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 67

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 67

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did not find it expedient to engage in the work of his profession, but he became closely asso- ciated with his father in the extending of financial loans on real-estate security and also in the important work of compiling from the county records the first complete set of books containing concise and authoritative abstracts of title to all realty in the county. Later they expanded their abstract business into other counties in this section of the state, as well as into adjoining sections of Kansas, and the business became one of extensive and impor- tant order, its cumulative ramifications having continued to the present time and the subject of this sketch having continued in full control of the enterprise since the death of his father. He maintains his well appointed offices in the Drake building, and so admirably has all work been systematized that the most absolute effi- ciency of service is given by this pioneer ab- stract institution, the records being kept con- stantly up to date, by the proper entrance of data concerning every real-estate transaction in the county. In connection with his long and active association with this line of enter- prise Mr. Yule has found his knowledge of the law of inestimable value, though he has not engaged actively in the practice of the pro- fession for which he so carefully prepared himself. By virtue of his intellectual and business ability he is well fortified for leader- ship in popular sentiment and action and he has been active and influential in the local councils of the Republican party, though never manifesting any ambition for political prefer- ment in an official sense. His civic loyalty has been of insistent and helpful order and he has given effective service both as city clerk and city treasurer of Beatrice. Through his business activities he has contributed his quota to the civic and industrial progress of his home city and county and he commands the unqualified esteem of all who know him. He and his family are active members of the Presbyterian church.

On the 24th of October, 1877, was solem- nized the marriage of Mr. Yule to Miss Emma Shattuck, who was born at Moundsville, Marshall county, West Virginia, and who was

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a girl at the time of the family removal to Wisconsin, where she was reared and edu- cated. Mr. and Mrs. Yule became the par- ents of eleven children, and concerning the nine now living the following brief record is given in conclusion of this review: Alice is the wife of James R. Robinson, who is en- gaged in the automobile business at Ennis, Texas ; Lucille is the wife of C. R. Taylor, of Beatrice ; Laura is the wife of Dale Chapman, of this city; Thomas K. is successfully and extensively engaged in the sheep-growing business in Colorado, with residence at Fort Collins, and it may be noted that in the season of 1917 he fed on his ranch twenty-one thousand head of sheep and lambs; Mary is employed as cashier in a leading meat market in Beatrice ; Miriam and Mildred hold respon- sible positions in business offices in their home city ; Hattie holds a clerkship in a local mer- cantile establishment; and Arlene is the youngest of the number, she being at the par- ental home, as are also the other unmarried daughters, the family being one of marked popularity in the representative social activities of Beatrice.

JOHN B. FULTON, M. D. - To no man should be accorded a higher degree of honor than to the skilled and loyal physician and sur- geon who has given years of earnest and ef- fective service in the alleviation of human suffering and distress, and to Dr. Fulton is uniformly accorded this honor in Gage county, where he has lived and labored unselfishly and devotedly in the work of his humane pro- fession and where, as a pioneer physician and surgeon, he lived up to the full tension of ex- acting service demanded of him in the early days, when he traversed the country over a radius of many miles, in summer's heat and winter's rigorous blasts, often finding his way on horseback over almost impassable roads and even across the prairie where no roads were defined - and all this in his zeal to aid those who made call for his ministrations. Though he has now passed the eightieth mile-stone on the journey of life, he retains splendid mental and physical vigor, keeps in touch with the

advances in his profession and responds fre- quently to the calls made for his ministrations on the part of families to which he has given such service during the course of many years. A man of strength and honor, he has been the friend and benefactor of humanity, and it may well be understood that he is held in. reverent affection in the county that has so long represented his home and been the stage of his able and sympathetic services. Thus historic consistency is conserved in according to him a tribute in this publication, and even this brief record must bear its measure of les- son and inspiration.

