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 16

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 16

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Seventh : Assessments may be made if nec- essary from time to time for such expenses and improvements as a majority of the mem- bers of the association may declare necessary.

Eighth: Members who do not in person or by substitute locate upon said townsite or some claim of the association adjacent thereto within two months from the time of the report of the locating committee shall forfeit all right of membership; unless he shall be justified in his absence by the association.

Ninth: These articles may be amended or others substituted therefor by a two-thirds vote of the members, provided always that re- quisite notice of such proposed alteration of these articles has been given to the association at least two weeks previous to the adoption of the same and the members thereof sufficiently notified of such meeting.

Tenth: Each member shall have the benefit of such improvements as exceed in value those made by others of the association, to be as- certained and allowed in such equitable man- ner as may be agreed upon.

The above articles were fully discussed separately and were finally adopted unanim- ously. When, on motion, the secretary was ordered to copy the same preparatory to re- ceiving signatures, and the meeting adjourned to three o'clock P.M. for that purpose.

JOHN McCONIHE, Secretary.

At the adjourned meeting, at three o'clock in the afternoon, the articles of the associa- tion were presented for signatures and were signed by the following named persons: E. A. Wilmans, Calvin Miller, E. M. Drake, Wil- liam F. Buffington, John McConihe, Timothy Elliott, M. C. Barr, Gilbert T. Loomis, George W. Robb, John B. Kellogg, John Henn, Jacob Talman, Albert Towle, Bayard T. Wise, Her- man M. Reynolds, Bennett Pike, John Brown, George H. Tobey, A. Nelson, J. F. King,

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Norman Colson, John P. Cadman, Phineas W. Hitchcock, George A. Jackson, M. W. Ross, Edward Stewart, Jefferson B. Weston, Jesse Spielman, Jacob Zolinger, John F. Kinney, Richard Northrup, James J. Raridan, Alexan- der McCready, Justus Townsend.

Later, and before the boat reached its des- tination in Omaha, Isaac M. Steele, Alexander Lewis, Charles Dripps, James M. Green, Dan- iel P. Taylor, Obediah H. Hewett, John N. Newton, Joseph R. Nelson, and Logan D. Cameron were admitted to membership in the association, and at a meeting of the board of directors held in Omaha, on May 22, 1857, George D. Bonham and Joseph Milligan also were admitted into full membership in the as- sociation on the same terms as the others, namely, payment into the treasury of the sum of one hundred dollars. And at a meeting of the board of directors held at Beatrice it was "resolved that H. F. Cook become a member of the association upon payment of assessment (in place of Mr. Dripps, whose share has been forfeited) and upon payment of fifty dollars additional." As far as the records go there were no other formal addi- tions to the membership of the association, but it is an historical fact that Nathan and William Blakely, together with Isma P. Mumford and wife, arrived on the townsite of Beatrice on July 17, 1857, and became thereafter close- ly identified with the history and destiny of Beatrice.

At the third meeting of the association held on board the Hannibal April 28, 1857, a census of the membership was taken with respect to their occupations and it was found that there were six lawyers, four physicians, three mer- chants, a mason, a bricklayer, an engineer, and a surveyor, together with a number of members without expressed occupations.

Before the "Hannibal" reached Nebraska City a committee consisting of Bennett Pike, M. W. Ross, F. A. Wilmans, Bayard T. Wise, Jefferson B. Weston, and Judge John F. Kin- ney, was chosen, known as the locating com- mittee, in conformity with the 5th subdivision of the articles of association, "to explore Ne- braska and select a townsite and report at an

