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 66

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 66

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he and his wife are active members of the Christian church.

June 12, 1901, recorded the marriage of Mr. Griggs to Miss Mabel C. Pyrtle, the younger of the two children of James and Nancy E. (Murphy) Pyrtle, the former of whom was born in Missouri, in 1847, and the latter in Indiana, on the 15th of September, 1852. Mrs. Griggs, prior to her marriage, had been for five years a successful and popular teacher in the schools of Gage county, her work including four years' service in the city schools of Beatrice. Mr. and Mrs. Griggs have four children - Theodore, Roger, Gale. and Jessie M.

HENRY FISHBACH. - Under the gen- eral communal conditions and exigencies of the present day no city can claim definite metropolitan facilities if there has been fail- ure to provide proper accommodations for the conserving of food stuffs, and Beatrice is sig- nally favored in this respect, as the city takes just pride in the excellent service given by the large and modern plant of the Beatrice Cold Storage Company, of which Henry Fishbach was the founder and of which he has continu- ously been the executive head. In establishing this important enterprise Mr. Fishbach dem- onstrated alike his civic loyalty and his pro- gressiveness as a business man, and through his careful and effective administration the business has been developed from a modest inception to one of large volume and definite success.

Mr. Fishbach was born at Franklin Grove, Lee county, Illinois, on the 16th of October, 1859, and is a son of Philip and Catherine (Hausknecht) Fishbach, both of whom were born in the now devastated province of Al- sace-Lorraine, which was then an integral part of French domain and which has again become the stage of terrible polemic activities inci- dental to the great war in which France is again arrayed against Germany. The parents of Mr. Fishbach were young at the time of the immigration of the respective families to America and both families established resi- dence in the state of Illinois, in the pioneer

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history of that commonwealth. Philip Fish- bach devoted the greater part of his active life to his trade, that of stone-cutter, and both he and his wife continued their residence at Franklin Grove, Illinois, until their death - folk of sterling character and honored by all who knew them. To the public schools of his native county Henry Fishbach is indebted for his early educational training and there he continued to reside until he had attained to the age of nineteen years, when he went to the state of Colorado and turned his attention to farm work and other service that would give him a living recompense. He remained in Colorado three years and then returned to Illinois, where he was engaged in agricultural enterprise, in Lee county, until 1884. In the year last mentioned he came to Gage county, Nebraska, and though he had virtually no financial resources he had an abundance of ambition and self-reliance, as shown by the fact that he purchased eighty acres of land, in Greenwoood township, assuming indebted- ness for practically the entire purchase price. The land had received but the slightest im- provement, and for the first seven years of his residence on his embryonic farm Mr. Fish- bach used as his house a primitive granery that had been constructed on the place. En- ergy and industry brought returns, and even- tually Mr. Fishbach was able not only to clear himself of the burden of debt but also to add eighty acres to the area of his landed estate. He made good improvements upon his farm property, brought the greater part of the land under effective cultivation, and there con- tinued his vigorous activities as an agricul- turist and stock-grower for a period of nine years. That he had been successful is shown by the fact that in 1893, in company with his wife, he visited the great World's Columbian Exposition, in the city of Chicago, and in this connection his alert mind caused him to see an opportunity for the development of a prosper- ous business enterprise in his home county. His attention was called, while in Chicago, to a carload of live poultry that was being sent in for the use of consumers in the city, and he soon decided to establish himself in the

