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 61

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 61

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wife held membership in the Evangelical church.

After the close of the Civil war Sylvester Hevelone continued his association with agri- cultural pursuits in Ohio until 1880, when he came with his family to Nebraska and settled in Gage county, where he established the fam- ily home on a farm owned by his father-in-law, George Wonder, in Blue Springs township, near the present thriving village of Blue Springs. He marked the passing years with earnest and well directed endeavor and became one of the substantial farmers and influential citizens of his township. Both he and his wife passed the closing years of their lives at Blue Springs, where his death occurred in the year 1897 and where she was summoned to the life eternal in 1908. They are survived by eight children, concerning whom brief men- tion may consistently be made at this juncture : George D. resides at Blue Springs and is a farmer by occupation ; Samuel J. is a success- ful farmer in Riverside township, this county ; Sidney F. is engaged in the merchandise busi- ness at Beatrice, the county seat ; Ralph R., of Alma, Harlan county, is a farmer by vocation ; Emma P. is the wife of David I. Ault, of Alma Harlan county ; Eva P. is the wife of Frank Hatch, of Greeley, Colorado; Alice T. is the wife of Abraham L. Bowers, of Edinburg, Texas ; and Elmer L., the immediate subject of this review, was the first in order of birth.

Reared to the sturdy discipline of a semi- pioneer farm, Elmer L. Hevelone acquired his early education in the excellent public schools of Gage county, and in 1890 he completed an effective course in the Beatrice Business Col- lege. As a boy and youth he had found both diversion and valuable experience by working about the depot of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad at Blue Springs, and there he learned efficiently the art of telegraphy. As a skillful operator he was given employment by the railroad company mentioned, and for a time he was in service at Atchison, Kansas. Later he became station agent for the same company at Kesterson, Jefferson county, Ne- braska, where he served in this capacity until 1899, when he was transferred to a similar

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post in the village of Filley, Gage county, where he remained thus engaged until 1901. For eighteen months thereafter he gave his attention to the buying and shipping of grain, with headquarters at Tecumseh, Johnson county, and from 1903 to 1906 he was Bur- lington station agent at Blue Springs, near the old homestead farm.

In the year 1906 Mr. Hevelone was ap- pointed deputy treasurer of Gage county, under the administration of Julian A. Barn- ard, and of this position he continued the in- cumbent four years. His efficiency and his strong hold upon popular confidence and good will then marked him as a logical candidate for the office of county treasurer, and to this responsible position he was elected in 1910, as the candidate on the Republican ticket. He received at the polls a most gratifying sup- port, and the high estimate placed upon his administration was shown in his re-election at the close of his first term, without opposi- tion in either political party. By a change in the state laws during his second term the ad- justment was such that instead of serving for a total of four years, the regular two terms of the previous regulation, he retained the office for five consecutive years. His ability in the management of the fiscal affairs of the county marked Mr. Hevelone as a man well fortified for the administration of financial business of a general order, and after his re- tirement from the office of county treasurer he was chosen president of the Farmers & Merchants Bank at Wymore, this county.

Of this position he continued in tenure two years, and in 1914 he became a stockholder and director of the State Savings & Loan Association of Beatrice, which is recognized as one of the strong, well ordered and repre- sentative financial institutions of southeastern Nebraska. In February, 1917, Mr. Hevelone was elected secretary of this banking corpora- tion and as such he has the active adminis- tration of its large and substantial business, with incidental status as one of the efficient and representative figures in financial circles in this part of the state. The State Savings & Loan Association of Beatrice was organized

and incorporated in the year 1890 and it has proved a valuable conservator of civic and material progress and prosperity in Gage county. Of this institution Albertus H. Kidd, of Beatrice, is president ; Thomas J. Chides- ter, of Western, Saline county, is vice-presi- dent, Mr. Hevelone being its secretary, as al- ready noted, and Louis Graff holding the of- fice of treasurer. The assets of the institu- tion are $1,700,000.00 and it gives special at- tention to the handling of savings accounts and to assisting in the purchasing and improv- ing of real estate.

