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 37

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 37

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The fraternal organizations are the Grand Army of the Republic, Ancient Free & Ac- cepted Masons, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights & Ladies of Security, and some others. The Grand Army of the Re- public, once a flourishing and numerous body of Civil war veterans, has by lapse of time become reduced to five living members, - Henry Rice, E. B. Hinds, A. F. Drake, Michael Keckley, and Hubert Glasgow. While these heroes of a day long past do not meet regularly any more, they loyally maintain their organization.

The village of Odell has two lumber cor- porations, two elevators, two hotels, three gen- eral-merchandise stores, a drug store, harness shop, two implement houses, a furniture store and undertaking establishment, three garages, one pump shop with accessories, local tele- phone exchange and many other business con- cerns. By the last census the population of the village was four hundred and twenty- seven.

The Odell Weekly Wave newspaper was founded in the village in 1893, by G. W. Bede, and has had a continuous and a successful ex- istence ever since. It is now owned and ably edited by J. P. Martin. It receives the loyal support of the community and is in a flourish- ing condition as a country newspaper.

The school district of the village was or- ganized January 12, 1878, at the house of W. B. LaGorgue. The first school building was a small frame structure, to the erection of which LeGrand Odell contributed $100, the people, by subscription, $100, and the school district, in bonds, $400. The present school building is a frame, two-story, seven-room structure. The district employs seven teach-

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ers and maintains a high school with a four years' course, with normal training.

Some of the men who have been prominent in the affairs of Odell are Perry Walker, Wil- liam B. LaGorgue, E. B. Hinds, T. W. Stano- sheck, James D. Myers, Dr. George L. Roe, Amos Quein, F. R. Joy and his sons Edward and Howard Joy, Thomas R. Callan (the veteran merchant of Odell, whose son, now serving in the army of the United States, is postmaster of Odell), John Millhalland, Frank Styles, Eli Worthington, John Wilson, Lund Nelson, Dr. Henry Allen, Henry Rice, Hubert Glasgow, Charles N. Hinds, William M. Munns, Henry Kasparek, James F. Raney, George Williamson, Frank Truax, M. E. Shalla, H. R., Rufus, and Sidney Tincher, and Dr. I. N. Pickett.

PICKRELL

['This history of Pickrell was written by Evelyn Brinton, a high school pupil of that village. -- H. J. D.]

Mr. Watson and William Pickrell owned the land where Pickrell is located. There was some talk of having the town two miles north, but the sidetrack for the railroad was here. In the year 1884 the Pickrell brothers began to lay off the lots ; some of the first lots sold for fifteen dollars and others for twenty-five dollars. Pickrell was built on the hillside, because the railroad ran on the level. The first settler was Mr. Bashaw. His home was built outside of Pickrell and afterwards moved in; the house is still standing, and Mr. Wil- liam Hansel now occupies it. The first house built in Pickrell belonged to Ed. White. Mr. McKim built some of the first houses for the settlers to move into. Mrs. Edwards owned the first good building.

Pickrell was organized as a village August 14, 1913, with G. L. Mumford as chairman of the board of trustees, Dr. Amesbury Lee, treasurer, J. R. Wilson, clerk ; the other mem- bers of the town board were B. E. Ridgley and J. J. Wardlaw.

The first postoffice was in the grain-elevator office. It was started in 1884. Mr. Joseph Chandler was appointed postmaster February

1, 1884. Mr. David Royer, the second post- master, was appointed July 1, 1884. The first postoffice building burned in 1890. The first mail carrier was Roy Armstrong.

The first church was the Congregational, built in 1885, and the first minister was Mr. Bates. In 1888 the United Brethren church was built and Mr. Surface was the minister. In 1910 both the Congregational and United Brethren churches were torn down and the present United Brethren church was built.

A list of old settlers is as follows: David Royer, who now resides at McPherson, Kan- sas; Mr. Houdgs, deceased, place of burial southeast of Pickerell; Mr. Bergett, deceased, place of burial, Hutchinson, Kansas; Roxie Irvin, deceased; J. D. White, who resides at Gage, Oklahoma; D. Nicewonger, G. Balder- son and F. J. Emal, who reside in Pickrell ; S. King, John Young, Mr. Bashaw, Mr. McKin, Mr. Lockwood, Thomas Noonan, Thomas Langely, B. Bathrick, Dr. D. W. Tucker, Mr. Wilber, Mr. Chandler, Henry Latimer, and Mr. Waters.