poultry business in Gage county. To carry out his plans he purchased the small poultry business that had been established by a man named Greening, at Beatrice, and two years later he removed his business to the site of his present well equipped cold-storage plant, his original place of business having been in a building that was only ten by twelve feet in dimensions. Bringing to bear his character- istic energy and good judgment and having secure place in popular confidence and good will, Mr. Fishbach caused his business to ex- pand substantially and normally in scope and importance, and to keep pace with demands he enlarged his quarters from time to time. In 1906, as a matter of business expediency, he effected the incorporation of the Beatrice Cold Storage Company, of which he has since been the president and active manager. His plant for cold-storage is of modern type in all respects and as an important adjunct to the same he has established a plant for the manu- facturing of ice, besides conducting a cream- ery in connection and doing also a substantial business in the manufacturing of ice cream for the trade. Natural ice is harvested to supplement the artificial supply, and the com- pany now controls an extensive business in the buying and shipping of poultry and eggs, with branch headquarters in the Nebraska towns of Norfolk, Fremont, Columbus, Wake- field, and Blair. In connection with the Be- atrice plant of the company an average of eighty-five employes is retained, and at times the roster of employes includes as many as one hundred and fifty persons. Mr. Fishbach deserves much credit for the suc- cess which he has achieved and also for having given a substantial and progressive industrial and commercial enterprise to Gage county and its judicial center. He takes loyal interest in all measures and enter- prises tending to advance the civic and material progress and prosperity of his home city and county, is the owner of two of the well improved and valuable farms of Gage county, each comprising one hundred and sixty acres, and recently, in connection with the na- tional movement for the conservation of food

A.Fischbach,

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products, he has had the distinction of being called to the national capital for conference with the food administrator, Mr. Hoover, in connection with the poultry, egg, and cold- storage business, as one of the leading expo- nents of these lines of enterprise in Nebraska. His advice in this conference has been of defi- nite general value in connection with conser- vation policies. In politics Mr. Fishbach gives his allegiance to the Republican party, and he and his wife are earnest members of the Christian church.

As a young man of twenty-five years Mr. Fishbach wedded Miss Mary Ellen Wolf, who was born at Leaf River, Ogle county, Illinois, and she passed to the life eternal in 1895, being survived by four children, concerning whom the following brief data are entered: Ralph is the manager of the Beatrice Cold Storage Company's plant at Norfolk, Madison county, Nebraska; Eulalie, a young woman of much business ability, as well as social popularity, is treasurer of the company of which her father is president; Oscar is identified with ranching enterprise in the Canadian north- west ; and Ethel is the wife of William Myers, who is associated with the Beatrice Cold Stor - age Company as an employe at the headquar- ters in Beatrice.

On the 6th of March, 1898, Mr. Fishbach contracted a second marriage, in his union with Miss Laura Peck, who was born in the state of Kansas, and their attractive home is brightened by the presence of their three chil- dren - Agnes, Bertha, and Priscilla.

HEINRICH REIMER. - Though Mr. Reimer claims the great empire of Germany as the place of his nativity he was not yet two years of age at the time of his parents' im- migration to America and his entire experience has been gained in association with conditions and influences of the middle western states of the Union. He was yet an infant at the time when the family home was estab- lished in Gage county, in the pioneer days, and here he has made the best possible use of the advantages and opportunities afforded him, as is evident when it is stated that he is now

numbered among the representative exponents of agricultural and live-stock industry in Blakely township, his well improved farm, of one hundred and fifty-five acres, being situ- ated in Section 21, that township, and on rural mail route No. 1 from the city of Beatrice, which is about eight miles distant from his home.

Mr. Reimer was born in Prussia, Germany, December 13, 1874, and is a son of Bernhard and Helen (Goosen) Reimer, who became the parents of six sons and seven daughters, the father having had also two children by his first marriage. In 1876 Bernhard Reimer came with his family to the United States and engaged in farming in Iowa, but before the close of that year he came to Gage county and established the family home on a pioneer farm three miles west of Beatrice. He developed and improved this property into one of the productive farms of the county and there he continued to reside until his death, in 1896, at the age of sixty-four years, his devoted wife having passed away in 1885, at the age of forty-two years. Both were zealous members of the Mennonite church and assisted in the organization of the church of this denomina- tion in their home district in Gage county.

Heinrich Reimer was reared under the in- fluence of the pioneer farm and early began to lend his aid in its work, the while he pro- fited duly by the advantages afforded in the local schools. In 1900 he rented a portion of the land belonging to his father's estate, and a few years later he purchased his present farm, upon which he has made good improve- ments, including the erection of a modern barn that is thirty-six by sixty-four feet in dimensions. Thrift and enterprise have given him place among the most progressive and successful agriculturists and stock-raisers of Blakely township and he is one of the stock- holders of the farmers' grain elevator in the village of Hoag. He is a Republican in poli- tics, and he and his wife are earnest members of the Mennonite church.