Dr. John Blythe Fulton was born in High- land county, Ohio, on the 9th of June, 1833, and is a son of William and Catherine (Bas- kin) Fulton, the former a native of Pennsyl- vania and the latter of Ireland. The paternal grandparents of Dr. Fulton were born in Ire- land and were numbered among the sterling pioneers of Pennsylvania. William Fulton, father of the Doctor, was reared and educated in the old Keystone state and thence went to Ohio, where he became a pioneer farmer in Highland county, both he and his wife there continuing their residence until they were summoned from the stage of their mortal en- deavors - secure in the respect and esteem of all who knew them.

Under the sturdy and invigorating disci- pline of the home farm Dr. Fulton waxed strong of brain and brawn during the period of his childhood and youth, and his alert and receptive mind caused him to profit fully by the advantages afforded in the common schools of the locality and period. He sup- plemented this training by a course of higher study in Hillsboro Academy, a well ordered institution in his native county, and in prep- aration for the work of his profession he went to the state of Pennsylvania, where he prose- cuted his technical studies under effective preceptorship and earnestly fortified himself for his exacting and responsible vocation. He began his professional novitiate in Pennsyl- vania, later removing to Fairbury, Living- ston county, Illinois, and there he continued in active and successful general practice for the

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long period of twenty-one years. Gracious were the environment and associations which he there forsook to number himself among the pioneer representative of his profession in Nebraska, to which state he came in 1879, somewhat more than a decade after its admis- sion to the Union. He established his home at Beatrice, the judicial center of Gage county. the now beautiful little city having then been a straggling frontier village, and in those days he was one of only three physicians in the county, the other two who were his con- temporaries in this pioneer prestige having been Dr. Webb and Dr. Huff, both of whom have passed to the life eternal.

Dr. Fulton was earnest and indefatigable in his professional ministration during the pio- neer epoch and in the latter years of opulent prosperity and progress, and in the early days he made a remarkably successful record in the treatment of the all prevalent fever from which the settlers suffered. The Doctor is an optimist by very nature and his altruism has always been on a parity with his abiding human sympathy, so that it may well be under- stood that his ministrations have been benefi- cent in the bringing of cheer as well as in re- lieving physical ailments. Aside from slight lameness, due to the improper adjustment of a broken hip when he was a youth, Dr. Ful- ton is still active and vigorous, the years rest- ing lightly upon him and his lines being cast in pleasant places, as he lives and moves among a people who accord to him affection- ate regard and hold him always as persona grata.

Dr. Fulton has been a leader in popular sentiment and action in Gage county during the many years of his residence within its borders and has been found aligned as a stal- wart advocate of the principles and policies for which the Democratic party has ever stood sponsor in a basic way. He has for many years maintained affiliation with the Masonic fraternity, and while he was reared in the faith of the Presbyterian church, of which his father was an elder for forty years, his per- sonal study and research have in later years

led him to endorse many of the tenets of the spiritualistic faith.

In 1882 Dr. Fulton purchased two blood- hounds and for thirty-six years he has main- tained the "Beatrice Bloodhound Kennels," widely known for their effectiveness in breeding, raising, and training bloodhounds for use in tracing and locating criminals. The dogs are trained and managed by the Doctor's son, Richard, familiarly known as "Dick," who has a wide reputation as a detective. In the kennels are, in the spring of 1918, twenty or more animals, and at various times the number of hounds in these celebrated kennels has been as high as forty. A market for these animals is found all over the United States and in foreign countries, and high prices are paid for the animals.

As a young man of about twenty-nine years Dr. Fulton wedded Miss Sarah Phipps. who was born in Pennsylvania, a daughter of Judge David Phipps, and she passed to the life eternal in the year 1903. Of this union were born nine children, of whom eight are living, and concerning them the following brief data are available; Mary Maggie is the wife of W. W. Johnston, of Omaha, Ne- braska; Oliver P. is engaged in the real- estate business in Beatrice ; Belle is the widow of A. D. Butt, of Los Angeles, California ; Thos. B. is associated with the Beatrice Sun and has been engaged in the newspaper busi- ness for thirty years ; William S. is a success- ful sign painter in Beatrice ; Hattie is the wife of J. H. Simon, of Boston, Massachusetts ; Richard maintains his residence in Beatrice; Jesse E. died at the age of about thirty-five years ; and Fitch B. is a talented artist, now a resident of the state of California.

