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 65

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 65

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Mr. Essam was born in Schuyler county, Illinois, May 10, 1863, was there reared on his father's farm and there acquired his early education in the district schools. He is a son of James and Susanna (Fitz) Essam, both natives of York county, Pennsylvania, where the former was born April 8, 1834, and the latter on the 12th of May, 1840. James Es-

sam was a young man when he removed from the old Keystone state and settled in Illinois, where his activities as a farmer were carried on first in Fulton and later in Schuyler county. In 1880 he disposed of his property in Illinois and came with his family to Gage county, where he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land, in Logan township. He improved one of the excellent farms of the county and continued to reside on the old homestead until his death, which occurred August 22, 1902, his widow having been sum- moned to the life eternal on the 5th of May, 1909. Both were earnest members of the Dunkard church and exemplified their faith in their daily lives, their names meriting en- during place on the roster of the honored pio- neers of Gage county. Of their eight children the firstborn is Henry, who is a prosperous farmer in Riverside township; Jacob, of this review, was the next in order of birth; Mary is the wife of James Canning and they reside in the state of Kansas; Edward is a success- ful farmer in Logan township; Miss Rebecca resides in the city of Beatrice, and is the home- keeper for her bachelor brother, John, the next younger of the children; Charles like- wise resides in Beatrice ; and Harvey resides upon and operates his father's old home farm, in Logan township.

As previously intimated, Jacob Essam was a youth of eighteen years when he accompan- ied his parents to Gage county, and for some time thereafter he was employed by the month at farm work, his compensation being twelve and one-half dollars a month. For several years he farmed on rented land and it was about twenty-five years ago that he purchased one hundred and sixty acres, the old home- stead of his father-in-law, in Midland town- ship. This proved to be the nucleus of the large and valuable landed estate of four hun- dred acres which he has since accumulated through his energetic and well directed activi- ties as an agriculturist and stock-raiser, and he has made many permanent improvements of excellent order on his property, including the rebuilding and remodeling of the house on his homestead and the erection of other

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farm buildings of model type and facilities. Mr. Essam is one of the substantial and popular citizens of Midland township, where he has served fifteen years in the office of township treasurer and for many years as a member of the school board of his district. He is independent of strict partisan lines in politics and gives his support to men and mea- sures meeting the approval of his judgment. His wife is an active member of the Christian church.

February 14, 1880, recorded the mar- riage of Mr. Essam to Miss Mary E. Bar- tram, who was born in Macoupin county, Illi- nois, a daughter of William and Mary Bar- tram, with whom she came to Gage county, Nebraska, in 1878, her parents settling on the farm which is now the homestead of Mr. and Mrs. Essam, both having here passed the re- mainder of their lives and Mr. Essam having purchased the farm at the time when the prop- erty was placed on sale in the final adjustment of the estate. Mr. and Mrs. Essam have four children : James, the maiden name of whose wife was Esta Doan, is a prosperous farmer in Midland township; Bessie is the wife of Ezra LePoidevin, a farmer in Holt township; Evart remains at the parental home and is associated with his father in the work and management of the farm; and Gilbert, who married Miss Pearl Bible, is one of the pro- gressive young farmers of Midland township.

JOHN W. BURGESS, treasurer of the Dempster Mill Manufacturing Company, which is the most important industrial cor- poration not only in the city of Beatrice but also in Gage county, has been for more than thirty years actively and prominently identi- fied with the civic and business affairs in Beatrice and he is properly accorded recogni- tion in this history.

John Warren Burgess was born in Cook county, Illinois, on the 3d of November, 1865, and is a son of Eli and Marietta (Childs) Burgess, who were born in Saratoga county, New York. Their marriage was solemnized in the old Empire state and thence they re- moved to Cook county, Illinois, prior to the

Civil war. Eli Burgess was a man of staunch character and of much intellectual ability. In the earlier period of his career he was a suc- cessful teacher in the public schools and there- after he was engaged in the mercantile busi- ness for some time. He became a farmer near Dundee, Illinois, and finally removed from the farm to that village, where he continued to be engaged in mercantile enterprise until his death, his wife also having there passed the closing years of her life. They became the parents of four sons, of whom the eldest is Edwin A., a civil engineer by profession and a resident of the city of Chicago; Arthur C. still resides at Dundee, Illinois, where he is a representative business man; William E. is deceased ; and John W., of this review, is the youngest of the number.

