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 56

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 56

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The educational advantages that the times afforded in the boyhood of Andrew J. Reedy were very meager, but such as they were he profited by these. When a youth of seventeen years he went to Missouri to farm and was called from the plowing of his land to take up arms for his country. He was in the ser- vice for a few months with the contingent from

Harrison county, Missouri, but soon enlisted with Missouri cavalry, from Gentry county, in which command he served two years, two months, and seven days. He participated in the vigorous action incidental to the historic Price raids, fighting every day against Gen- eral Price from the Ozarks to Fort Scott. In 1863 he was in the raid for Quantrell, and one time was taken prisoner by the rebels, but he made his escape from them.

After the war Mr. Reedy went back to the peaceful occupation of tilling the soil in Mis- souri. It was here that he married Sarah Ann Lowe, who has been his faithful com- panion all of these years. She has borne him twelve children, ten of whom are living, as follows: Andrew lives at Blue Springs ; Florence first married O. T. Randall and is now the wife of Samuel Price, a farmer near Kansas City, Kansas ; William resides at Blue Springs, Daniel in Iowa, and Alonzo at Lin- coln, Nebraska ; Luther is in the military ser- vice of the United States as a member of a machine gun company ; Lucy, widow of Fred Stratford, is now employed in Palmer's store at Beatrice; Salome, widow of George Dens- more, is living in Lincoln; Mary is the wife of John Herman, of Wymore; and Harry is in the war service of the United States.

Mr. Reedy farmed in Missouri until 1878, when he went to Kansas, and in 1886 he came to Gage county, where he continued farming until his retirement to Blue Springs twenty years ago. In politics Mr. Reedy has voted with the Republican party. He is a member of the Rawlins Post, Grand Army of the Re- public, at Beatrice, and is one of the valued members of the community in which he has long resided, he having given many useful years to agricultural industry.

FREDERICK W. MESSMORE. - In the year that marked the semi-centennial of the admission of Nebraska as one of the sovereign states of the Union, Gage county numbered as one of its most efficient and valued officials Frederick W. Messmore, who is still serving as county attorney and who has the further distinction of being one of the youngest men

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FREDERICK W. MESSMORE

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to be the incumbent of such office in the entire state. He is making a splendid record as a public prosecutor and through his official ac- tivities is enhancing his reputation and is solidifying his status as one of the representa- tive members of the bar of Gage county.

Mr. Messmore was born in Boone county, Iowa, on the 11th of July, 1889, and is a son of H. A. and Clara J. (Davidson) Messmore. both of whom likewise are natives of the Hawkeye state, where the respective families were founded in the early pioneer days. H. A. Messmore was reared and educated in Iowa and there became actively identified with rail- way operations, as a conductor on the line of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. About the year 1907 he removed with his family to Nebraska and established his residence at Randolph, Cedar county, where he success- fully conducted a hotel, later continuing in the same line of enterprise in turn at Laurel, that county ; Geneva, Fillmore county ; and Nelson, Nuckolls county. In 1915 he and his wife es- tablished their home at Beatrice, and here it is his intention again to engage in the hotel busi- ness within the near future. Mr. Messmore is unwavering in his allegiance to the Demo- cratic party, he and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian church, and in the time- honored Masonic fraternity he has received the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Ac- cepted Scottish Rite, besides being affiliated also with the Mystic Shrine. Of the four chil- dren of Mr. and Mrs. Messmore, the subject of this review is the younger of the two now living, and Sylvia is the wife of T. O. Hester. a banker at Wiota, Cass county, Iowa.

The preliminary educational discipline of Frederick W. Messmore was acquired princi- pally in the public schools of the city of Coun- cil Bluffs, Iowa, where he completed the cur- riculum of the high school and also took a course in the Northwestern Business and Nor- mal College. After his graduation in the same he followed the trend of his ambition and well formulated plans by enrolling himself as a stu- dent in the Creighton Law School, in the city of Omaha. In this well ordered institution he was graduated as a member of the class of

1912, and his admission to the Nebraska bar was virtually coincident with his reception of the degree of Bachelor of Laws. In 1913 Mr. Messmore entered, with characteristic vigor and earnestness, upon his professional novi- tiate, and he was favored in being at this time able to associate himself with General L. W. Colby, of Beatrice, one of the leading members of the Gage county bar. He maintained this alliance until his election to the office of county attorney, in 1914, and the estimate placed upon his administration of the affairs of this important office was unequivocally shown in his reëlection in 1916.

