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 45

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 45

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"Dr. Starr had marked abilities as a physi- cian and as a man of high moral character and kindly disposition. On account of his advanced years, nearly ninety-four, he had

been confined to his home for some time, but his influence has continued to go forth with all who came to see him. He inherited those virtues which go to make sterling manhood, but he did not rest content with mere ancestral bequest. While true to the faith of his fathers in every essential, yet he thought for himself and followed the truth as God gave him to see it, the finest product of his religious belief being a character that gave him the absolute confidence of his fellow men-and that is the final test of religion." The Doctor was an active member and liberal supporter of the Congregational church of Beatrice, as is also his widow.

As a young man Dr. Starr wedded Miss Sophia J. McPherson, of Xenia, Ohio, and she passed the closing years of her life at Iowa City, Iowa, where she died April 23, 1876. Of this union were born five children, concerning whom the following brief data are given : George B. now resides in the state of California ; Clarence A. is a resident of Wi- nona Lake, Indiana; Emma H. was a resi- dent of Lincoln at the time of her death; and Mary P. and John A. maintain their resi- dence in California, the former being the wife of W. S. Brayton.

On the 27th of June, 1878, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Starr to Dr. Julia C. (Candee) Scudder, of Muscatine, Iowa, her first husband having been Horace Scudder, and the one child of this union was Horace, Jr., who died in 1906. Mrs. Starr was born at Muscatine, Iowa, and is a daughter of Sheldon N. and Lucy A. (Starr) Candee, the former a native of Connecticut and the latter of Ohio. The parents were numbered among the honored pioneers of both Iowa and Ne- braska and they passed the closing period of their lives in the latter commonwealth, the father having devoted the major part of his active career to the carriage-factory business, and both having been residents of Beatrice. Nebraska, at the time of their death.

Dr. Julia C. Starr, a woman of high profes- sional attainments, became the able and val- ued coadjutor of her husband in the control of their large and representative joint prac-

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tice in Gage county, and she still maintains her office at the attractive home at 409 North Sixth street, Beatrice. She was graduated in the medical department of the University of Iowa, at Iowa City, and an unequivocal suc- cess has attended her benignant service in the practice of her profession, in which she has gained status as one of the leading women physicians and surgeons of Nebraska. She still continues in active practice and her gra- cious womanhood and gentle sympathy have enhanced the effectiveness of her earnest labors in the alleviation of human suffering, the while she has gained the affectionate re- gard of all who have received her ministra- tions and counsel. She has a large practice, in connection with which she spares herself neither time nor effort, and she insistently keeps in touch with the advances made in medical and surgical science, through recourse to the best standard and periodical literature of her profession, the while she is a gracious and popular figure in the representative civic and social life of her home city, where her circle of friends is coincident with that of her acquaintances. No children were born of her second marriage, but the Doctor holds hal- lowed memories of the gracious relations that obtained at all times during the years of her conjugal and professional association with the honored subject of this memoir.

WILLIAM HOLM has identified himself most fully with the civic and material interests of Gage county, for he is not only a repre- sentative merchant in the village of Virginia, but is also the owner of a well improved farm estate in Sherman township. He is a native son of the west and has exemplified its pro- gressive spirit in the varied activities that have brought to him a generous share of temporal prosperity.

Mr. Holm was born in Pottawatomie county, Kansas, on the 6th of January, 1873, and is a son of Charles J. and Louise (Ander- son) Holm, who were born and reared in Sweden, where their marriage was solemnized. In 1865 the parents came to the United States and settled in Kansas, where the father be-

came a pioneer farmer of Pottawatomie county and improved his farm of one hundred and twenty acres, and where he passed the remainder of his life. William Holm was the youngest member in a family of four chil- dren and was six years of age at the time of his mother's death. John E., the eldest of the children, is a farmer in Kansas; Charles A., who was for several years engaged in the plumbing business at Virginia, Gage county, is now a resident of Lincoln, Nebraska, and is a traveling salesman; and Frank has the active charge of the fine Gage county farm of his brother William, of this review. For his second wife Charles J. Holm wedded Miss Lottie Carlson and the one child of this union is Emma, the wife of Walter F. McGaffey, of Virginia, Gage county. Charles J. Holm was a Republican in politics and he and each of his wives held the faith of the Methodist Episcopal church.