adjourned meeting (of the association) to be held at Omaha on the 20th day of May next, which report shall be adopted as a townsite," etc. At Nebraska City this committee left the boat and proceeded to discharge its duty. It divided itself into two sub-committees, Wise, Kinney, and Wilmans formed one of these, and, proceeding directly west from Nebraska City they passed over the spot where Lincoln, the state capital, now stands. £ The other three members of the committee, Weston, Pike, and Ross, hired a team at Nebraska City, and, with Harrison F. Cook as driver, began their search at once for a suitable location for the prospective city. Striking in a southwesterly direction, without other guide than the sec- tional corner stones planted by the government surveyors, they proceeded through the bright May weather to examine the country through which they took their course with the single purpose of choosing the most desirable site for a city. After several days of intelligent wandering over the springing prairies, in the brilliant sunshine lands, on a late afternoon in early May, they pitched camp on the banks of Indian creek, near where the Kees Manu- facturing Company's buildings now stand, and within the present limits of the city of Beatrice. A little investigation convinced them that their quest was at an end. These clear-visioned young men noted the wide sweep of rolling plain extending in all directions from the con- fluence of the two streams where their camp was made ; they marked the near neighborhood of several well wooded streams flowing through fertile lands into the Big Blue river ; they observed that this stream, with its rock bottom and steep shores possessed at this point ample facilities and power for milling and manufacturing purposes, and that nature had given the adjacent land grades and levels that rendered the work of building a city an easy task.

Having carefully noted all these things they began their journey to Omaha, stopping a few hours on the way with John Pethoud and his friend Edward C. Austin, who were engaged in building a hewed-log house on Mr. Pethoud's claim, four and one-half miles north

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of the prospective city, on this side of the Clay county line.

The entire committee having assembled in Omaha and agreed upon its report, the mem- bers of the association were called together to receive it, on the 20th day of May. 1857, at the hour of one o'clock in the forenoon, in the office of the territorial secretary of state. The report was brief and was probably written by that able young lawyer, Bennett Pike. It reads as follows :

We, the undersigned, locating committee of the Nebraska Association, after thoroughly exploring Johnson, Gage, Clay, Lancaster and

JULIA BEATRICE KINNEY 1860

Cass counties, find the most eligible site for a town near the center of Gage county. The ad- vantages of this place consist in its location be- tween two tributaries of the Blue and at the junction of the western branch with the main river ; in the great beauty and fertility of the adjacent prairies, in the abundance of wood and timber, in the proximity of stone fit for building purposes, and the favorable indica- tions of coal. The prairie is four miles in width from creek to creek and is skirted on either side by the timber line along the banks of the above mentioned streams. The timber is generally oak, walnut, hickory, ash, cotton- wood and elm, and is of a better quality and finer size than any other we saw in our ex- plorations. The beauty of the situation, the central position in the county, and quality and quantity of the timber, the superior nature and location of the intervening prairie and the large extent of country tributary to it, deter- mined us in the selection of this place as pos-

sessing all the requisites and advantages nec- essary to the founding and building of a pros; perous and thriving inland town. All of which is very respectfully submitted, with an accom- panying map of the place.

Bennett Pike. M. W. Ross.

F. A. Wilmans. B. T. Wise.

J. B. Weston.

J. F. Kinney.

This report was unanimously adopted and a committee appointed whose duty it was to as- certain and properly designate the exact loca- tion of the proposed townsite and have the same surveyed. Another committee was ap- pointed, charged with the duty of reporting at an early date to the association a name for this embryo town. The last named committee, as a result of its deliberations, at a meeting of the association on May 21st, reported the names of "Wheatland" and "Beatrice." The latter was the name of Judge Kinney's eldest daughter, Julia Beatrice Kinney, and it was adopted by a vote of sixteen to nine. The as- sociation, after appointing a committee, head- ed by Bennett Pike, to purchase for its use a steam saw mill, adjourned to meet at Beatrice on the 27th day of July, 1857.

Most of the members of the association made their way to the proposed townsite during the month of June, and by the 4th day of July nearly all were assembled on the original vir- gin townsite of Beatrice. They proceeded to celebrate the national holiday, and this was the first Fourth of July celebration ever held in Gage county. Judge Kinney, who had located at Nebraska City in the practice of the law, drove across the country with his family to participate in this celebration. Though the participants were few in number, patriotic en- thusiasm was much in evidence. Miss Julia Beatrice Kinney, the seventeen-year-old daugh- ter of the president of the association, in a pleasing speech presented to her namesake the national flag which had been made by the ladies of the association at Nebraska City, and Ben- nett Pike replied.