Pickrell was started with one family; later more settlers came. There was a store, an ele- vator, postoffice, drug store and a few other business houses. Now we have two general stores, two elevators, three garages, a bank, an implement shop, a drug store, a hardware store, cream station, hotel, blacksmith shop, barber shop and lumber yard. The popula- tion is now between one hundred and seventy- five and two hundred. A list of the leading business houses when the town was first started is as follows: A general store, man- agers Mr. Royer and Mr. Bergett ; a black- smith shop, William Hunter, manager ; a lum- ber yard, Mr. McKim and Mr. Newcomb, managers ; a livery barn, Mr. D. Tucker, pro- prietor ; a hardware store, Mr. Newcomb, pro- prietor. The depot agent was Roxie Irvin. The first section boss was Thomas Noonan. Mr. Davis and Mr. Chandler bought hogs.

A list of leading business houses and man- agers to-day is as follows: Bergstraesser store; managers, Bergstraesser Brothers. Rife's store ; manager, Henry Dirk. Imple- ment store; proprietor, F. C. Pape. Drug

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store; druggist, R. Dunkle. Lumber yard ; manager, C. P. Horn. Blacksmith shop ; pro- prietor, F. J. Emal. Cream station ; manager, B. Mumford.

The first school house was built in 1885, where the present school building stands. The school district is No. 144. Some of the first teachers were Miss Proctor, Mr. Lamberti, Miss Kennedy, and Miss Hadley.

In 1912 school districts Nos. 65 and 144 were consolidated and a new brick school building built. It is now a ten-grade school. In December, 1917, the pupils of the high school surveyed the land in Pickrell that could be utilized for gardens; they found about eight acres, which is going to be used. Later the school became a hundred-per-cent school as a Red Cross society. The food-pledge cards were distributed to the parents by the school children ; they were signed by the par- ents and returned, to be sent to the food ad- ministrator. In January, 1918, the pupils of the primary and grammar rooms went to the homes of all the people in the town and tag- ged their shovels. The school was very suc- cessful in the sale of thrift and war-savings stamps. There are sixty-seven on the roll. During the month of January, 1918, the school bought $1,300 worth of war-savings stamps and was awarded a banner by the county su- perintendent of Gage county, T. J. Trauer- nicht.

A list of the early preachers is: Mr. Bates, Mr. Long, Mr. Rock, and Mr. Surface. The first doctor and druggist was Mr. B. Bathrick.

The first bank was organized in 1904. F. R. Pothast is cashier and Mr. Reil, book- keeper. The first bank building was on the north side of Main street and is still standing ; in 1911 a brick bank building was erected across the street.

The postoffice is in the hardware store ; Wil- liam Vanderhook is postmaster. Bud Weiser is the mail carrier for route No. 2, and Earl Emal is substitute for route No. 1.

The Union Pacific Railroad was started through Pickrell in 1883 and finished in 1884.

The first grain elevator was the Omaha, in the southeast part of Pickrell, built in 1884;

Mr. Cotner, manager. The next elevator was the Nebraska, with Mr. J. D. White as man- ager. Before the elevators were built Mr. White bought the grain and shipped it. Then the farmers bought the elevator, and Mr. White, Mr. Wardlaw, Mr. Williams and Mr. J. R. Wilson were managers. It was organ- ized in 1905. In 1913 a new elevator was built by the farmers, and Mr. J. R. Wilson has been manager from then to the present time. There are 175 members of the Farm- ers Elevator Company and the capital stock is $25,000. The capacity of the elevator is 25,000 bushels.

Mr. D. Nicewonger has lived in Pickrell the longest; he came from Oregon, Illinois, when he was seven years old. Some of the leading citizens are: J. R. Wilson, C. P. Horn, F. L. Pothast, Rev. Beasley, William Vanderhook, R. W. Dunkle, D. Nicewonger, G. Balderson, Bergstraesser Brothers and F. C. Pape. We have four boys in the world war. They are David Emal, Robert Mum- ford, Ben Weiser, and Marion Sigler.

Pickrell has had three fires. In 1890 five buildings on the north side of Main street burned. In 1893 two livery barns burned ; they were never rebuilt. The last fire was in 1910, when some of the buildings on the south side of Main street burned. There have been two floods that came to the railroad tracks but did not do any damage.

The officers of Pickrell now are: J. R. Wilson, chairman; C. P. Horn, clerk; F. L. Pothast, treasurer; and the other members of the village board are Mr. Reil, B. E. Ridgley, and D. Nicewonger.