The public schools of the Sunflower state afforded to William Holm his early educa- tional advantages and the same were supple- mented by a course in shorthand and type- writing in Pond's Business College, in the city of Topeka, as well as by further commercial instruction in the Kansas City Business Uni- versity. In his youth, after leaving the farm, Mr. Holm became associated with the retail lumber business, at Olesburg, Kansas, and in the spring of 1893 he came to Gage county and established his residence in Virginia. Here for two years he conducted a lumber yard, and for seventeen years thereafter he was successfully established in the hardware business, besides serving simultaneously as postmaster of the village. He finally sold his hardware stock and business and eighteen months later he purchased the stock and busi- ness of J. S. Hubka. He expanded the busi- ness by installing a large and well selected stock of general merchandise and has since conducted a most substantial and prosperous enterprise. He is the owner of a well im- proved farm property of three hundred and twenty acres, and the same is under the active charge of his brother Frank, as previously noted. On this place he is giving special at-

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tention to the raising of full-blood Holstein cattle, besides which he is developing a suc- cessful dairy business in the connection.

In 1896 Mr. Holm wedded Miss Bessie Wright, who was born and reared in Gage county, and who is a daughter of Amos L. Wright, a retired farmer residing in the vil- lage of Virginia, this county. Mr. and Mrs. Holm have two children -Grace A., who is a student in the Beatrice high school ; and Mil- dred Genevieve, who had the distinction of receiving first prize as the best baby girl at the Gage county fair in 1917. Mrs. Holm is an active member of the Christian church.

Mr. Holm has been active and liberal as a citizen of intense public spirit, has held var- ious township offices, and commands inviol- able place in popular confidence and good will.

NELSON ADAMS. - The subject of this record has the distinction of being the oldest living settler in Gage county. When a lad of sixteen years he arrived in what is now Adams township, in company with his father, John O. Adams, who was the first permanent set- tler of the county. Mr. Adams was born in Dubois county, Indiana, February 24, 1841. He grew to manhood on the pioneer farm in Nebraska and at an early age began to aid in the development and improvement of the old homestead. In September, 1864, he enlisted in Company C, Second Nebraska Regiment, for a term of four months, or during the war. He was sent to Fort Kearney and from there to Camp Blue, where the winter was passed. In the spring of 1865, the regiment was hon- orably discharged and young Nelson returned home The next year he was united in mar- riage to Miss Laura Haskins and they settled on a farm he had purchased. But they were destined to enjoy their companionship for only a brief season, for four months and eight days after their marriage Mrs. Adams passed away. In April of that year Mr. Adams made a trip of over five hundred miles, into Colorado. He drove overland from Ne- braska City with a load of produce - eggs. butter, corn, etc. -- and the Indians made it so uncomfortable for him that he was com-

pelled to hasten to Denver. He had entered a homestead in Section 25, Adams township, and had built a log house sixteen by twenty- two feet in dimensions. He returned from the west and in 1868 he married Miss Lydia J. Wilson, a native of Putnam county, Indiana. Of this union were born two children, Nancy E., who is the wife of C. B. Ashcroft and re- sides in Wyoming, and Letitia O., who died in childhood. The mother of these children passed away, and the present Mrs. Adams was in her girlhood Emily J. Dilworth. She is a native of Grant county, Kentucky, where she was born April 7, 1843. Her parents,

NELSON ADAMS

Lindsey and Sarah (Simpson) Dilworth, came to Nebraska in 1863, settling in Johnson county. They gave the name to the town of Crab Orchard, from the large number of wild crab-apple trees growing in the vicinity. By a former marriage, to William H. Stoner, who was a Union soldier in the Civil war, Mrs. Adams became the mother of three children, the eldest of whom is William H. Stoner, who resides in Cass county, Minnesota, and is the only one now living. At the time of her mar- riage to Mr. Adams, Mrs. Adams was the widow of G. T. Simpson, and their one son,

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

Hugh M., died at the age of seventeen years.