April 27, 1900, Mr. Reimer married Miss Agatha Penner, who was born and reared in Gage county and who is a daughter of Rev.

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Gerhard Penner and Anna (Froese) Penner, her parents having been members of a sterl- ing Mennonite colony that came from western Prussia and settled in Gage county in 1874. Mr. Penner is now pastor of the Mennonite church at Beatrice and is one of the revered pioneer citizens of Gage county. Mr. and Mrs. Reimer have one child, Gerhard, who was born October 27, 1902.

LOUIS GRAFF. - Successfully estab- lished in business in the city of Beatrice, Mr. Graff is a scion of one of the most honored and influential territorial pioneer families of Gage county and takes just pride in claiming the county as the place of his nativity. He was born on the old homestead farm of his father, Joseph Graff, in Blakely township, three miles west of Beatrice, and the date of his nativity was March 3, 1862, due record concerning the family history being given on other pages of this volume. Mr. Graff is a son of Joseph and Teresa (Meyers) Graff, and in his boyhood days he gained a full quota of experience in connection with the conditions and influences of the pioneer era in the history of this now opulent section of Nebraska. He herded cattle on the wide- stretching prairie, had experience in the fight- ing of prairie fires, and made his share of youthful inroads on the wild strawberries. plums, and gooseberries that were then plen- tiful in this locality. He assisted in the work of the home farm and in the meanwhile made good use of the advantages of the schools es- tablished in Blakely township by the ambi- tious and progressive pioneers. He remained at the parental home until he had attained to the age of twenty-six years, and he then en- tered the employ of his older brothers, who were engaged in the agricultural-implement business at Wymore, this county. In 1889 he purchased an interest in a well established lumber yard in the city of Beatrice, and later he became sole owner of the business, which he has since successfully continued in the original location, at 413 West Court street, where he also controls a substantial trade in the handling of coal, paints, builders' hard-

ware, etc. He has secure vantage-place as one of the most substantial and progressive business men of the capital and metropolis of his native county and is equally well en- trenched in popular confidence and esteem, as attested by the success that has attended his business activities. He is financially interested also in important cement manufacturing plants in Dallas, Texas; near Kansas City, Missouri, and at Mason City, Iowa; and he handles the products of the same in connection with his extensive business at Beatrice. Mr. Graff is the owner of fifty acres of valuable land on the Rio Grande river, in Hildridge county, Texas, and twenty acres near Lake View, Oregon. He is liberal and public- spirited in his civic attitude, is a Republican in politics, is affiliated with the Beatrice or- ganizations of the Modern Woodmen of America, the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks, and the Woodmen of the World, and he and his wife are communicants of the Catholic church in their home city.

February 8, 1888, recorded the marriage of Mr. Graff to Miss Elizabeth Buckley, who was born in Canada and who was a daughter of John and Mary Buckley. Her father was born in Ireland and was a young man when he came to America and established his home in Canada, where he married and where he remained until after the death of his wife. Finally he came with his six children to Gage county, Nebraska, where he engaged in farm- ing and where he passed the remainder of his life, his remains being interred in the Catholic cemetery, at Beatrice. Mrs. Graff passed to the life eternal on the 8th of March, 1908, and is survived by three children: Irene T. is the wife of Leo Werner, who is associated with Mr. Graff in the conducting of the lum- ber business at Beatrice; Joseph J. is a mem- ber of the United States aviation corps that is preparing for service in the great European war, and at the time of this writing, in the winter of 1917-1918, he is stationed at San Antonio, Texas; and Carl H., in January, 1918, passed the examination in the training camp for officers in the United States aviation service in the European war. In 1910 Mr.