Mr. Hevelone, as intimated in a preceding paragraph, is a veritable stalwart in the local camp of the Republican party and as a citizen he stands exponent of the loyalty and public spirit that are potent in the furtherance of the general wellbeing of the community. He is one of the active and valued members of the Beatrice Commercial Club and served two years as its president. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, the Eastern Star, the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks and the Royal Highlanders. Both he and his wife hold membership in the Christian church in their home city and are popular factors in the representative social life of the community.

On February 23, 1898, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hevelone to Miss Anna M. McVey, who was born in the state of Mis- souri a daughter of Solomon and Lean (Kib- ler) McVey, the former of whom passed the latter years of his life in Gage county, Ne- braska, and Republic county, Kansas, his widow being now a resident of Blue Springs. Mr. and Mrs. Hevelone have one child - Maurice Sylvester, born October 23, 1905, at Blue Springs.

JOSEPH MANGUS, who has figured as a successful farmer and stockman in Gage county, was born in Macoupin county, Illi- nois, August 17, 1871, and is a son of Wil- liam and Catherine (Garst) Mangus, a rec- ord of whom appears elsewhere in this vol- ume.

Joseph Mangus was educated in the public schools of Illinois and attended school for a

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short time after coming to Nebraska. He came to Gage county with his parents in 1881. He has always followed farming, be- ginning by renting land and later buying one hundred and twenty acres in Sherman town- ship. After operating this for a few years he purchased eighty acres on Section 33, Rock- ford township, where he established his home. There were no buildings on this farm when Mr. Mangus bought it, with the exception of a small shack. Mr. Mangus greatly improved this farm, upon which he erected a fine two- story house, a good modern barn, and other buildings.

On September 2, 1915, Mr. Mangus was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Hutch- inson, daughter of James and Frances (Combs) Hutchinson, who were born in Illinois and who removed to Kansas in 1882. Mr. Hutchinson now makes his home in Mis- souri, his wife having passed away several years ago.

Joseph Mangus and wife are members of the Congregational church. Mr. Mangus is independent in politics and has never desired or held public office, thinking it better to de- vote his entire time and energy to his farm and the raising and feeding of live stock, in which line of enterprise he has been success- ful.

WALTER H. DEBOLT. - If persever- ance, self-reliance and worthy purpose consti- tute the genius of success, then there is no need for indirection or puzzling in determining the forces that have been brought to bear in gaining advancement for Mr. DeBolt, who has depended entirely upon his own ability and resources in making his way in the world, who has shown himself a master of expedients and who has pressed steadily forward to the goal of ambition. He is now one of the stock- holders of the John H. von Steen Company, one of the leading wholesale concerns of Beatrice, Nebraska, and has an active part in directing the executive policies and general business of this representative corporation, which is engaged in the wholesale and retail lumber business.

Mr. DeBolt can well claim to be intrinsically an American of Americans, as he is a scion of a family that was founded in this country prior to the war of the Revolution. In 1772 three brothers, William, George and Henry DeBolt, each bearing a personal name spelled according to the French method and the original French surname of DeBaul, immi- grated from the fair French province of Al- sace - the present stage of much of the frightful military operations incidental to the great European war - to America, little wot- ting that more than two centuries later the land of promise to which they thus made their way would become involved in warfare in their native province, to which William and Henry finally returned, the brother George remaining to perpetuate the family name and honors in the new world and to become the worthy ancestor from whom the subject of this review traces his lineal descent, the pre- sumption being that this founder of the fam- ily in America established his residence in the historic Old Dominion - Virginia. Isaac DeBolt, grandfather of him whose name initiates this article, was born and reared in Ohio, and thus is given assurance that his parents were numbered among the pioneer settlers of the Buckeye commonwealth.

Walter H. DeBolt was born at Edinburg, Johnson county, Indiana, on the 27th of July, 1860, and is a son of George and Mary (Webb) DeBolt, both natives of Indiana, where their marriage was solemnized. In 1866 George DeBolt removed with his family to Sterling, Illinois, but in the following year he numbered himself among the pioneers of Moulton, Appanoose county, Iowa. In the spring of 1878, with team and wagon, he made the overland journey from the old home in Iowa to the state of Nebraska, and became one of the early settlers of the village of Utica, Seward county, where he opened a shop for the repairing of wagons and where he maintained his home for many years. He passed the closing period of his life at St. Petersburg, Florida, where he died at the age of eighty-three years, his wife having been seventy-seven years of age when she was sum-

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moned to eternal rest and her death having occurred at Seward, Nebraska.