Mr. Messmore is a most vital and effective advocate of the principles and policies for which the Democratic party stands sponsor and is one of the influential young men in its councils in his home county. Mr. Messmore is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks, the Delta Theta Phi college fraternity, and the Modern Woodmen of America, in which last mentioned organization he is past worthy ad- visor. He and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church.

In April, 1913, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Messmore to Miss Jennie Frances Saxe, who was born at Belden, Cedar county, Nebraska, a daughter of Allison and Frances (Boughn) Saxe, and she was reared in the home of her mother's uncle, Zack Boughn, who was one of the pioneer settlers of this state. Mr. and Mrs. Messmore have no children.

FRANK OVERBECK has been a resident of Gage county for nearly two score years and through his able and vigorous activities as a farmer he has achieved substantial prosperity. He is the owner of a well improved landed estate of three hundred and twenty acres, in Section 16, Holt township, and here he is now living virtually retired, his two sons hav- ing the active management of the farm prop- erty.

Mr. Overbeck was born in Prussia, Ger- many, July 26, 1841, a son of Frederick and Lizzie (Teisenbrink) Overbeck, who passed

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their entire lives in their native land. Frank Overbeck was reared and educated in Ger- many and there gained his initial experience in connection with farm industry. In May, 1882, he came to the United States and landed in the port of New York city. Shortly after- ward he came to Nebraska and established his residence in Gage county, where he found em- ployment as a farm workman. He continued to be thus engaged about five years and then engaged in farming in an independent way. He was encouraged to take this course by his friend Frederick Pohlman, who came to the farm on which Mr. Overbeck was at the time employed and made inquiry as to the amount of money the latter had available. Mr. Over- beck stated in reply that he had saved three hundred and twenty-five dollars, and Mr. Pohlman then said that he would lend him an additional one hundred dollars and that with the combined sum he could find him a farm that he could rent. Preparations were made by the two friends going to Dewitt, where Mr. Overbeck purchased a team of horses and the required agricultural implements, he having given his note for the purchase price of the team. He then rented the farm of John H. Steinmeyer, who established himself in the grain and elevator business at Dewitt, and on this farm Mr. Overbeck continued operations two years. He then purchased a Scully lease of land in Hanover township, and there he continued his successful activities as an agri- culturist and stock-grower until he purchased his present homestead farm of one hundred and sixty acres, upon which but little improve- ment had been made at the time. He has de- veloped his farm until it is now one of the model places of Holt township, the additional tract of one hundred and sixty acres having been purchased somewhat later and the farm being all in one body. Mr. Overbeck has erected good farm buildings and each of his sons has an attractive house on the half-sec- tion of land which has been under their ef- fective management since their father retired from the labors that were so long his portion. Mr. Overbeck is a Republican in politics and

is a communicant of the Lutheran church, as are also the members of his family.

As a young man Mr. Overbeck wedded Miss Caroline Stolde, who was born and reared in Germany and who there passed her entire life, her death having occurred in 1882, and she having been survived by four children. In the same year Mr. Overbeck came to America with three of his children, Henry, the eldest of the four having come to this country a short time previously, and being now a resident of Jefferson county, Nebraska ; Lizzie is the wife of Charles Gerhardt, of Beatrice ; Frederick is a prosperous farmer in Hanover township; and Charles is engaged in the real-estate business in the city of Beatrice.

Prior to coming to the United States Mr. Overbeck contracted a second marriage, with Miss Lizzie Hansjurgen, who was born in the year 1853, and whose death occurred April 13, 1913. Of the eleven children of this union six are living: William is a successful far- mer in Hanover township ; Frank is associated in the operation of the home farm of his father ; Ernest is engaged in farm enterprise in Holt township; John is the other son who farms a portion of his father's place; Her- man is a farmer in Nemaha township; and Edwin is engaged in farming in Saline county.