Most of the members remained on the ground until the 27th day of July, the date to which the association had adjourned at Omaha in May to meet at the townsite of Beatrice, and when on that day the president of the asso-

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ciation, Judge Kinney, directed his scholarly secretary, John McConihe, to call the roll of the members the following gentlemen respond- ed to their names: Messrs. Pike, Towle, Wise, Weston, Jackson, Hewett, Elliott, Joseph Nel- son, Northrop, Townsend, Tobey, Tailor, Wilmans, Ross, Reynolds, Johnson, Miller, Brown, Loomis, Green, and Bonham. Thirteen members, namely, Kellogg, A. Nelson, Barr, Cadman, Hitchcock, Henn, Dripps, Stewart, Zolinger, King, Raridon, Robb, and Buffington, were represented by proxy.

Judge Kinney then announced that the site selected for the location of the town was "one mile from east to west and one-half mile from north to south." Some discussion ensued, during which Mr. Bonham moved "that the townsite be so moved as to conform with the government survey and to consist of four hundred acres." After further discussion of the site of the proposed town "the whole mat- ter was referred back to the locating commit- tee". On the 28th day of July, that committee reported, recommending that "the eastern boundary be placed on the section line and that an addition be taken in on the west sufficient to cross the river." This report was accepted and O. B. Hewett was thereupon appointed lot agent "to donate town lots and that he be al- lowed to donate no more than three lots in any one block, and that no lots be donated except to actual settlers who will build there- on." A resolution was adopted that "the size of the town lots be fifty feet front by one hundred and forty feet deep, with streets eighty feet wide and alleys twenty feet wide, running one way." The Rev. D. H. May, the grand- father of Earl and Paul Marvin, was given five lots "for his kindness in coming to Beatrice and preaching the first sermon in town." A resolution was adopted donating "one thousand dollars to any competent man who will take the mill, erect the same immediately and run it under certain specified restrictions," and "Mr. Towle was allowed the privilege of oc- cupying the association log house by unanimous consent until further action upon the subject." William H. Brodhead, who had previously been selected to survey the townsite, at this

meeting of the association, July 28, 1857, was "allowed one hundred dollars and expenses for laying out the townsite and making three plats of the same" and Mr. Bonham was ap- pointed "to confer with him about selecting lands." A half block was donated and set apart for school purposes and a committee ap- pointed to select land for a cemetery. Mr. Pike was empowered to sell the mill if op- portunity offered, and Hewett was directed as lot agent to donate two lots to the "first blacksmith who would erect a blacksmith shop in town." At an adjourned meeting of the association held July 29th at three o'clock in the afternoon, the location of the townsite was taken up and finally it was resolved "that the townsite be removed to the north so as to cor - respond with the government survey."

The townsite finally selected comprised the southeast quarter of section thirty-three and the southwest quarter of section thirty-four, in township four north, and range six east of the sixth principal meridian, comprising three hundred and twenty acres. It was surveyed and platted by William H. Brodhead, at that time a resident of Nebraska City, and on the 13th day of August, 1859, it was formally en- tered under the national townsite act, by Dr. Herman M. Reynolds, as mayor of the city of Beatrice, at the land office at Brownville, where at the same time a plat of the new town was filed, as in case of such entries the law re- quired.

The reader has now looked upon the origin of the city of Beatrice. Glancing backward across the intervening three score years from his felicitous surroundings, it may be difficult for him to visualize the unpromising condi- tions that beset this beautiful city at the hour of its birth. Planted in the midst of what was virtually a primitive waste, far removed from even the confines of civilized life, no one who was not endowed with the prevision of the pioneer could have foreseen the bright fu- ture that awaited it.

The Nebraska Association continued in busi- ness until about 1870, when Solon M. Hazen of Blue Springs, who was one of the county commissioners at that time, was selected as a

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referee to make a division amongst the persist- ent members of the unsold and unclaimed lots included in the original townsite. Unfortu- nately his assignment of lots is not available for the purposes of this history. Few, however, of the original company were left to claim their proportionate share of the residue of the com- pany assets. Having accomplished its orig- inal purpose and witnessed the full frui- tion of its hopes, the association, following Hazen's report, formally and voluntarily dis- banded.