Walter H. DeBolt was a lad of about seven years at the time when the family home was established in Appanoose county, Iowa, where he early became inured to active labor and responsibility, the while he made the best use of the educational advantages afforded him in the public schools. Through his own re- sources Mr. DeBolt defrayed the expenses of his course in the Iowa Normal School at Moulton, and it is a matter of record that he attended extra classes three evenings a week, under the instruction of Mrs. H. M. Bushnell, who now resides in the city of Lincoln, Ne- braska. He applied himself diligently to study during the midnight hours, found em- ployment through the day and bent every energy to bringing himself up to the standard of his class, in which he was three years be- hind in his studies, owing to the conditions under which he applied himself. Of his in- domitable perseverance and his marked mental receptiveness no further voucher need be asked than the statement that he made good on all his studies, though covering three years' work in one, and was triumphantly gradu- ated in regular order with his class, that of 1877, besides having had the distinction of delivering the valedictory address.

Reinforced with the academic honors thus sturdily won, Mr. DeBolt set forth, in 1878, to join his parents in Seward county, Ne- braska. Upon his arrival in Seward county he found employment at farm work, and though he had received absolutely no expe- rience in the job assigned to him, he contrived, with much mortification of the flesh, as we may well imagine, to turn out his share of work in the binding of grain in the trail of a Marsh harvester. In the spring of 1880 Mr. DeBolt went to Montana, and he passed four years moving about in that frontier sec- tion of the country. He then returned to Ne- braska, where for several years he was identi- fied with the lumber business, a portion of the time in the position of auditor for the Searle & Chapin Lumber Company, of Lin- coln. In 1909 lie came to Beatrice, still in

the employ of the company mentioned, and from this center he continued his activities as auditor until he accepted a place as traveling salesman for the John H. von Steen Com- pany. In this capacity he made an admirable record of productive business and finally he became a stockholder of the company, be- sides which he has served as a member of its directorate since 1914. He now remains at the headquarters of the company and is ac- tively identified with the general management of its extensive business. Mr. DeBolt has lost none of his characteristic nerve and energy and holds prestige not only as one of the representative business men of the Gage county metropolis and judicial center but also as a progressive and wide-awake citizen who is always ready to lend his influence and co- öperation in the furtherance of measures for the general good of the community. He has not been assailed by ambition for political of- fice but has never swerved in his allegiance to the cause of the Democratic party.

In 1888 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. DeBolt to Miss Alice Corkens, daughter of James Corkens, of Beaver Crossing, Seward county, and they are popular factors in the social life of their home city: they have no children.

SILAS BRYSON. - No one who knows the facts concerning the early settlement of Gage and Johnson counties would consider the history of these counties complete were the story of the Bryson family omitted from its pages. Silas Bryson was one of the great- est and noblest of the early pioneers of this vicinity.

Silas Bryson was born June 20, 1835, in Athens county, Ohio. There he spent his boy- hood days and he completed his education at the Zanesville Academy. On April 12, 1855, he was united in marriage to Clarinda Young, of Morgan county, Ohio. To this union were born fifteen children. twelve of whom are still living at the opening of the year 1918.

In April, 1862, the Bryson family came to Nebraska Territory and settled in what is now

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MRS. SILAS BRYSON

SILAS BRYSON

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Johnson county, near the Bents Mills. Here they remained four years and they removed to Gage county and estabished their home near Adams, where Silas Bryson continued to reside until the time of his death. Shortly after coming to Nebraska the family had rea- son to be considerably in fear of the Indians, and on one occasion word came of an In- dian uprising. All of the neighbors for miles around banded together and started for Ne- braska City, sixty miles distant. Terrible rain storms came on, all the bedding became soaked, the victuals were ruined and the set- tlers were in dire distress. The third morn- ing .Mother Bryson arose in camp and an- nounced her intentions of going back home. She said, "This style of living is worse than the Indians, and I am going back." Her courage inspired the crowd and by night the next day all arrived at home and found that their habitations had not been disturbed or their property molested. One winter when meat was scarce Father Bryson saw a fine big turkey coming into the clearing from the woods, and running back for his gun he soon brought the turkey down. This was the day before Christmas, and there was surely holi- day rejoicing in the pioneer home. The older children have often said, "It was the finest Christmas dinner we ever had, and no turkey since has tasted half so good."

