. Michael was united in mar- riage to Miss Angie Sailor, who was born May 8. 1853, in Knox county, Illinois. In the Buckeye state a home had been established by the union of Jeremiah and Priscilla (Mason) Sailor, who were natives of that state, but not content with their opportunities in their natal state they established their home in Knox county, Illinois. They were tillers of the soil and lived happy, useful lives, giving sons and daughters to the world to carry on the march of civilization.

Mr. and Mrs. David H. Michael have four children, all of whom received educational ad- vantages fitting them for their duties in the world. The firstborn is Ethel, who is the wife of J. F. Spence, an employe in the government printing office, Washington, D. C .; Kathryn is assistant postmaster at Liberty, Nebraska ; Mabel remains at the parental home; and Van D. is farming.

In 1892 Mr. Michael, with his wife and family, came to Pawnee county, Nebraska, and for a number of years he rented land, but the rich soil of Pawnee county soon gave such returns for his labor that he was enabled, in 1900, to purchase eighty acres of land in that

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

county. Later he added another eighty acres. He finally sold his land holdings in Pawnee county and moved to Missouri, but there he remained only a few months. Upon his re- turn he purchased three hundred and twenty acres in Liberty township, Gage county, and he still retains the ownership of this property.

Mr. Michael has taken a keen interest in political affairs and is a staunch supporter of the Democratic party. In 1915 he was ap- pointed postmaster at Liberty and his second daughter is assistant postmaster. With his family he attends and supports the Christian church.

RUPERT C. PEARSON. - The life rec- ord of Rupert C. Pearson is one of varied activities and he is interested in and manager of the Adams Mercantile Company, in the thriving village of Adams. Mr. Pearson was born at Indianola, Iowa, August 7, 1859. His parents were Allen and Nancy (Henderson) Pearson, the former born in Indianapolis, In- diana, in 1819, and the latter born in Louis- ville, Kentucky, in 1826. The father was a farmer until 1874, when he came to Nebraska and engaged in the hardware and lumber busi- ness at Sterling, Johnson county, where he remained until his death, in 1892. There his wife passed away, in 1882. They were the parents of thirteen children six of whom are living.

Rupert C. Pearson was reared under the parental roof and after coming to Nebraska he attended school at Sterling for a short time, after which he became identified with his father's business. In 1878, he entered the hardware business on his own account, con- ducting the same for about nine years. In 1890 Mr. Pearson came to Adams, Nebraska, and bought grain for the Norcross & Wore Company. Later he engaged in mercantile business, and for a time he was cashier of the Farmers' State Bank. He was also interested in ranches in the western part of the state. For the benefit of his wife's health he moved to California, and there he was in the fruit business for a time. In 1913 he returned to Adams and assumed the management of the

Adams Mercantile Company, with which he is still identified.

In November, 1884, Mr. Pearson married Miss Carrie Grey, a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1855. She was the mother of one son, A. Grey Pearson, who has served four years in the marine corps in the service of his country. Mrs. Pearson was called to her final rest in 1914.

Mr. Pearson is a member of the Presby- terian church, and in politics is a Democrat. Fraternally he belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Modern Woodmen of America. In 1898 he enlisted in Company I, Second Nebraska Volunteer Infantry, and with the command he saw some months of service in the war with Spain. Mr. Pearson is a loyal, progressive citizen and has done much to advance the interests of his com- munity. He has erected three residence properties in Adams, and any worthy cause has his endorsement.

HENRY H. SACHTLEBEN. - Among the prosperous farmers of Nemaha township, Gage county, mention should be made in this publication of Henry H. Sachtleben, who makes his home in Section 14 of that town- ship. Mr. Sachtleben is the owner of nine hundred acres of land, all in Gage county, and all of this he has accumulated through his own efforts, having started life as a poor boy. Mr. Sachtleben was born September 16, 1853, in the province of Hanover, Germany, and is a son of John and Minnie (Mollman) Sacht- leben. He is one of a family of six children, as follows: Wilhelmina Kramer, of whom record will be found on other pages of this volume; Henry H., of this review ; Herman, of Menard, Illinois ; Maggie, deceased ; Mrs. Jennie Steinman, of Republic county, Kansas ; and Lizzie, deceased wife of H. Penterman.