The lineage of the Burgess family traces back to Welsh origin and the Childs family was one of early settlement in the state of New York, where members of the family mar- ried representatives of the fine old Van Tassell family, whose name is linked with the found- ing of the early Holland Dutch colonies in the Empire state.

The early educational advantages of John W. Burgess were those afforded in the public schools of his native state, and after having attended the high school at Dundee he was for one year a student in Wheaton College, at Wheaton, Illinois, after which he completed a normal course in what is now Valparaiso University, at Valparaiso, Indiana. As a rep- resentative of the pedagogic profession he taught in the public schools of Henry and Kane counties, Illinois, besides which he gave effective service in the office of superintendent of schools for the latter county.

In the autumn of 1887 Mr. Burgess came to Beatrice, Nebraska, where he has since been actively associated with the Dempster Mill Manufacturing Company, of which he is a stockholder and director and of which he has served long and effectively as treasurer. He has done much to further the upbuilding of this large and important industrial corpora- tion and as a citizen has shown marked loy- alty and progressiveness. He and his wife

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hold membership in the Presbyterian church.

In December, 1891, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Burgess to Miss Sarah E. Demp- ster, who, like her husband, was graduated in the institution now known as Valparaiso Uni- versity. Mr. and Mrs. Burgess have three sons : Warren C., who is a graduate of the University of Colorado, is now in the employ of the Westinghouse Electrical Manufactur- ing Company ; Harold D. is a student, in 1918, in the University of Kansas; and John Paul is a student in the Beatrice high school.

JOHN I. McGIRR, M. D. - In promoting general efficiency along all lines of human en- deavor there has come in these later years a distinct recognition of the supreme value of concentration of effort, and this is specially true in the medical profession, in which ex- ponents find the maximum success and are able to give the most benignant service through devoting their attention to perfecting them- selves and exploiting special departments of practice. In Gage county Dr. McGirr has gained exceptional prestige by such concen- tration and he gives his time and attention primarily to the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the eye, ear, nose, and throat. He maintains his residence and professional head- quarters in the city of Beatrice and is known, through his character and high professional attainments, as one of the representative physicians and surgeons of this part of the state.

Dr. McGirr was born at Reddick, Kankakee county, Illinois, on the 23d of March, 1873, and in his native commonwealth he received his rudimentary education, his age at the time of the family removal to Nebraska having been twelve years. The Doctor is a son of Francis M. and Judith (Barkey) McGirr, the former of whom was born in the fair Old Emerald Isle, a scion of a family of patrician antecedents and superior educational status, and the latter of whom was born in the state of Pennsylvania, their marriage having been solemnized in the state of Illinois. Francis M. McGirr was reared and educated in his native land, where he received excellent ad-

vantages, his father, Joseph McGirr, who con- tinued to maintain his home in Ireland until his death, at the venerable age of eighty-five years, having been a man of fine intellectual- ity and having served many years as a school- master, in which connection it may be noted that he spoke and taught eight different lan- guages. Francis M. McGirr was a young man when he came to the United States and that his loyalty to the land of his adoption was of perfervid order needs no further voucher than the statement that he went forth as a valiant soldier of the Union in the Civil war, in which conflict he served three years, as a member of Battery K, First Illinois Light Artillery. During his later years of residence in Nebraska he perpetuated the more gracious memories of his military career through affil- iation with the Grand Army of the Republic, and in all of the relations of life he exempli- fied the same instinctive loyalty and high sense of personal stewardship that prompted him thus to defend in his young manhood the righteous cause through which was perpetu- ated our national integrity. His wife was a girl at the time of her parents' removal from the old Keystone state to Illinois, where she was reared and educated, her father, the late Enos Barkey, having finally removed with his family to Nebraska and become one of the early settlers of Gage county, where he was a prosperous farmer and where he and his wife passed the residue of their lives.