VIRGINIA

This attractive Gage county village com- prises the northwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section 11, township 2 north, range 6 east. It is a station of both the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific line of railway from Chicago to Denver and a branch of the. Mis- souri Pacific Railway from Kansas City, Mis- souri, which terminates at Virginia. It has several good stores, lumber yard, implement

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house, garage, blacksmith shop, grain elevators and other business accessories to a thriving village. The townsite was surveyed and plat- ted by Ford Lewis, the owner of the land, about the time of the completion of the Chi- cago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway through that section of country. The plat was filed for record in the office of the register of deeds May 23, 1887.

The first general store was that of M. V. Drew, and this was followed almost immedi- ately by the store of Warren Barber, who was Virginia's first postmaster. The first black- smith was A. L. Boyer, and the first children born in Virginia were his twin daughters, Gertie and Mertie. Mr. Boyer is still the village blacksmith.

The first church organized in Virginia was the Methodist Episcopal church and its pastor, Rev. J. F. Holgate, preached the first sermon. The Christian church was erected in 1902, on a lot donated by Mr. and Mrs. Dwight Dalbey.

In the early history of Virginia, Captain Logan Enyart, of Nebraska City, opened a state bank in the village. It soon passed into the hands of George H. Gale, and later became the property of O. O. Thomas. Still later, A. W. Nickell, of Beatrice, purchased a majority of the stock and he operated this bank until his death. The present Citizens' State Bank of Virginia is an outgrowth of this early banking venture. Amos L. Wright, a pioneer of Gage county, is the principal stockholder and presi- dent of the bank and his son, Frederick A. Wright is the present cashier.

Several years ago Mr. Dalbey built a mod- ern hotel for the village, which has added

greatly to its attractiveness. There is no more "homey" public house in Gage county than this little hotel. Visitors are drawn to it from far and near and it is liberally patron- ized by the traveling public.

Virginia started with a single-room school house in 1887, but in 1902 the school district erected a frame, two-story school building. There are about ninety pupils in the district and three teachers are employed. On the 3d day of June, 1918, Virginia school district, No. 110, was consolidated, under the school laws of Nebraska, with districts Nos. 149, 151 and 157, into a county high-school district. The consolidated school district is preparing to erect a modern high-school building which is to cost not to exceed $50,000. The grounds for this building, not to exceed fifteen acres, will be donated by Mr. and Mrs. Dalbey. The consolidated school district will have a school population of approximately one hundred and sixty, will have a full four years' high school course, and employ from seven to ten teachers.

Virginia was incorporated as a village, un- der the laws of the state, about 1905, and has ever since maintained a corporate existence. As at present constituted, the village board consists of A. M. Darwin, president ; W. S. McGaffey, clerk ; F. A. Wright, treasurer ; and N. C. Mittan and John Henzel.

Virginia is beautifully located on the high, rolling prairie of Sherman township, in the midst of a wealthy farming community, which it serves as a business and social center. By the census of 1910 it contained a population of 154. Its steady growth since then has in- creased this to probably two hundred inhabi- tants.

CHAPTER XXVI

UNINCORPORATED VILLAGES

ELLIS - HOAG - KINNEY - LANHAM - ROCKFORD - HOLMESVILLE

The unincorporated villages of Gage county are Ellis, Hoag, Kinney, Lanhan, Rockford and Holmesville.

ELLIS

Ellis is located in the midst of a prosperous farming community in Lincoln township, ten miles west by south from Beatrice. It is a station on the Chicago-Denver line of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad. It has a bank, the Ellis State Bank, lumber yard, two elevators, two general stores and a farm- implement store.

The Methodist Episcopal church is the only religious denomination represented in Ellis. The village forms a good rural-school district of the county, with a substantial frame build- ing as school house. The district employs one teacher and enrolls about fifty pupils. At the last census Ellis was shown to, have a popula- tion of 122. It is a good social and business center for the surrounding territory.

HOAG

Hoag is a mere hamlet on the Beatrice-Lin- coln line of the Burlington Railroad, the first station out of Beatrice, with a population not to exceed 25. It has a postoffice, general store and two elevators. This is a rural school dis- trict, having a frame, one-room school house, about three quarters of a mile southeast of the village. The school employs one teacher and has an enrollment of about forty-five pupils.

KINNEY

named for Samuel A. Kinney, an old resident of Island Grove township, on whose farm the village is located. It has a general store, post- office and lumber yard.