When we consider that the title to the ninety- four blocks comprising the original townsite of Beatrice, and now by far the most populous and valuable portions of the city, rests upon the entry made by Dr. Herman M. Reynolds

at the United States land office at Brownville, on the 12th day of September, 1859, under the act of congress dated May 25, 1844, commonly known as the townsite act, and the steady, u11- wavering zeal of the body of men who for years held the destiny of our city in their hands, we are bound to yield to the founders of Beatrice ungrudging credit for all they did here. It is to their energy, enthusiasm, and prevision that we owe not only the origin of Beatrice, but also in a large measure its pros- perity and happiness. Their names should be ever spoken with reverence and respect by all who take the slightest interest in her welfare, or who feel a just pride in the fact that she is as a city set upon a hill, whose light can not be hid.

CHAPTER XV

NARRATIVE OF MRS. JULIA BEATRICE (KINNEY) METCALF

[The following narrative, by Mrs. Julia Beatrice (Kinney) Metcalf, for whom the city of Beatrice was named, was prepared at the re- quest of the author of this book. As far as known, it is the only contemporary narrative of the voyage of the "Hannibal" and the found- ing of Beatrice which could be procured now from any living person. Mrs. Metcalf when a girl became a resident, with her parents, of Nebraska City, in May, 1857. Later she be- came the wife of Julian Metcalf, a pioneer banker of Nebraska City. Until 1893 her home was in Nebraska City, when Mr. and Mrs. Metcalf removed to the Pacific coast. She is spending her declining years in the city of Portland, Oregon.]

'This brief sketch of the founding of Beatrice and the events that led to it must unavoidably be somewhat biographical. To recall the incidents and experiences of sixty years ago is not an easy task, as some scenes stand out very vividly, while others have faded and grown dim.

My native state is Ohio, and Mount Vernon my native town, where I first saw the light October 29, 1839. When I was four years old my father, J. F. Kinney, dazzled by the star of empire which had led him from the At- lantic and was destined to lead him to the far- off Pacific, gathered his little family together and moved to Iowa. Here, in the small town of West Point, we lived until I was in my fourteenth year. I was always kept in school, there being an excellent one in the place, and I do not remember ever missing a day either by illness or by the spring desire to play hooky when the flowers came and the birds sang. Not but that I had that desire, but we were taught obedience in those days.

At this time my father received the appoint- ment of chief justice of Utah territory, which he accepted, and a change of base became nec- essary. After a family council it was decided that my school-life must be continued. My sister, two years my junior, now Mrs. J. A. Ware of Nebraska City, was to go on the wonderful journey across the plains with my parents and the three boys, still younger. But I was taken by my father to Georgetown, D. C., a suburb of Washington, and placed in Miss English's seminary, where I found myself in a typical southern atmosphere, my companions being daughters of old southern families. I was the only western girl there, and at first was looked at askance as coming from a dare- devil region of wild Indians, tomahawks, and stampeding buffaloes. This school during the Civil war was converted into a hospital, and Miss Alcott wrote her "Hospital Sketches" from her experiences as a nurse in this and other Washington hospitals. Georgetown Heights was the fashionable place of residence for government foreign officials in 1854. Here General Badiscoe, the Russian ambassador, lived, having married a former student of Miss English's school, a beautiful young girl called when in Russia "the American rose."

My school life in Georgetown was both in- structive and interesting ; I was in Washington during part of two presidential administrations, Pierce and Buchanan, and recall Mrs. Pierce's sad face, in her deep mourning for the loss of her son; and also Miss Lane, President Buchanan's handsome niece, who presided at the White House during his administration. On the President's reception days we of the senior class were permitted to attend the state func- tions at rare intervals, chaperoned by a teacher.

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

It all looked brilliant and gorgeous to our young eyes.

In 1856 I was graduated, being honored as valedictorian and receiving the highest prize in music. My father, having returned from Utah, came on immediately for me, and once more we were in our old home,-but how changed everything looked to me, the town so

week's less time than it took us to reach our goal on the Missouri river.

What a memorable journey that was! Three hundred human beings of all nationalities crowded the boat to its capacity. The morning was a typical April one, the sky bright with the mists from the two rivers floating away and the trees and grasses sparkling from the past

JULIA BEATRICE (KINNEY) METCALF, 1909

JULIA BEATRICE (KINNEY) METCALF, 1878

much smaller than I remembered it. Even our pleasant country home had dwindled,- the ceilings were lower, the rooms smaller ; we judge all things by comparison.