After the close of the Civil war Francis M. McGirr engaged in farming in Kankakee county, Illinois, and in that state he remained until 1885, when he came with his family to Nebraska and purchased land in Gage county. Here he developed one of the valuable farms of the county and he continued to reside upon his old homestead until 1901, when he re- moved to the city of Beatrice, his death hav- ing here occurred in 1905, and his widow hav- ing passed to eternal rest in 1913. Mr. Mc- Girr was one of the honored and influential citizens of Gage county, a man of broad men- tal ken and well fortified convictions, and he commanded the unequivocal respect of his fellow men. He was reared in and ever held

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to the faith of the Catholic church, and his wife was a member of the Mennonite church. They are survived by four children: Ed- ward B. is successfully engaged in the real- estate business at Beatrice; Frederick O. is engaged in the practice of his profession at Beatrice, as a representative member of the Gage county bar, and is serving, 1917-1918, in the office of supreme court commissioner ; Dr. McGirr, of this review, was the next in order of birth; and Virgil E. is a retired far- mer residing in Beatrice: he served as dep- uty sheriff of Gage county and for several terms as chief of police of Beatrice.

As previously stated, Dr. McGirr was a lad of twelve years at the time of the family re- moval to Nebraska, and he was reared to ma- turity in Gage county, where he continued to attend the public schools until he had profited by the advantages of the Beatrice high school. Thereafter he pursued higher academic studies in Western Normal College, in the city of Lincoln, and in preparation for the work of his chosen profession he went to the city of Omaha, where he was matriculated in the medical department of the University of Ne- braska. Here he completed the prescribed curriculum and was graduated as a member of the class of 1897. After thus receiving his coveted degree of Doctor of Medicine he en- gaged in the general practice of his profession at Ellis, Gage county, where he remained three years. In the meanwhile he determined that he could expand his field of service and usefulness by devoting himself to special phases of professional work, and to fortify himself properly for such service he took ef- fective post-graduate work in a leading medi- cal school of New York city and later in one of the important institutions in Vienna, Aus- tria. In each of these connections he gave special attention to study and clinical work pertaining to the diseases of the eye, ear, nose, and throat, and in 1901 he established his residence in the city of Beatrice, where he now gives his close and efficient attention to his special domain of practice, in which he has gained repute as one of the leading eye, ear, nose, and throat specialists in this section of

the state, so that his practice is derived in ap- preciable part from points outside of local environs. The Doctor controls a large and representative practice, keeps in close touch with the advances made in medical and surgi- cal science and is unremitting in his study of the best standard and periodical literature of his profession. He holds membership in the American Medical Association and is one of the active and valued members of the Ne- braska State Medical Society, of which he has served as vice-president, and of the Gage County Medical Society, of which he was formerly secretary. The Doctor owns his at- tractive residence property in the city of Beatrice and also a valuable farm near Pick- rell, this county. As a broad-gauged and progressive citizen he gives his cooperation in the furtherance of measures and enterprises tending to conserve the communal welfare, and his political allegiance is accorded to the Democratic party. He is prominently identi- fied with the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, in which he is affiliated with both the local and encampment bodies, as well as with the auxilliary organization, the Daughters of Rebekah, and he is past grand of Beatrice Lodge, No. 187, of the Odd Fellows, besides having represented the same as a delegate to the grand lodge of Nebraska. He gives lib- eral support to the Baptist church of Beatrice, of which his wife is an active member.

In June, 1915, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. McGirr to Miss Myrtle Gue, who was born and reared at York, the judicial center of the Nebraska county of the same name, and the one child of this union is a son - John I., Jr., born November 6, 1916.

JOHN PETHOUD. - Ten years prior to the time when the Territory of Nebraska was transformed into a new state of the Union the late John Pethoud became a pioneer of what is now Gage county, and his was the distinc- tion of turning the first furrow that was ever plowed on Gage county soil. A man of su- perior intellectuality and dauntless spirit, Judge Pethoud represented the finest type of pioneer, and it was his to wield large and

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benignant influence in the formative period of the history of southeastern Nebraska. This publication exercises a most consistent func- tion when it accords a tribute to his memory.