Nelson Adams successfully followed farm- ing until 1902, when he retired, and he now makes his home in Adams. He has been a wit- ness of the vast changes which have taken place in Gage county, having been a member of the first family to establish a home here. Mr. Adams is a Methodist in religious be- lief, and in politics is a Republican. He held various township offices years ago, but is now retired from all activities.

ELIJAH FILLEY. - In the summer of 1867, the year that marked the admission of Nebraska to statehood, Hon. Elijah Filley, a young man of industry, self-reliance, and courage, came with his wife to Gage county and numbered himself among its sterling pioneers. He and his faithful wife ran the full gamut of pioneer experience and their reminiscences of the early days are most graphic and interesting. They made the over- land journey to Nebraska with teams and wagons and girded themselves with the in- domitable valor and undauntable purpose that are ever the prerequisite of success under the conditions that must obtain in opening a new country to civilization and progress. Mr. Filley has been in the most significant sense the architect of his own fortunes and few men have played a larger or more benignant part in connection with the development and up- building of Gage county along both civic and industrial lines. Of this no further assur- ance need be given than the statement that a township and a village of the county have been named in honor of this venerable pioneer citi- zen, while it has been his to represent Gage county in both houses of the state legislature, to gain through his own ability and well ordered energies a substantial fortune, the while he has so ordered his course as to merit and receive at all stages the unqualified re- spect and confidence of his fellow men. It is most gratifying to be able to present in this publication a tribute to Mr. Filley as a pio- neer of pioneers and to enter brief review of a career that has been marked by earnest and honest endeavor. He and his wife now live

in gracious retirement in the city of Des Moines, Iowa, and though venerable in age the years rest lightly upon them, while they find a full measure of satisfaction in revert- ing to the attractive social and material con- ditions and environment which they have aided in creating in Gage county, Nebraska. Mr. Filley was born in Jackson county, Mich- igan, on the 28th of November, 1839, and is a son of Ammi and Mary (Marvin) Filley, both natives of Bloomfield, Connecticut, where they were reared and educated. Ammi Fil- ley, a member of one of the early colonial families of New England, was born January 2, 1808, and he continued his residence in Connecticut until 1833, when he immigrated to Michigan, which state was not admitted to the union until 1837. He became one of the pioneers of Jackson county, where he re- claimed a farm from the forest and where he continued his active alliance with agricultural industry about thirty years. In the summer of 1867 he retired from the active labors that had so long been his portion and accompanied his son Elijah, of this review, to Gage county, Nebraska, where he remained until his death and where he received during the intervening period the deepest filial care and solicitude on the part of his son and the latter's family. He was seventy-two years of age at the time of his death, which occurred May 13, 1880. Ammi Filley was one of the gallant sons of the nation who went forth in defense of the Union when the Civil war was precipitated on the country. In response to President Lin- coln's first call, he enlisted as a private in Company D, Second Michigan Cavalry, and with this gallant command he served through- out the entire course of the war. He was a skilled sharpshooter and participated in many of the important battles marking the progress of the great conflict. He took part in the siege of Vicksburg and the famous charge at Fort Donelson, and previously had been with his command in heavy campaigns and engage- ments in the southern states farther to the east. In later years he found pleasure in vitalizing the associations of his military career by affiliation with the Grand Army of

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the Republic. Amini and Mary (Marvin) Filley became the parents of four sons and two daughters, and of the number only Elijah is living in 1918.

Elijah Filley was but five years old at the time of his mother's death, and the home was broken up. For about three years thereafter he lived in the home of a man named Cran- dall, a farmer in Jackson county, Michigan, and his father then contracted a second mar- riage and re-established a home for his chil- dren. However, with so little consideration and kindness did the stepmother treat Elijah Filley that he was compelled to leave home when about twelve years of age, and the im- mature youth began to provide for himself by taking up the arduous work of plowing for a neighbor farmer for a compensation of six dollars a month. In reminiscent way he fre- quently reverts to this period of his life, when he drove the plodding ox-team to the plow and did other heavy farm work. He con- tinued to be employed by the month as a farm hand during the summer seasons and attend- ed school during the intervening winter terms, the while he worked mornings and evenings to pay his board.