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Graff wedded Miss Mary Buckley, a sister of his first wife, and she is the gracious chate- laine of their pleasant and hospitable home. No children have been born of this union. "

JESSE L. SCHLOSSER. - At this point it is possible to accord merited recognition to another of the venerable and honored pioneer citizens of Gage county, Mr. Schlosser having been a resident of Nebraska for the past forty years and now maintaining his home in the city of Beatrice.

Jesse L. Schlosser was born in Greene county, Ohio, on the 13th of October, 1842, and in the old Buckeye state he was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm, the while he made good use of the advantages offered by the common schools of the locality. He was still a youth at the time of the family re- moval to Michigan, where he continued his active association with agricultural industry, and in that state was solemnized his marriage to Miss Polly Schock, who was born at Tiffin, Seneca county, Ohio. In 1877 Mr. Schlosser came with his family to Nebraska, and, prior to the construction of a railroad, they made the overland trip with team and wagon from Falls City to Gage county. Mrs. Schlosser had received as a heritage from the estate of her father a tract of eighty acres of land in Blue Springs township, this county, and on this embryonic farm Mr. Schlosser erected as a domicile for his family a pioneer shanty, twelve by fourteen feet in lateral dimensions and provided with a "lean-to" about ten feet square. With the passing years he developed his farm and made good improvements on the same, and there he continued his active al- liance with agricultural industry for twenty- two years. In the early days he hauled his wheat to Marysville, Marshall county, Kansas, two days being required to compass this over- land trip, and he sold wheat at times for a price as low as thirty-five cents a bushel - a statement that is specially significant in com- parison with prices demanded at the present time, when the government is putting forth every effort for food conservation, incidental to the nation's entrance into the great Euro-

pean war. It may further be noted that the first hogs which Mr. Schlosser raised on his farm were sold at the rate of three and one- half dollars a hundredweight.

Mr. Schlosser remained on his farm, to the area of which he had added by degrees, until about the year 1898, when he sold the prop- erty and removed with his family to Beatrice, the county seat. For three or more years thereafter he was employed in connection with the grain business conducted by William N. Spellman, and later he was similarly asso- ciated with Henry H. Norcross, whose business finally was developed into that now controlled by the Dobbs Grain Company, with which Mr. Schlosser is connected. He is a recognized authority in the grain trade, as his experience has been long and varied, and though he is now venerable in years he preserves marked vigor of mind and physical powers, so that the thought of retiring from active association with business is repugnant to him.

Mr. Schlosser is a stalwart in the camp of the Republican party and while residing on his farm he served for a number of years in the office of treasurer of Blue Springs town- ship. He is affiliated with the Masonic fra- ternity and both he and his wife hold mem- bership in the Presbyterian church. They be- came the parents of one child, Carrie M., who is the wife of Dr. Clemens A. Spellman, a leading dentist of Beatrice and individually mentioned on other pages of this work.

ALBERT T. MILBURN. - He whose name initiates this paragraph is the senior partner of the Milburn & Scott Company, printers and bookbinders, and the well estab- lished business with which he is thus con- nected is one of the important enterprises of Beatrice. This company has an establishment of most modern facilities for the handling of all kinds of job printing and book binding, a specialty being made of the manufacturing of high-grade blank books and the handling of a general line of supplies for county offices, banks, etc., while the concern keeps in stock also a full assortment of office stationery and supplies, so that the enterprise has been ex-

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HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

tended far outside the boundaries of Gage county. Mr. Milburn has been a resident of Gage county since he was about twelve years of age and in his independent career has here found ample opportunity for the achieving of substantial success and established place as one of the representative business men of the metropolis and judicial center of the county.

Mr. Milburn was born on a farm near Che- banse, Iroquois county, Illinois, on the 22d of March, 1874, and is a son of Thomas H. and Sarah E. (Fanning). Milburn, who were born in the province of Ontario, Canada, and whose marriage was solemnized in the state of Illinois. The paternal grandfather, John Milburn, was born and reared in England, whence he finally immigrated to America and established his residence in the Dominion of Canada. Later he removed with his family to the state of Illinois, where he passed the remainder of his life, his vocation having been that of farming during the greater part of his active career. George Fanning, the maternal grandfather of the subject of this review, came to America from Ireland and after hav- ing lived for a term of years in Canada he removed to Illinois, where he became a pros- perous farmer and where he died at the ven- erable age of eighty-four years.