In contracting a second marriage, Dr. Ful- ton wedded Miss Emily May, a daughter of one of the early clergymen of the Methodist church in Nebraska. No children have been born of this marriage.

FRANK E. LEFFERDINK. - Banking enterprise in Gage county numbers among its successful and popular exponents of the younger generation Frank E. Lefferdink, who

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is giving effective service in the position of cashier of the Farmers & Merchants' Bank of Wymore.

Mr. Lefferdink was born in Lancaster county, Nebraska, on the 16th of September, 1885, and his parents now maintain their resi- dence at Hickman, that county, where his father is living virtually retired. William Lefferdink was born near the city of Amster- dam, Holland, in the year 1847, and was reared and educated in his native land. In 1868, about the time of attaining to his legal major- ity, he came to the United States. He passed the ensuing year in Wisconsin and then, in 1869, came to Nebraska, a state that had been admitted to the Union only two years previous- ly. In Lancaster county he obtained a home- stead claim of eighty acres, and he was so deeply impressed with the advantages and at- tractions of the new commonwealth that he soon returned to his native land and induced eighty of his fellow countrymen to come like- wise to America and acquire for themselves government land in Nebraska. Later he made a second trip to Holland, and on his return he was accompanied by one hundred and thirty- two earnest and industrious Hollanders, who became colonists in the vicinity of Hickman, Nebraska. He was thus primarily instrumen- tal in gaining to Lancaster county a goodly contingent of most valuable citizens, as the Hollanders are known for their frugality, in- dustry, and effective methods of intensive farming - not an inch of ground being by them permitted to go to waste in the matter of productiveness. William Lefferdink merits from Nebraska enduring gratitude for his ef- forts in bringing to the state in the early period of its history a valuable element that has been conspicuous in the development and advancing of the agricultural interests of this now opulent commonwealth. Mr. Leffer- dink was a carpenter by trade, and as an able contractor and builder he assisted in the erec- tion of many buildings in the city of Lincoln in the early days when the fine capital city contained not more than twelve or thirteen buildings. With the passing years he added to his landed estate and gained substantial

prosperity, so that, as the shadows of his earnest and useful life begin to lengthen from the golden west, he is enjoying well earned peace and comfort in the attractive home which he has provided in the village of Hick- man.

While residing in Wisconsin William Lef- ferdink wedded Miss Anna Port, who was born in that state, in 1850, her parents having been pioneers of Wisconsin, where they con- tinued to reside until their death and where the father was a farmer by vocation. Willianı and Anna (Port) Lefferdink became the par- ents of seven children, concerning whom brief mention may be consistently made at this point: Dena is the wife of William Smith, a prosperous farmer in western Ne- braska; Nellie is the wife of Richard Schutte, who has charge of one of her father's farms near Hickman, Lancaster county; Henry is a retired banker and resides in the city of Lin- coln; Emma is the wife of Alfred Christo- pher, a farmer near Ashton, South Dakota; Frank E., of this review, was the next in order of birth; William is cashier of the State Bank of Hadar, Pierce county, Nebraska ; and Cornelius is cashier of the State Bank of Calumet, Iowa.

Frank E. Lefferdink acquired his early edu- cation in the public schools of his native county, and this discipline included a course in the high school in the city of Lincoln. He was graduated in the high school as a member of the class of 1904, and thereafter he com- pleted a course in a business college in the capital city, with special attention given to the theory and practical work of banking. In his initial experience in connection with the bank- ing business he was employed two and one- half years at Platte, South Dakota, and there- after he held for a short period the office of president of the State Bank of Denton, Lan- caster county, Nebraska. Prior to coming to Wymore, Gage county, he had been employed two years in the Farmers' Savings Bank of Gaza, Iowa, a position from which he retired to assume that of cashier of the Farmers' & Merchants' Bank of Wymore. Of this office he has been the incumbent since November 20,

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1916, and within his tenure of this executive position the deposits of the bank have in- creased from one hundred and thirty thousand to two hundred and thirty-six thousand dol- lars - a definite testimonial to his ability and effective executive policies.