CHARLES M. MURDOCK, of Wymore, is not only one of the honored pioneer citizens of Gage county, but also a representative of a family whose name is one of singular and sig- nificant prominence in connection with the early annals of Nebraska, the subject of this review having gained wide and varied ex- perience in connection with life on the fron- tier and his noble father having been one of the early missionaries to the Indians in Ne- braska. A wealth of interesting data may be gleaned concerning this family, and the rec- ord cannot fail of enduring historical interest.

Charles M. Murdock was born in Greene county, Pennsylvania, August 29, 1843, and is a son of Rev. Daniel A. and Prudence L. (Smith) Murdock, both likewise natives of the old Keystone state. Rev. Daniel A. Mur- dock received a liberal education and as a

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young man he entered the ministry of the Presbyterian church. His marriage to Miss Prudence L. Smith was solemnized April 6, 1841, and concerning their nine children the following brief record may be entered: Ly- sander B. was born March 24, 1842, and died January 10, 1858; Charles M., of this review, was the next in order of birth; Mary F. was born August 25, 1845, and her death occurred December 5, 1863 ; Alonzo D. was born No- vember 11, 1847; Bashford E. W. was born May 11, 1850, and died July 24, 1888; Alfa- retta L. was born September 22, 1852; Dualla R. was born October 2, 1854, and her death occurred June 25, 1908; Effie T. was born June 30, 1858, and her death occurred March 19, 1864; and Daniel A., Jr., was born Jan- uar 18, 1861.

The following specially interesting record is taken in large part from an admirable ac- count prepared by Charles M. Murdock, to whom this sketch is dedicated. In the spring of 1853 Rev. Daniel A. Murdock removed with his family to the pioneer wilds of Iowa and established a home near Bloomfield, Davis county, but removal was soon afterward made to the vicinity of Holleyville, Page county. In September, 1856, Mr. Murdock and his wife, in company with their neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Hayes, drove overland in covered wagons from Page county, Iowa, into the Ter- ritory of Nebraska, and they decided to locate in Richardson county, near the present village of Stell. This sturdy pioneer clergyman pur- chased in that locality a tract of land, and within a short time thereafter he returned to his home in Iowa. In the same year he was requested by the Presbyterian Missionary So- ciety, of New York city, to accept the posi- tion of missionary to the Otoe and Missouri tribes of Indians in Nebraska and Kansas, and he accepted this responsible post. On the 7th of April, 1857, in company with his wife and their seven children, Rev. Daniel A. Mur- dock left Page county, Iowa, with teams and covered wagons and set forth for his new field of service. When they arrived at Sidney, Fremont county, Iowa, they found that the Missouri river was so high as to make it im-

possible to cross the same. The family there- fore remained at Sidney until the 6th of May, when they crossed the river on a ferry boat, at Weeping Water, just above Nebraska City. Three days later the pioneer missionary ar- rived with his family at the Indian trading post conducted by Gideon Bennett, on Plum creek, and one mile west of the site of the present village of Liberty, Gage county. The next day the family continued its journey a distance of about seven miles and arrived at the Otoe and Missouri Indian mission build- ing, in Marshall county, Kansas. Here the Presbyterian Missionary Society had pur- chased half a section of land, the north half of Section One (1) in Township One (1) south, Range Eight (8) east, and erected thereon a concrete building forty by ninety feet in dimensions and three stories in height, this building having been about forty rods south of the Kansas and Nebraska territorial line and one and one-half miles distant from the east line of the Otoe and Missouri Indian reservation. Soon after the arrival of the Murdock family at this frontier mission the seven chiefs of the Otoe and Missouri tribes came to visit the new incumbent at the mis- sion. Here Arkeketa and the other six chiefs held conference and decided to send their children to the mission school. Mr. Murdock treated them with great consideration and ex- plained to them the purpose and object of his coming as a missionary. From New York were sent two women to become teachers of the young Indians, and about seventy-five boys and two girls came to receive instruction. With its various attaches the mission repre- sented a busy little community, and the Mur- dock family passed the first summer very pleasantly. When the Indians were about to set forth on their autumn hunting trip for buffalo, they asked Mr. Murdock to permit the Indian boys in the school to accompany them on the expedition. The missionary tried to persuade them to let the children remain in school. The elder Indians seemingly gave their consent to this plan, but a little after dark the same evening "all of the Indian boys at the mission vanished like a flock of quail."