LANHAM

Lanham is a village of eighty inhabitants, lo- cated twenty-five miles southwest of Beatrice, on the state line, partly in Glenwood township and partly in Kansas. It is a station on the Concordia line of the Burlington Railroad. The principal business houses are the State Bank of Lanham, general store, hardware store, drug store, restaurant, meat market, lumber and coal yard, barber shop and black- smith shop. Its school district was organized in 1892, at the home of George Arnold. It possesses a single-room, frame school-house, employs one teacher and has an enrollment of thirty-five pupils.

ROCKFORD

Rockford is located in section 1 of Rock- ford township and is the first station east of Beatrice on both the Burlington and the Rock Island Railroads. It is in one of the oldest- settled portions of the county and has fifty-six inhabitants. It was founded by William Girl more than a quarter of a century ago and has slowly grown to a position of great usefulness as a social and business center of Rockford, Lincoln, Hanover, and parts of Sherman and Filley townships. Though not boastful it is a good little village and there are those yet living who love it because of early associations

Kinney is also a hamlet, located on the Bur- lington main line, first station east of Wymore, and the memories its name invokes.

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

Rockford has a general store, postoffice, two elevators, blacksmith shop and a very pretty church building, the property of the Methodist Episcopal denomination. Rockford school district No. 49 was organized at the home of Morgan Reed, upon notice to John Dunn, May 27, 1872. A few years ago it was consoli- dated with the F. H. Dobbs school district on the south and the T. B. Essex school district on the north, and it retains its original num- ber, 49. A few years ago the consolidated district erected a fine three-room school house, at a cost of about $5,000. It employs three teachers and has an enrollment of about ninety pupils. In addition to the grades, it offers a two years' high-school course of study.

The early settlers in the immediate neigh- borhood of Rockford were F. H. Dobbs, Henry D. Lillie, George W. Stark, Solon M. Hazen, Abraham Fetro, Thomas B. Essex, John H. Dunn, John Potterton, Edward Wool- ridge, Jesse Willis, Humphrey P. Freeman, Peter Girl, William Girl, Calvin Miller, David Miller, Stephen Hayden, Rufus Hayden, John E. Murphy, James B. McLaughlin, Thomas M. Martin, Asa Anderson, D. J. Woods, Henry, Robert and Jacob Fry, (triplets), Morgan Reed, Daniel Fuller, James West, Charles Slo- cumb, Michael Weaver, John O. Adams, A. B. Smith, George Wilkinson, Andrew Kerr, Alex- ander Welch, Josiah Graves, Mrs. Serena Webber, Miles Andrews, Duncan Smith, Archibald Smith, Marvin Freeman, and Marion Reese.

No locality in Gage county possesses greater rural charm than that where Rockford is situated. Cedar creek and both branches of Mud creek flow through the township into the Big Blue river. They are all well timbered streams of living water. From every height of land the observer is rewarded by a most beautiful landscape of hill, dale, valley, forest, and in the growing season of the year by vis- tas of living green; and in the autumn by stretches of gold and brown. No other place in the county exerts as lasting an influence over the heart as the environment of the hum- ble village of Rockford.

HOLMESVILLE

Holmesville is not only the largest but is easily the most important of the unincorpor- ated villages of Gage county. It has a popu- lation of 175, according to the federal census of 1910. It is located in Rockford township, on the east bank of the Big Blue river. It is nine miles southeast of Beatrice and is the first station on the Union Pacific Railroad. It was marked by the early settlers as the location for a townsite and Whitesville, the first legal county seat of Gage county, was within half a mile of the townsite of Holmesville, on a tract of land afterward taken as a homestead by James Kingsford, namely: the southwest quarter of section 29, Rockford township. In a very early day, A. L. Hurd and W. S. Guf- fey opened a stone quarry at or near the site of Holmesville, and most of the stone used in building the first state capitol at Lincoln was hauled across country, by ox, mule and horse teams, from this quarry, in 1868.

The village was founded by Morgan L. Holmes, in 1880, the surveyed plat being filed for record in the office of the register of deeds on March 8th of that year. The founding of the village immediately followed the construc- tion of the present line of the Union Pacific Railroad from Marysville, Kansas, to Beatrice. The first store in Holmesville was a general store opened by Thomas Patz. James Glea- son, a brother-in-law of the founder of the vil- lage, James H. Davis, Abraham Petro, Eli Miller and James H. Fuller also were among its earliest business men and residents. Ful- ler ran a general merchandise store for many years, and up to the time of his death, a few years ago, was a well known and substantial citizen of Holmesville.