John Pethoud was of French ancestry and was born in Lawrence county, Ohio, in Au- gust, 1798, the place of his nativity having been a tract of land that had been a French grant to the Pethoud family. His parents were called upon to meet the trials and hard- ships incidental to the pioneer period in the history of the old Buckeye state, and there he was reared to manhood, his early educational advantages having been limited, as a matter of course, but his alert mind and broad intel- lectual grasp having eventually made him a man of exceptional mentality and mature judg- ment. In his native state he became familiar- ly known as Esquire Pethoud, doubtless owing to the fact of his having served in the office of justice of the peace.

In 1857, in company with Edward Austin and H. J. Pierce, Judge Pethoud set forth for the wilds of Nebraska Territory. The three venturesome pioneers made the journey down the Ohio river and up the Mississippi and Missouri rivers by boat and upon arriving at some point near the Nebraska line, they bought ox teams and wagons, with which they continued their way to what is now Gage county. Within the limits of the county as then existing Judge Pethoud entered a pre- ëmption claim, for which he paid two hun- dred dollars. Gage and old Clay counties then lay contiguous and he built his modest frontier house on the Gage county side of the line, thus becoming the first settler in Gage county as then constituted. The land which he thus obtained from the government is now owned by David Graf and lies in Midland township. On this pioneer farm Judge Pe- thoud continued to reside until his death, which occurred September 5, 1883, after he had attained to the venerable age of eighty- five years. He was buried on that farm.

Judge Pethoud was a great reader and stu- dent, was well informed concerning history and current events, and though he was not spe- cifically a professor of religion he was a deep

student of the Bible, with which he was fa- miliar from cover to cover, and he had an abiding appreciation of the spiritual verities of the Christian faith. He was a man of strong convictions and prejudices, but both were usually well taken, and he guided his life according to the highest principles of in- tegrity and honor. Though he was a resident of Gage county, he was called upon to serve as the first judge of the probate court of Clay county.

In Ohio was solemnized the marriage of Judge Pethoud to Miss Mary Thompson, who was born in Pennsylvania, and she shared with him in the experiences of life on the frontier after their home had been estab- lished in Nebraska. Concerning their chil- dren brief record is given, in conclusion of this memoir: Mrs. Cynthia Ann Blanken- ship was a resident of Ohio at the time of her death, which occurred more than sixty years ago; Elizabeth was the wife of John Wilson, one of the early pioneer settlers of Logan township, Gage county; Francis M. was a resident of Midland township at the time of his death, and to him a memoir is dedicated on other pages of this volume; John T. is de- ceased, as are also Mrs. Rebecca Jones, An- drew J., and James K. P. All of the children except the eldest became residents of Gage county and the family name is one that has been signally prominent and honored in con- nection with the county's history.

KIRK GRIGGS. - In Sections 30 and 31 Blakely township is situated the well improved farm estate of Kirk Griggs, the place compris- ing six hundred acres and being given over to diversified agriculture and stock-growing. The owner has gained special success and precedence as a breeder of Holstein cattle, Hampshire swine, and Shire horses, and has made numerous exhibitions of his fine stock at various county fairs. He is one of the most progressive stock-growers of the county that has represented his home from the time of his birth and in which his parents were pioneer settlers.

Mr. Griggs was born at Beatrice, this

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county, on the 8th of January, 1873, and is a son of Lewis T. and Caroline (Gale) Griggs, of whose five children he was the fourth in order of birth; Mollie is the wife of Freder- ick W. Daniels, of Sheridan, Oregon ; George L. is a resident of the city of Alliance; Clif- ton C. resides at Eureka, Utah ; and Burt re- sides at Buffalo, Wyoming. Lewis T. Griggs was born in Ohio, on the 17th of April; 1843, a son of Lucien and Mary T. (Kirk) Griggs, and in the old Buckeye state he was reared on the home farm, with such educational ad- vantages as were afforded in the common schools of the locality. He was a youth of eighteen years at the inception of the Civil war and he tendered his aid in defense of the Union by enlisting, early in 1862, as a mem- ber of the Eleventh Indiana Cavalry, with which gallant command he participated in many battles and important campaigns, it hav- ing been his fortune to receive a wound while taking part in the battle of Chickamauga. He was with his command in the battle of Fort Donelson and those of Lookout Mountain and Vicksburg, besides which he was with Gen- eral Sherman on the historic march from At- lanta to the sea. In 1864 he was promoted to the office of first lieutenant, and as such he served until the close of the war, when he re- ceived his honorable discharge. After the