In 1858, when nineteen years of age, Mr. Filley went to Joliet, Illinois, and there he was employed by the firm of Poole & Ring on one of the canal boats on the old Michigan & Illi- nois canal until the freezing of the canal put a stop to such navigation. During the fol- lowing winter he was employed in sawing wood for use on railroad locomotives, and he recalls that the buzz-saw used for the purpose was operated by a treadmill on which power was furnished hy horses. In 1859 Mr. Filley went to Odell, Livingston county, Illinois, and after working for a time on a farm in that vicinity he made his way to LaSalle county, that state, where for three years he was en- gaged in herding, driving, and dealing in live stock, in the employ of William Strawn, an extensive farmer and stock dealer of the day. In company with Mr. Strawn he made the overland trip to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and in- cidentally accumulated a herd of one hundred and forty-six fat cattle at Des Moines, Iowa.

With this large herd they then started for Chicago, but Mr. Strawn was summoned to his home, when fifteen miles east of Des Moines, so that Mr. Filley alone had charge of driving the cattle through to the future metropolis of the west. During his three years of association with Mr. Strawn he gained knowledge and experience that proved of inestimable value to him in later operations of an independent order that enabled him to lay the substantial foundation for his success. After leaving Mr. Strawn he continued to be engaged in farming in Livingston county, Illinois, until 1867, in the summer of which year he provided himself with three covered wagons and three good teams, and with these set forth on the overland journey to the new state of Nebraska, his young wife accompany- ing him on this momentous trip. In due course of time they arrived in Gage county, and here Mr. Filley utilized the money which he had previously acquired to effect the purchase of six quarter-sections of government land, be- sides which he filed claim on a homestead of equal area. His horses died soon after his arrival in the county and he finally acquired ox teams and began breaking the virgin prairie soil to pay for his oxen. He contin- ued to break soil for others for about three years and in the meanwhile established a pio- neer home on his own land. Instead of fol- lowing the custom of the majority of the early settlers by providing a dug-out or sod house, Mr. Filley determined to make a residence of less primitive type. In the meanwhile he and his wife lived in a tent and around the same they eventually built a stone house of one room, this structure having in later years been familiarly known as "The Old Stone House," and constituting one of the veritable land- marks of this section of the state. Mr. Filley himself quarried the stone and burned the lime for mortar, while Mrs. Filley hauled the ma- terial to the site of the new home by means of the ox team. Together these ambitious pio- neers mixed the mortar and laid the walls of the little dwelling, after which a roof was con- structed. They lived in the one room during the first winter and in the following summer

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they added to the domicile, eventually making the house one of good size and excellent pro- visions for comfort. In this dwelling they continued to maintain their home for sixteen years.

Soon after coming to Nebraska Mr. Filley put his previous experience to good use by buying cattle to stock his large farm, and soon he developed a prosperous business in the feeding and shipping of cattle. On the completing of the railroad line to Beatrice he had the distinction of loading the first carload of cattle ever transported from Gage county to Chicago by rail. Later the railroad was extended to the present village of Filley, which was named in his honor and which is situated on a part of his old farm. He there erected a large grain elevator, the same hav- ing thereafter been utilized by him for many years in connection with his extensive opera- tions in the buying and shipping of grain.

When the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad was completed from Beatrice to Nebraska City, Mr. Filley, in the summer of 1883, founded on the line the town which bears his name and which, as before stated, is located on one of his farms. In 1885 the county authorities conferred upon him a merited distinction, in that they authorized the changing of the name of Mud Creek township to Filley township, a fitting tribute to the sterling pioneer who was the first settler with- in the limits of that township. Mr. Filley was for a long term of years recognized as the most progressive and substantial farmer, stock-feeder, and stock-shipper in this section of the state, and among his early enterprises of importance was also the owning and oper- ating of a threshing outfit.

About the year 1890 Mr. Filley sold the major part of his large and important real- estate and business interests in Gage county, and settled on a tract of one thousand acres which, in an early day, he had purchased in the adjoining county of Jefferson. This prop- erty he improved in excellent order and he operated the same successfully in connection with his extensive stock business for several years - until, in fact, he met with an accident

that nearly resulted in his death. He then de- cided to sell his property and retire from active business, and since that time he and his devoted wife have lived in the serene en- joyment of the gracious rewards of former years of earnest endeavor.