In politics Mr. Lefferdink gives his alle- giance to the Republican party, he was reared in the faith of the Dutch Reformed church, and his wife holds membership in the Luth- eran church. After establishing his residence in Wymore he here erected the attractive mod- ern house which is the family home and which is one of the beautiful and hospitable domi- ciles of the thriving little city. While he gives close attention to the banking business, Mr. Lefferdink has made judicious investment in valuable land in Lancaster county, this property having been purchased by him from his father.

In June, 1916, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Lefferdink to Miss Maude Martin, who was born at Hickman, Lancaster county, her parents having been pioneer settlers in that county. Mr. and Mrs. Lefferdink have a winsome little daughter, Dorothy.

JOHN L. HERSHEY is the efficient and popular incumbent of the position of official engineer for Gage county and also the city of Beatrice, and in his chosen profession he has won a station of substantial success

Mr. Hershey was born in Monmouth, Illi- nois, on the 19th of September, 1881, and is a son of Samuel and Barbara Ella (Swiler) Hershey, both natives of the state of Pennsyl- vania, where the former was born December 6, 1843, and the latter on the 22d of Septem- ber, 1850, she being a daughter of David Swiler, who removed with his family to Kan- sas in an early day. Samuel Hershey was reared and educated in the old Keystone state and he was a young man when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Illinois. He is a son of Jacob Hershey, who was a farmer and miller in Pennsylvania and who became a successful exponent of agricultural enterprise after his removal to Illinois, where he and his wife passed the residue of their lives.

Samuel Hershey learned in his youth the trade of carpenter and he became a success- ful contractor and builder in Illinois. In 1884 he came with his family to Gage county, Nebraska, and established his residence in Beatrice, where he continued his activities as a contractor and builder and had the super- vision of the erection of a number of impor- tant public and business buildings, including the Gage county court house, the Beatrice postoffice and many of the attractive business blocks of the city of Beatrice. He and his wife still maintain their home in the county's metropolis and he is now in the employ of the Dempster Mill Manufacturing Company. Mr. and Mrs. Hershey became the parents of five children, of whom four are living: Frances R. is the widow of Charles F. Rogers and is now a popular teacher in the public schools of Beatrice ; Charles W. is in the employ of the Pacific Electric Company, in the city of Los Angeles, California; Archibald C. is engaged in the real-estate business in Los Angeles ; and John L., of this review, is the youngest of the number. The children received excellent edu- cational advantages, all attending the Univer- sity of Nebraska except Charles W., who fin- ished his education at Knox College, Gales- burg, Illinois. Samuel Hershey is a Republi- can in politics, is affiliated with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Metho- dist Episcopal church.

John L. Hershey, the immediate subject of this review, was about three years of age when the family home was established in Beatrice. Here he attended the public schools until he had completed the curriculum of the high school, in which he was graduated as a mem- ber of the class of 1900. In 1906 he gradu- ated from the Engineering College of the University of Nebraska, and for two years thereafter he was employed in the construc- tion of reinforced concrete buildings in the state, for a Lincoln firm. The next five years found him in charge of important irrigation work in Colorado and Idaho, and this ex- perience added greatly to his practical skill in his profession. In 1913 Mr. Hershey returned

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to Beatrice and, as an able and experienced civil engineer, was given appointment to his present responsible position as special engineer for the city and as county engineer, in which connection he had done a large amount of im- portant work, especially for the city of Beatrice.

In politics Mr. Hershey is a Republican, and he takes loyal interest in all things pertaining to the welfare and progress of his home city and county. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and both he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Epis- copal church.

In March, 1907, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Hershey to Miss Mae E. Bru- baker, a daughter of the late I. H. Brubaker, who was a successful farmer and grain dealer in Gage county. Mr. and Mrs. Hershey have a winsome little daughter, Martha E.