Mr. Bryson was one of the early pioneer school teachers of Gage and Johnson coun- ties, where he spent thirty-five years in the noble work of moulding the characters of Nebraska boys and girls. He organized the Adams Methodist Episcopal Sunday School and for seventeen years was its superinten- dent. Mr. and Mrs. Bryson were charter members of the Methodist Episcopal church of Adams. Their oldest grandson, Dr. Roy D. Bryson, is one of the Nebraska surgeons in the war and is now in France. Three other grandsons, Edgar Evans, Horace Patch, and Frank L. Bryson, and a grand-son-in-law, James F. Brown, also are in the government service in connection with the great world war. Mrs. W. W. Barnhouse, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Silas Bryson, lives at

Wheeler, Kansas ; William E. makes his home at University Place, Nebraska ; three daugh- ters, Mrs. George Horrum, Mrs. Viola Shep- pard, and Mrs. Mollie Barmore, live at Adams, Gage county, as do also the sons David F., the well-known auctioneer, and John A .; one daughter, Mrs. Jennie Patch, lives at Canby, Oregon ; Mrs. Ruth Bassett lives at Bayard, Nebraska; S. Y. resides at Grand Island, this state ; George lives at Arcadia, Nebraska ; and another daughter, Mrs. Gertrude Evans, lives at Lincoln, Nebraska's capital city.

Although the members of this good family are much scattered, yet their influence is still felt throughout Gage county. Mother Bryson passed to her reward on April 2, 1909, and Father Bryson remained with us until No- vember 10, 1915, when he answered the sum- mons of his Maker and joined the heavenly assembly around the throne of God.

JAMES W. SHELLEY, whose mental, moral, and physical powers well fitted him for enduring the trials and responsibilities of pio- neer life and who marked the passing years with large and worthy achievement, came to Gage county in the territorial epoch of Ne- braska history and here played a prominent and influential part in connection with civic and material development and progress. He was one of the honored pioneer citizens of the county at the time of his death, which oc- curred October 24, 1908, and this history properly pays a specific tribute to his memory.

Mr. Shelley was born in Derbyshire, Eng- land, February 5, 1843, a son of Francis and Frances (Hollingsworth) Shelley, who, in 1855, came with their family to the United States and established a home in Portage county, Wisconsin, in which state they re- mained until 1861, when they came to Ne- braska Territory and numbered themselves among the very early settlers of Rockford township. Though Francis Shelley had fol- lowed in his native land the trade of shoe- maker he showed versatility and adaptability when he became a pioneer farmer in Gage county, and he developed a good farm in the township mentioned. On the old homestead,

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in Section 19, he passed the remainder of his life, his death having occurred May 25, 1884, at which time he was seventy-two years of age: his widow survived him by nearly a quarter of a century and passed to the life eternal in 1897, at a venerable age, their chil- dren having been six in number.

James W. Shelley acquired his early edu- cation in his native land and was twelve years old at the time of the family immigration to America. He continued to attend school in Wisconsin, but there his advantages along this line were meager. He was a sturdy youth of eighteen years when he accompanied his par- ents to Gage county, Nebraska, and he drove an ox team through from the former home in Wisconsin. In 1864 he took up a home- stead claim of one hundred and twenty acres, and while giving vigorous attention to reclaiming and improving this land he continued to remain at the parental home for six years after acquiring the property. With increasing prosperity, he made judicious in- vestment in adjoining land and finally he de- veloped a well improved landed estate of more than four hundred acres, the while he stood forth as one of the energetic and pro- gressive exponents of agricultural and live- stock enterprise in this section of the state. He provided excellent buildings for his farm property and was known and valued as a leader in community affairs in Rockford town- ship, where he continned to maintain his resi- dence until his death, his venerable widow, one of the revered pioneer women of the county, being now a resident of the city of Beatrice. Mr. Shelley was a man whose course was ever guided and governed by the highest principles and his broad range of vision made him naturally a leader in community affairs. Con- scientious in every relation of life, he voted in consonance with his convictions and was a stalwart supporter of the cause of the Prohi- bition party. He and his wife became early members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Holmesville, a village not far distant from their farm, and he served a number of years as a member of the board of trustees of this church. He was zealous in the support of