John Sachtleben was born in Germany, about 1839, and died in 1890. In 1868 he left Germany and came with his family to America. He settled in Illinois, where he passed the re- mainder of his life. His widow later came to Gage county, where she died in 1903, at the age of seventy-seven years. Mr. and Mrs.

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

Sachtleben were members of the Lutheran church.

The subject of this review worked as a farm hand in Illinois, and attended school in that state. His father being a poor man, it be- came necessary for him to make his own way from his boyhood. In the spring of 1885 Mr. Sachtleben came to Nebraska and settled in Nemaha township, Gage county, where he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land, in Section 14, this being his present home farm. At the time of purchase only ninety acres of this land were under cultivation, and Mr. Sachtleben set to work improving the property, making extensive improvements on the land itself as well as by erecting new build- ings, and from time to time he has bought more land until at the present time he is the owner of nine hundred acres of land in Gage county, all well improved. Mr. Sachtleben is numbered among the very successful farmers of the county. He is also interested as a stock- holder in the Farmers' Elevator Companies at Cortland and Firth, Nebraska. He is also vice-president of the Firth Bank. In politics Mr. Sachtleben is an independent Democrat, and he and his family are members of the Lutheran church.

On March 8, 1883, occurred the marriage of Mr. Sachtleben to Miss Lizzie Vesselmann, who was born in Germany, January 20, 1862, a daughter of Henry and Mary (Middlekamp) Vesselmann, natives of Germany, where they passed their entire lives. Mrs. Sachtleben came to America in 1879 and settled in Illi- nois. Mr. and Mrs. Sachtleben are the par- ents of five children, as follows: John, a farmer in Nemaha township; Minnie, wife of C. Jutson, of Nemaha township; Harry, at home; Emma, wife of William Packard, liv- ing near Cortland, Nebraska; and Carl, at home.

GEOGRE W. SPIEGEL. - The metro- politan facilities of the city of Beatrice are definitely enhanced by the well ordered auto- mobile garage and salesrooms of Mr. Spiegel, who has provided his establishment with the best equipped repair and service departments

and who has developed a large and substantial business in the handling of the celebrated Overland automobiles, for which he is dis- tributor in this section of the state, his an- nual business now showing an average aggre- gate of about five hundred thousand dollars and his establishment showing at all times a large assortment of the Overland cars, so that he is able to make quick deliveries in connec- tion with sales. He has brought to bear in the enterprise a dynamic energy and progres- siveness and is one of the most successful ex- ponents of the automobile industry in south- eastern Nebraska.

Mr. Spiegel was born in the city of Fort Dodge, Iowa, on the 4th of June, 1881, and is a son of Emil F. and Mary (Gunther) Spiegel, who were born and reared in Illinois, where their marriage was solemnized. In 1878 the father purchased a tract of land near Fort Dodge, Iowa, where he developed a valu- able farmi property and where he became a substantial and influential citizen. He is now living virtually retired in the city of Los Angeles, California, his wife having passed to the life eternal in April, 1916, a zealous com- municant of the German Lutheran church, of which he also is an active adherent, his politi- cal allegiance, fortified by well ordered con- victions, being given to the Republican party. Of the two children the subject of this review is the younger, and Edward W. is associated with the Peters Pump Company, of Kewanee, Illinois. Frederick Spiegel, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born and reared in Germany, where he learned the miller's trade. In 1865 he established his residence in Illinois, after having been compelled to borrow sufficient money to defray the cost of his voy- age to America, and by his ability and well directed efforts he gained definite independ- ence and prosperity, both he and his wife hav- ing passed the remainder of their lives in Illi- nois.