Thomas HI. Milburn established his resi- dence in Illinois prior to the Civil war and he was one of the early employes of the cele- brated McCormick Harvester Company. Later he engaged in farming near Chebanse, that state, and through this medium he laid the foundation for his substantial success. In 1886 Mr. Milburn came with his family to Gage county, Nebraska, and established his residence at Beatrice. He purchased farm land in the county, having owned two or three different farms, and he gave his personal supervision to his farm properties in a general way, though he continued to reside in Beatrice until his death, in 1901, at the age of sixty- two years. His political support was given to the Republican party and his religious faith was that of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which his venerable widow likewise is a devoted member, she still maintaining her

home at Beatrice and the year 1918 recording the seventy-eighth anniversary of her birth. Of their three children the subject of this sketch is the younger of the two surviving, and George H. is actively identified with mer- cantile enterprise at Beatrice.

To the public schools of Illinois Albert T. Milburn is indebted for his preliminary edu- cational discipline and after the family re- moval to Beatrice he here continued his studies until he had profited by the advantages of the high school. At the age of seventeen years he initiated his apprenticeship to the trade of book-binding, and also that of printer. He became skilled in all technical details of these lines of business and finally engaged inde- pendently in business by associating himself with others in founding the enterprise with which he is now connected and to the upbuild- ing of which he has given his best energies, his associates in Milburn & Scott Company being John C. Scott and Albert H. Buckman.

While unremitting in his application to business, Mr. Milburn has simultaneously stood exponent of loyal and progressive citi- zenship and has taken deep interest in the social and material advancement of his home city. His political views are indicated by the unwavering support which he gives to the cause of the Republican party, and as a rep- resentative of the same he was elected a mem- ber of the city council when he was but twenty-eight years of age. He held this office four years, during which he was the youngest member of the municipal body, and he did all in his power to further wise and economical administration of the city government and to promote needed public improvements. He is one of the appreciative and popular members of the local lodge of the Benevolent & Pro- tective Order of Elks, his religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal church and his wife is an active member of the Presby- terian church.

In June, 1909, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Milburn to Miss Martha McClellan, who was born and reared at Holmesville, this county, and whose father, the late Robert H. McClellan, was one of the early pioneer set-

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tlers of Gage county, where he reclaimed and improved a valuable farm and where he served for a long period in the office of justice of the peace. Mr. and Mrs. Milburn have three chil- dren - Robert, William, and Martha Vir- ginia.

JOHN T. YULE. - In the spring of 1879 John T. Yule became associated with his hon- ored father in the preparation of the first set of abstracts of real-estate titles for Gage county, and these initial records, as supple- mented by the careful additions made in the intervening years, continue to be recognized as the ultimate abstract authorities in this county, the while John T. Yule continues actively to conduct the important abstract business in which he was the coadjutor of his father until the latter's death, on the 2d of June, 1907. He is not only one of the best known and most essentially representative citizens of Gage county but takes deep pride in the position of influence gained by his father, who was long numbered among the foremost and most honored citizens of this county, a special tribute to his memory being entered on other pages of this work, so that in the present connection is not demanded further review of the family history.

John T. Yule was born in Columbia county, Wisconsin, on the 3d of June, 1856, and is one of the two surviving children of Thomas and Mary (Todd) Yule. In his native county John T. Yule was reared to adult age and after having there availed himself of the ad- vantages of the high school at Portage, the county seat, he followed the course of his ambition by entering the law department of the University of Wisconsin, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1877, his admission to the bar of his native state having been virtually coincident with his re- ception of the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He served a brief professional novitiate by engaging in the practice of law at Portage, but within a year after his graduation he ac- companied his parents on their removal to Beatrice, Nebraska, where the family home was established in May, 1879. Here Mr. Yule

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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 66

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