educational work and served three years as moderator of his school district.

January 1, 1870, Mr. Shelley wedded Miss Mary E. Bailey, who was born in Kenosha county, Wisconsin, January 31, 1851, the fourth in a family of eight children, and she was twelve years old when the family came to Gage county, in 1863, her parents, Asa F. and Jeanette (Ford) Bailey, having here passed the remainder of their lives, the father having been born in New Hampshire, of Colonial ancestry, and the mother having been a native of the state of New York. Mrs. Shelley shared with her husband in the vicissi- tudes and labors of pioneer life and prior to their marriage she had been a successful and popular teacher in the rural schools of Gage county. A woman of gracious personality, she is loved by all who have come within the sphere of her influence and she has many in- teresting reminiscences concerning the pioneer period in Gage county history. Of the chil- dren of Mr. and Mrs. Shelley, Violetta died at the age of eight years; Anna remains with her widowed mother at their pleasant home in the city of Beatrice; William is a substan- tial farmer in Rockford township; Eloise is the wife of Robert H. Whittaker, a prosper- ous farmer in Rockford township; Harriet E. died in 1915, at the age of thirty-three years ; Merton J. at the time of this writing, in the spring of 1918, is in government service, as a member in the aviation corps at Waco, Texas ; Gilbert R. has the management of his father's old homestead farm; Frank R. is president of the Northwestern Business College at Beatrice, and is individually mentioned on other pages ; and Harold E. is now a member of the United States army forces in the can- tonment at Fort McArthur, Waco, Texas, where, as an aviator, he is preparing to take his place as a patriot soldier in the great European war. It will be noted that three of the sons are in the aviation corps - located at Fort McArthur, Texas.

VIRGIL E. McGIRR. - The city of Be- atrice proves a most attractive residence place for those who have been successful in

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farm enterprise in the county and who have achieved the independence that justified their retirement from active labors. Among the many popular citizens who are thus enjoying the attractions and privileges of the judicial center of the county is Mr. McGirr, who has been active not only as a representative of farm industry but also has been a successful exponent of the real-estate business. He was born in Kankakee county, Illinois, January 31, 1875, and thus is in the very prime of life. He is a son of Francis M. and Judith (Barkey) McGirr, and adequate record concerning the family is given on other pages, in the sketch of Dr. John I. McGirr.

Virgil E. McGirr was eleven years of age at the time of the family removal from Illi- nois to Gage county, and in the public schools he here continued his studies until his gradu- ation in the Beatrice high school, as a mem- ber of the class of 1894. He continued his active association with farm enterprise until he had attained to the age of twenty-seven years, and he then established his residence at Beatrice, where he served three years as deputy sheriff of the county. For several years thereafter he was successfully engaged in the real-estate business, and his operations included the selling of land not only in Ne- braska but also in other states of the Union. He built up a substantial and prosperous busi- ness and since his withdrawal from this line of enterprise he has lived virtually retired. He is the owner of a well improved farm of two hundred and sixty-five acres, in Holt township.

In politics Mr. McGirr is found aligned as a stalwart in the camp of the Democratic party and he has been influential in its local campaign activities. He has twice been his party's candidate for sheriff of Gage county, and on one occasion reduced materially the large Republican majority, his defeat being compassed by only twenty-seven votes. He served six years as chief of police at Beatrice, and gave a most efficient and satisfactory ad- ministration. Mr. McGirr has passed the various official chairs in the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, is now

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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 61

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