PHILIP GRAFF. - The man who can to- day qualify as a progressive and successful exponent of the great basic industries of agri- culture and stock-growing as carried forward under the admirable conditions and influences provided in the state of Nebraska, may well consider himself fortunate and have full con- fidence that his "lines are cast in pleasant places." Gage county is favored beyond mea- sure in the personnel of its representative farmers and stock-raisers, and as one of the specially vigorous and resourceful exemplifiers of these all-important branches of productive enterprise Mr. Graff is eminently entitled to recognition in this history. He is the owner of one of the finely improved and distinctly model landed estates of Gage county, the same comprising six hundred and eighty acres, situated in Blakely township, with service on rural mail route No. 1, from the city of Be- atrice.

Mr. Graff was born in the city of Milwau- kee, Wisconsin, on the 21st of May, 1857, and is a scion of one of those sterling German families that were destined to play so large and benignant a part in the development and progress of the Badger state. Mr. Graff is a son of Joseph and Theresa (Meyer) Graff,

both of whom were born in Baden, Germany, where they were reared and educated, and who were married in Wisconsin. In 1854 Joseph Graff severed the ties that bound him to the German fatherland and came to America. For a few years after his marriage the family home was maintained in the city of Milwaukee, and eventually he removed to Iowa, where he worked on the river. Soon, however, he determined to cast in his lot with the Territory of Nebraska, which was then aspiring to statehood. On the 15th of April, 1860, he arrived with his family in Gage county, which at that time was little more than an unbroken prairie ·wilderness, Indians and all manner of wild game being still plenti- ful in this section of the territory. He pur- chased a tract of wild land in what is now Blakely township and the same constitutes an integral part of the present highly improved farm property of his son Philip, the imme- diate subject of this review. Joseph Graff be- gan the breaking of his land and making it available for cultivation. This work was done with ox teams and afforded no sybaritic in- dulgence, as may well be imagined. Ne- braska City, about sixty miles distant, was at that time the nearest trading point and many deprivations and hardships were necessarily borne by these early settlers who laid the foun- dation for future opulence and progress in this section of Nebraska. After Nebraska had gained the dignity of statehood he was still found vigorously employed in the improve- ment and cultivation of his farm, and with the passing years he made the same one of the best in the county. As prosperity attended his efforts, he erected good buildings and made other modern provisions on the homestead, and here he remained, respected by all who knew him, until his death, on the 10th of Oc- tober, 1897, at the age of sixty-seven years, his devoted wife, who had been a true help- meet, having passed to the life eternal on the 2d of June, 1894, at the age of fifty-six years. Both were devout communicants of the Cath- olic church and the first Catholic services to be noted in the history of the county were held in the modest log-cabin home of these

HISTORY OF GAGE COUNTY, NEBRASKA

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PHILIP GRAFF

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honored pioneers, besides which they assisted materially in the organization of the first Catholic church in the county and in the erec- tion of the first church edifice. They became the parents of nine children, concerning whom the following brief data are accessible: Henry died at the age of fifty-five years ; Philip, of this review, was the next in order of birth; Gustav is now a resident of Pasadena, Cali- fornia ; Caroline died in infancy ; Louis is suc- cessfully established in the lumber business at Beatrice; George, John, Otto, and Frederick are deceased. Of the immediate family only two continue as residents of Gage county, as the above record indicates.

Philip Graff was three years of age at the time of the family removal to the frontier wilds of Nebraska Territory, and on the old homestead farm in Gage county he was reared under the conditions and influences of the pio- neer era, so that his memory compasses the entire period in which have been wrought the marvelous progress and development in this now favored section of the state. As soon as possible the pioneers established primitive schools for their children, and in these early "institutions of learning" the subject of this sketch acquired his youthful education. From his boyhood to the present day he has con- tinned to be closely and actively associated with the agricultural and live-stock enterprise in Gage county, and in 1898, shortly after the death of his father, he purchased the interests of the other heirs and assumed full ownership of the old home place.

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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 67

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