In politics Mr. Filley has been a recognized stalwart in the ranks of the Republican party and as a progressive citizen he wielded much influence in shaping the governmental poli- cies that brought normal development and growth to Gage county. He was elected county commissioner and in this office served two terms, of three years each. In 1881 and 1883 he represented Gage county in the state legislature, and soon after his retirement from this office he was elected state senator from his district, in which position he served until 1885. His record as a legisaltor has become a very part of the history of the state and is illumined by his characteristic loyalty and public spirit. Mr. Filley has been affiliated with the Masonic fraternity since 1866, was made a Master Mason and also a Royal Arch Mason in Fairbury, Illinois. He then settled in Nebraska and was a charter member and helped to organize the Blue Lodge, No. 26, also the chapter and commandery at Beatrice, Nebraska. Then he organized Temple Lodge, No. 175, at Filley, and of this he served as master for about twelve years.

Matured and invigorated through the her- culean labors and hardships of the pioneer days, the physical constitution of Mr. Filley has been sturdy and thus he retains, as he nears the eightieth milestone on the journey of life, the mental and physical vigor of a man many years his junior, while his loved wife has been his devoted companion and helpmeet for more than half a century-a woman whose strength has been as the number of her days and who had a remarkable share in pio- neer experience in the great west, as will be attested by statements yet to be made in this context.

On the 4th of November, 1863, was sol- emnized the marriage of Mr. Filley to Miss Burd, of Pleasant Ridge, Livingston county, Illinois. She was born in Will county, that

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state, November 6, 1844, and is a daughter of Silas and Betsey Ann Burd, the former of whom was born in New Jersey, December 8, 1818, and the latter of whom was born in the state of New York, on the 13th of Sep- tember, 1817. Silas Burd numbered himself among the pioneers of Illinois and later em- phasized his pioneer experience by removing with his family to Texas, this action having been taken primarily for the benefit of the health of himself and his wife. Mrs. Filley was a girl of twelve years when the family thus removed to the Lone Star state, and the greater part of the journey was made with teams and wagons. Georgetown, Texas, was made the destination and from that head- quarters Mr. Burd engaged in buying and selling cattle and horses. Mrs. Filley accom- panied him in his trips about the country to buy stock, and finally, with a herd of about eighty cattle and several ponies, they started overland for Chicago in the spring of 1858. In the meanwhile Mr. Burd had traded his wagons for a top buggy, cattle, etc., and in starting forth on the long journey a sturdy yoke of oxen was provided for the transpor- tation of the camp outfit. The family started on this return trip when Mrs. Filley was a girl of about fifteen years and she assisted in driving the ox team. They had proceeded as far as Waco, Texas, when the father was so stricken with illness as to be unable to proceed farther, and in the camp which they made he died on the 22d of February, 1859, leaving his wife ill in bed and with the care of their two sons and three daughters. Mrs. Filley, the eldest of the children, bravely assumed the care of her mother and the directing of family affairs in general after the remains of the loved father had been laid to rest in Texas soil. After the grass came up in the follow- ing spring the little family resumed their weary journey to the east, with the cattle and general camp equipment. On they drove through Texas and the Indian Territory, where they were urged by each successive In- dian tribe encountered to give one or more head of the little band of cattle, in order to obtain permission to pass on unmolested, but

Mrs. Filley, with a courage and tact beyond her years, contrived to gain this permission without sacrificing the live stock, only one beef steer having been contributed to the In- dians. Continuing in the saddle every day, she led the outfit onward until they crossed the Mississippi river at Alton, Illinois, where they were joined by a brother of her mother. Thus reinforced the party continued the jour- ney to Livingston county, Illinois, and in the village of Avoca the family rented a house until the live stock could be sold in the Chi- cago market, to which Mrs. Filley assisted in driving the cattle from the Texas wilds - in fact she thus made the entire trip from Texas to Chicago on the back of a little Texas pony. After the sale of the cattle the family pur- chased a farm in Livingston county and there Mrs. Filley remained until her marriage. within a few years after which it was again her portion to endure the trials and vicissi- tudes of pioneer life, as noted in foregoing paragraphs.

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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 45

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