Amongst the business concerns now found in Holmesville are two general stores, hard- ware store and lumber yard, elevator, hotel, restaurant and meat market. But what dis- tinguishes Holmesville from all the other vil- lages in the county is the investment made there by J. H. Steinmeyer and his sons George W. and Robert Steinmeyer. About 1908 these public-spirited citizens of the county estab-

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lished the State Bank of Holmesville, with a capital of $10,000. Under the very able man- agement of the owners this banking institution has grown to the point where it does a large volume of business in the course of a year and has deposits of over $100,000.

In addition to this bank Mr. Steinmeyer and his sons have invested heavily in a hydro-elec- tric power and lighting plant. The building where the machinery is located is just below the dam and is of concrete and steel construc- tion ; it was begun in 1908 and completed in 1911. It generates an electric current of one

present public school building. The district employs three teachers, has enrollment of about sixty pupils and offers a two years' high- school course of study. Recently it was con- solidated with districts numbered 19, 37, 58, 76, 133 and part of 139. The consolidated school district is about to erect a school build- ing which, with equipment, will cost approxi- mately $50,000. The district will probably then employ seven teachers, will have a school population of approximately 160 pupils, and will install a high school with a four years' course of study.

HIGH SCHOOL HOMESVILLE, NEBR,

million watts per hour, and from it Wy- more, Blue Springs, Beatrice, and Holmes- ville are supplied with electricity for all pur- poses.

The Holmesville school district was organ- ized August 30, 1868, at a meeting held for that purpose at the home of Amos Hayden, two miles southeast of Holmesville, on Mud creek. The first school house was a low, round-log cabin, erected by F. H. Dobbs in the fall of 1858 on his preëmption claim in Rock- ford township. After the formation of the district, this cabin was bought, taken down and moved to the southeast quarter of section 32 and rebuilt on the northeast corner of that tract, where it was used for several years as a school house for the district. The first teacher was S. S. Switzer. After the founding of Holmesville, a frame, single-room school house was erected in the village, which by suc- cessive additions has been expanded into the

The Methodist Episcopal church maintains an organization at Holmesville and owns a sub- stantial and very neat house of worship.

For many years Holmesville has been a so- cial and religious center for the Church of the Brethren, a religious denomination cominonly spoken of by outsiders as Dunkards, but amongst themselves always simply called The Brethren or Church of the Brethren. This de- nomination had its origin in Westphalia, Ger- many in 1708. It was founded by Alexander Mack, as a protest against what he conceived to be the erroneous practices and beliefs of the followers of Martin Luther. Mack taught the strict observances of the forms as respects. baptism, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper and other ordinances of the church. Both he. and his followers were the subjects of intense persecution, and were finally driven out of Germany and compelled to take refuge in the- New World. They settled first in Pennsyl --

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vania, then spread over Ohio, Indiana, Mary- land, Virginia and other states, and Canada as well. The communicants of this church now number more 100,000. In doctrine the Brethren are closely affiliated with the Men- nonites as opposed to war and litigation; in dress and manners they closely resemble the Quakers or Society of Friends. In Holmes- ville they have a small church, but a couple of miles northeast of the village the denomination owns a large church edifice, where most of its religions activities are carried on. There is really but one congregation for the two churches and they both have the same pastor, at present the Rev. Edgar Rothrock.

The Church of the Brethren in Rockford township was founded by the Rev. Henry Bru- baker, under the following circumstances. John P. Crothers, of Indiana, in 1867, had entered with college scrip a large tract of land in Rockford township, much of which lay on the upland between the valleys of Mud and Cedar creeks. Knowing something of the sturdy virtues of the Church of the Brethren, he advertised largely that he would donate a quarter-section of land in Rockford township

to any minister of the Brethren church who would locate upon it and organize a church of that denomination. Mr. Brubaker accepted this offer, and in 1875 Mr. Crothers conveyed to him, by warranty deed, the northwest quar- ter of section 21 of Rockford township. Shortly thereafter he organized the Brethren church at Rockford, with twelve members. The organization gained in membership rap- idly, many of the new-comers purchasing land of Crothers, and about 1880 the large church of the Brethren was erected on the southeast corner of the southwest quarter of section 15, Rockford township. This is one of the his- toric churches of Gage county. It has per- formed a great and important service in the settlement and development of the county. Its membership is of a high order of citizens and it exemplifies in an almost perfect degree the gentle doctrines of its founder. It has grown steadily in power, wealth, influence and use- fulness, until it is to-day the most lasting monument that could be erected to the vener- able Henry Brubaker, who is now spending the declining years of his life in Holmesville, under its shadow.

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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 37

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