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While the Otoes were on this hunting expedi- tion a band of Sioux Indians, who were not on good terms with the Otoes, appeared at the mission, evidently in search of the Indian boys, whom they doubtless wished to scalp or kidnap. When they found the boys absent they did not molest the mission, the two In- dian girls having in the meanwhile been se- creted. When, upon their return, the Otoes learned of the visit of the Sioux their super- stitious minds led them to believe that a mir- acle had been wrought, in that the boys had been absent, and they did not permit the youngsters to return to the mission in suffi- cient number to justify the continuing of the school. Only two of the Indian boys came back to the mission. The result was that the mission was given up in the autumn of 1857, the land and buildings being later sold by the missionary society.

In 1861, however, Rev. Daniel A. Murdock and his family again occupied the mission building. In the interim he had removed to Doniphan county, Kansas, whence he went to Lawrence county, Missouri, to assume charge of a college at Mount Vernon. When the Civil war broke out he found his sym- pathy with the Union cause to be a source of trouble in his community, and he returned to Nebraska and settled on a tract of land which he had previously entered as a preëmption claim, in Pawnee county. The next spring he went with his family to Washington county, Kansas, and within a short time thereafter he was made chaplain of the Thirteenth Kansas Infantry. In this capacity he served until his death, which occurred at Springfield, Mis- souri, on the 5th of April, 1863. A godly and righteous life marked by self-abnegating ser- vice was that of this pioneer clergyman and missionary, and his final days were given to his country's service in the Civil war. Mrs. Murdock subsequently contracted a second marriage and removed to Wray, Colorado, where her death occurred January 18, 1899, her remains being laid to rest in the cemetery at Wymore, Gage county, Nebraska.

Charles M. Murdock was a lad of about ten years at the time of the family removal to

Iowa, and was reared under the conditions and influences of frontier life, his educational training having been received largely under the direction of his father and mother, both of whom were persons of superior intellectuality. He accompanied his parents on their various removals, as noted in the preceding context, and was able to attend the college of which his father was the executive head in Missouri. On the 11th of July, 1862, about one month prior to his twentieth birthday anniversary, Mr. Murdock tendered his aid in defense of the Union. At Marysville, Marshall county, Kansas, he enlisted as a member of Company K, Ninth Kansas Cavalry. The command went to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in Sep- tember, 1862, and there received a complete outfit. It thence marched to join the army in the field in southwestern Missouri, where it thus joined the active forces on the 2d of Oc- tober following. Under the command of General Blunt the Ninth Kansas Cavalry par- ticipated in the following named battles and other engagements: Newtonia, Missouri, Oc- tober 3d; Neosha, October 4th; Cane Hill, Arkansas, November 28th; Prairie Grove, December 7th; Van Buren, December 28th. The command then marched to Fort Scott, Kansas, and for the remainder of the winter it was employed in escorting trains loaded with supplies from that place to the Army of the Frontier, in Arkansas. In the perform- ance of this duty, Mr. Murdock's company had frequent engagements with guerrilla forces, which attempted to capture the trains under its escort. In March, 1863, the regi- ment was stationed at points on the Kansas- Missouri state line, from the Missouri river to the Osage. Company K was stationed at Aubrey, in Johnson county, Kansas, and dur- ing the following year was engaged in scout- ing and fighting guerrillas and bushwhackers through the border tier of counties in Mis- souri. Mr. Murdock continued in service until victory had crowned the Union arms and peace had been re-established. He proved a loyal and gallant soldier, always at the post of duty, and was never wounded or captured. His record was one that shall ever reflect

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honor upon his name, and he was mustered out July 17, 1865, duly receiving his honor- able discharge.