war he returned to Indiana, to which state his parents had removed from Ohio, and in 1866 he and his half-brother, Thomas J. Griggs, each entered claim to a homestead of one hun- dred and sixty acres in Pawnee county, Ne- braska Territory. On his pioneer homestead, seven miles southeast of the present thriving town of Liberty, Lewis T. Griggs erected a small house, the material for which he trans- ported with team and wagon from Nebraska City. He instituted the development of his farm and in due time perfected his title to the property. In 1869 he wedded Miss Caroline Gale and soon afterward they established their residence at Beatrice, which was then a mere frontier village. On the site of the present Beatrice National Bank he had a little store in which he engaged in the handling of agricultural implements and machinery, and

here he continued his successful operations in this line of enterprise until 1883, when he re- moved with his family to Atchison, Kansas, where he became a representative of one of the leading harvesting machine companies, the death of his wife having there occurred in 1885. Soon afterward he returned to Beatrice, and thereafter he was a traveling salesman for agricultural implements until 1888. In that year he removed to Newcastle, Wyoming, prior to the extension of the rail- road to that locality, and there he became a successful exponent of stock-raising industry, with which he continued to be identified until his death, which occurred November 11; 1908. He was one of the influential pioneers of Weston county, Wyoming, where he served as clerk of the court and also as county attorney, he having studied law previously and having been admitted to the bar in the early '70s. At Newcastle, Wyoming, he engaged in the prac- tice of his profession, as one of the leading members of the bar of Weston county, and in a fraternal way he was affiliated with the Ma- sonic fraternity, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, and the Grand Army of the Republic, in which last named organization he was a charter member of Rawlins Post, at Beatrice. His wife was born in the western part of Massachusetts and was reared by kinsfolk, members of the Gale family having been numbered among the early settlers of Gage county. Coming to this county prior to the admission of Nebraska to the Union, Mrs. Griggs became one of the early and popular teachers in the village schools of Beatrice, she having been, in fact, one of the first teachers thus rendering ser- vice in the little frontier village that has be- come one of the attractive and prosperous cities of the state. She was forty-two years of age at the time of her death, June 13, 1883, and was a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Upon coming to Gage county, in 1867, Mrs. Griggs, two years prior to her marriage, entered a homestead claim, and a considerable part of this property is now included in the Glenover addition to the city of Beatrice.

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Kirk Griggs, immediate subject of this re- view, was born in a house that stood on the site of the present Beatrice high school build- ing, and his youthful education was gained in the schools of this city and those of Newcastle, Wyoming, where the family home was estab- lished when he was a lad of twelve years. That he profited by these advantages is shown by the fact that he proved himself eligible for pedagogic honors and was for six months engaged in teaching in a rural school in Wy- oming. In that state he remained on his father's extensive cattle ranch until he had at- tained to the age of twenty years, and for six- teen years thereafter he was successfully identified with railroad construction enter- prise, with Kilpatrick Brothers and later with the McArthur Company, leading New York contractors in this line of enterprise. His first service was in the capacity of stenog- rapher, but later he became allied closely with the practical executive details of construction work, in which connection he organized camps of workmen, acted as auditor and superin- tendent and proved in all ways a vigorous and resourceful executive.

In 1913 Mr. Griggs purchased of his former employers, Kilpatrick Brothers, his present fine landed estate in his native county, and in the same year he erected his present modern and attractive residence, at a cost of six thousand dollars. His farm is one of the best improved and most effectively equipped of all in the county, and on the same he has two artesian wells, the while his modern facilities including a gas-lighting system for his house. After his return from the west Mr. Griggs purchased the house of his birth, in the city of Beatrice, and this property he finally sold to the board of education as a site for the present modern high school building. A man of thought and action, Mr. Griggs has become one of the representative agriculturists and stock-growers, as well as a popular and repre- sentative citizen of his native county. His po- litical support is given to the Republican party and he is serving at the time of this writing as a director of school district No. 22. Both

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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 65

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