Frederick Gunther, maternal grandfather of Mr. Spiegel, came from Germany to Amer- ica and established his residence in Illinois in 1870. A mason by trade, he there turned his attention eventually to the manufacturing of

HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

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GEORGE W. SPIEGEL

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

brick, in which line of enterprise he was en- gaged eighteen years. In 1880 he engaged also in the manufacturing of pumps and wind- mills, at Kewanee, and from a small incep- tion he developed this into one of the large and important manufacturing industries of that section of Illinois. He continued as the executive head of the business until his death and the large plant and business, basing op- erations upon a capital of two hundred thou- sand dollars, are still owned by the members of his family, the products of the factory be- ing now shipped to all parts of the United States and Canada.

George W. Spiegel is indebted to the pub- lic schools of Kewanee, Illinois, for his early educational discipline, and there he was graudated in the high school, as a member of the class of 1898. Thereafter he was for ten years a traveling representative and salesman for a leading piano house, and within this period he efficiently covered territory in Illi- nois, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Kansas and Colorado, with an admirable record for suc- cessful salesmanship.

In 1908 Mr. Spiegel associated himself with the Wyllis-Overland Automobile Company by taking a position in its sales agency in the city of Lincoln, Nebraska. " There he remained until June, 1915, when he came to Beatrice and established his present agency for the same company. Mr. Spiegel is a young man of marked progressiveness and his activities along this line touch not only his own busi- ness but also mark his attitude as a loyal and public-spirited citizen. He is actively affili- ated with the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, in which he has passed the various of- ficial chairs, and he is a member also of the United Commercial Travelers' Association.

In 1907 was recorded the marriage of Mr. Spiegel to Miss Anna Monroe, who was born in the state of Wisconsin and who has the dis- tinction of being a lineal descendant of James Monroe, fifth president of the United States. Mrs. Spiegel is a daughter of Rev. Michael Benson, who has been for more than half a century pastor of the First Methodist church at Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and who, at the

venerable age of seventy-eight years, is serving in 1917-18 as president of the Wisconsin Min- isterial Association. Mr. and Mrs. Spiegel are members of the Methodist Episcopal church in their home city and are popular figures in the representative social activities of the community. They have one son, Frederick G., who was born in the year 1911.

JACOB HEYEN. - The people of Filley township have every reason to be proud of the fine farms that are to be found so plentifully scattered over its broad acres, and its repu- tation as an agricultural and stock-raising dis- trict is enviable. Among those who have done not a little to maintain a high standard in this respect is the subject of this sketch.

It was in 1904 that Mr. Heyen came to Gage county and purchased his present farm. It was originally known as the King farm, hav- ing been developed by Charles W. King, an early settler of Gage county. Mr. Heyen has erected a new house and new barns and has a very fine property, the farm consisting of two hundred and eighty acres.

Mr. Heyen is a native of Missouri, born in Atchison county, October 28, 1870. His par- ents were Heye J. and Grace (Folkerts) Heyen, natives of Germany. The mother is . deceased. The father makes his home with a daughter in Gage county. Jacob Heyen is the oldest of four children, three of whom are living. A sister, Anna, is the wife of W. G. Cooper, residing in Nemaha township. His brother, Frank, resides in Atchison county, Missouri. One child, likewise named Frank. died in infancy.

Our subject was reared in his native county and acquired his education in the public schools. He followed mercantile pursuits in Langdon, Missouri, before coming to Gage county.

February 27, 1895, Mr. Heyen was united in marriage to Miss Hiebe Cooper, and of this union have been born five children. Their names are : George, Matilda, Juanita, Hermie, and Frank.

Mr. Heyen devotes his energies to general farming and stock-raising and is one of the

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

prosperous men of his adopted county. The family are members of the German Lutheran church and Mr. Heyen exercises his right of franchise in support of men and measures as advocated by the Democratic party.

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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 141

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