After the close of the war Mr. Murdock settled in Washington county, Kansas, and for several years thereafter he was engaged in freighting across the plains. He was well ac- quainted with William Hecock, commonly known as "Wild Bill," and has been in the room in which this frontier character shot McCandless and four others of his gang, at Elkhorn Station, in Jefferson county, Ne- braska. Those were strenuous times and Mr. Murdock, known for his courage and self- control, was elected and efficiently served as sheriff of Washington county, Kansas. He relates many thrilling tales concerning the problems and danger which he faced in the performance of his official duties. The court- house of Washington county was destroyed by fire while he was serving as sheriff, and he was employed by the county to draft a new set of abstract books, as the original county records had been destroyed in the fire.

On the 18th of August, 1874, Mr. Murdock came to Gage county, Nebraska, and estab- lished his residence at Blue Springs, where he engaged in newspaper enterprise. He found- ed the Blue Springs Reporter, of which he became editor and publisher, and later he was editor and publisher of the Wymore Reporter. He was appointed right-of-way representative for the Burlington Railroad in this section of the state and was instrumental in locating and naming the present thriving city of Wymore, where he has maintained his residence since 1881. He also gave efficient service in obtain- ing the right of way through Gage county for the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroads. A man of broad views, mature judgment, and utmost civic loyalty, Mr. Murdock has done much to fur- ther material and social advancement in Gage county, and he so thoroughly grounded him- self in the science of jurisprudence as to gain admission to the Nebraska bar. In later years he has given his attention principally to the practice of law and to the handling of real estate.

Mr. Murdock has given unswerving alle- giance to the Republican party from the time of attaining his legal majority, and his loyalty to the party has been intensified by the thought that it represented the cause for which he fought at the time of the Civil war. He per- petuated the more gracious memories and asso- ciations of his military career by affiliation with Coleman Post, No. 115, Grand Army of the Republic, at Wymore. He is a charter member of this post, was elected its first com- mander, and is serving as its commander in 1918.

On the 25th of March, 1868, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Murdock to Miss Jane E. Pasko, who was born in Wisconsin, and they celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in the spring of 1918, their long companion- ship having been one of ideal order. Of their six children only two are living: Arthur A. is engaged in the newspaper business at Dewitt, Saline county ; and Glenn E. is in the employ of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, at Great Falls, Montana.

Mr. Murdock is a recognized authority on historical data in Kansas and Nebraska, and has dates and names at his tongue's end - an evidence of his remarkably vigorous and retentive memory. He figures as a pioneer of both Nebraska and Kansas, and has lived up to the full tension of life on the frontier, even as he has done his part in the progressive movements that have compassed the develop- ment of these two opulent commonwealths.

ALBERT MILLER is one of the sterling pioneer citizens whose alert mentality, fine ob- servative powers, and distinct intellectuality make his reminiscences of the early days specially graphic and interesting, and it has been through his own industry and good man- agement that he has gained place as one of the prosperous exponents of farm industry in the county that has represented his home for nearly half a century, and to the development and progress of which he has contributed his quota. He is the owner of a well improved landed estate of two hundred and eighty acres, in Section 2, Logan township, and in the man-

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MR. AND MRS. ALBERT MILLER

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agement of the place he is assisted most ef- fectively by his only son, Eilert, who is a bachelor, so that the two reign supreme in the pleasant home, the devoted wife and mother having passed to eternal rest December 4, 1891.

Mr. Miller was born in Germany, in Feb- ruary, 1847, and is a son of Eilert Miller. Mr. Miller was little more than an infant at the time of his mother's death and was six years old when he came with his father to the United States, settlement being made in St. Clair county, Illinois, where the father died a few months later. The orphan boy was taken into the home of a family by which he was reared to adult age on a farm in that county, and the somewhat meager education which he gained in his youth has since been supplemented by extensive and careful reading of the best in general and current literature, as well as by the diversified experiences of a singularly ac- tive and earnest life. In St. Clair county, Illi- nois, Mr. Miller continued his alliance with agricultural industry until he came to Gage county, Nebraska, in 1870, his wife, whose maiden name was Rachel Jurgens, having likewise been a native of Germany and having accompanied him to Gage county, where she passed the remainder of her life, the son Eil- ert being the only surviving child.

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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 56

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