The star of empire still drawing my father westward, the farm was sold, and in 1857 we all embarked at Fort Madison on the Missis- sippi for Nebraska the "land of broad rivers." The trip down the river was uneventful. On reaching St. Louis, the "Hannibal," long to be remembered, a large freight and passenger boat, awaited us. I suppose it was named for the great Carthaginian general who amid superhuman difficulties crossed the Alps in a

night's shower. All were in high spirits as we started from the wharf, saluted by boats as we passed ; one having once heard the "Han- nibal's" tremendous blast as she answered the signals can never forget it,- hoarse, deep as the lowest trombone tone, it thundered with impressive self-importance. Thus with waving hands and handkerchiefs we passed up the river on our journey to the unknown.

When night came the "Hannibal" rested from her labors, not daring to brave in the darkness her vicious enemies, the great snags and sandbars that surrounded her, thick as the "Thousand Islands" but without their beauty.

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

Remember, there were no brilliant search- lights in those faraway days. The first and last impressions of the "Big Muddy" were snags, ugly, cruel-looking things, grotesque in shape, and countless sandbars, while ever float- ing swiftly by were ashen gray logs, hurrying to the end, wherever that might be. It gave one a dizzy, sickening feeling to watch them. But turn your eyes from this treacherous, mighty river to the banks on either side, where were vine-covered trees, the tender spring ver- dure, the early flowers, the waving grasses ;- all of which delighted us; at night the whip- poorwills sang, and at dawn we heard innu- merable birds hidden in the tree-tops.

Sometimes when the boat landed we went exploring along the shore, gathering the early wild flowers but always keeping our ears open for the tremendous blast which hurried 11s back to our floating home. Once on landing at a small town, two boys, eight and ten years old, went ashore to buy some shoes which they sadly needed. After the purchase a most ex- citing dog-fight took place; the boat whistled, but the boys, oblivious to all but the absorbing event at hand, heard it not, and the boat went on its way. Soon however the mother, missing hier children, raised a cry of despair, and the mighty "Hannibal," after a mile or so, re- versed her course and picked up the penitent boys, who explained that they "wanted to stay and see the end of the fight."

The chief amusements among us were chess, checkers, and dancing the old-fashioned quadrilles, for round dances were not con- sidered proper in those days, and cards were forbidden ; in fact, I believe that not one of us young people knew one card from another. So the days dragged on. It was always inter- esting to watch the great spars as they worked to free us from the sandbars, to hear the signals ring and the shouting of the men as as orders were given; there was great rejoic- ing when we were on our way once more, until the creaking and quivering of the boat told us we were again aground.

It was when our steamer was on one of these sandbars, the worst we had yet encountered, that the organization was formed for the pur-

pose of locating a town in Nebraska ; a written constitution and by-laws were signed by some thirty-five men, and an exploring committee was appointed. Little did they realize then that they were making history and that a beautiful city was to spring magically on the virgin soil of the then unknown land.

These gentlemen were men of sterling worth, possessing all the energy, mental attainments and courage necessary for a frontier life, as time has proved. Their names are all em- blazoned in the annals of the State History of Nebraska, so it is not necessary for me to name them here. I distinctly remember the Towle family as adding so much to our social life on the steamer, and afterward being most active in all good works and hospitality in Beatrice.

After three long weeks we reached Ne- braska City, where we landed with joy; we drove at once to the "City Hotel," a small, frame, two-story building which afterward fell down and was replaced by a substantial brick hotel. The next thing to do was to find a house to live in, not an easy matter, as houses were few and far between. We found a small frame house with one room and a shed at the back, which served for kitchen and din- ing room. This rented for twenty-five dollars a month. Here we took up our new life. We partitioned the one room with a curtain, and this recess was my sanctum. I enjoyed play- ing stage effects going in and out of that cur- tain, and on the whole found it more interest- ing that a well appointed bedroom.

On July 4, 1857, the interesting ceremony of christening the new city which the com- pany organized on the boat and had located on the Blue river, was to be celebrated, and our family, with many others, started well equipped for the land of promise. We had all the comforts and conveniences necessary for camp life, and were in joyful mood and high anticipation as we left Nebraska City behind us. The weather was perfect, for where will you find more sunshine or purer air than in our noble state? The vast, gently rolling prairies seemed like petrified waves of a gen- tle sea. The waving grasses, often as high

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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 16

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